Like electricity and water, Wi-Fi has become indispensable in many homes, but getting a fast, reliable connection in your home can be a challenge. The signal may drop out while you are outdoors, or there may be blind spots in one of the rooms in your house where you cannot access the Internet at all.
With all the interference in a typical home, from a microwave oven to hard walls, metal appliances, and more, your WiFi router can miss certain points, no matter how powerful.
The Wi-Fi Booster is designed to cope with unstable Wi-Fi performance while improving wireless performance. We’re going to explain what a Wi-Fi booster is, how it works, and which are the best ones you can buy.
What is WiFi Booster?
A WiFi booster is a device that helps to expand or strengthen the wireless signal in areas where it is low. It pulls the existing signal from your router, amplifies it, and re-broadcasts it so that your wireless devices have a more reliable connection.
WiFi boosters can be wired or wireless. The wired type is best for high speeds with no glitches or delays, and connects through your existing cable in your home to carry the signal to dead zones or areas where it’s low.
Conversely, the Wi-Fi amplifier connects to your existing network wirelessly, so no coaxial cable is required. It is installed and used in the same way as connecting wireless devices to a wireless router, and has a setup button for quick setup and automatic connection.
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Unlike wired boosters, which use a power line to boost WiFi in low-signal areas, wireless boosters should be placed where they can clearly receive the signal from the router, as they are affected by interference such as thick walls or electronic devices.
How WiFi Booster works
Before you go out and buy a Wi-Fi booster for your home or office, it’s important to know how it works. This will help you know which of the many brands available on the market is best for your needs.
The WiFi booster starts by establishing a connection between your WiFi enabled wireless device and your router. If the transmission sent by the router does not reach the device in which it is located, the amplifier intercepts the transmission and returns or pushes it into your device.
The router receives information from the wireless device, sent through the amplifier, and transmits it to the web servers.
Once complete, the process starts over, but the speed at which this happens will depend on the type of WiFi booster you choose, standard and router.
Most WiFi boosters have the Wireless N (802.11n) standard, which supports bandwidths up to 300 Mbps. This provides excellent range and speed as well as immunity to any interference in the coverage area.
There are other wireless standards such as 802.11ac which is one of the latest and allows the amplifier to support the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands with 450 Mbps and 1300 Mbps respectively.
However, these standards are not without drawbacks. They may be thwarted, thereby reducing their bandwidth, or your ISP may have a speed limitation that prevents them from reaching their highest potential.
Best WiFi Boosters to Buy
When choosing a Wi-Fi booster, pay attention to the supported WiFi speed and standards. Ideally, it should support the latest 802.11ac standard, which is up to 2.8x faster than 802.11n (Wireless N). This way, you can play online games without lag and glitch, and stream HD video.
Check if the booster offers dual band radio. The dual-band 2.4 GHz is better for surfing the web, while the dual-band 5 GHz is less congested and cleaner, and you can use it for video. Dual-band mode also has additional options that allow you to configure your network to keep your wireless network running smoothly.
In addition to dual band radio, speed, and support for the latest WiFi standard, there are other factors to consider, such as remote monitoring management so that your ISP can troubleshoot connection problems remotely.
With that in mind, here are three of the best Wi-Fi boosters you can buy to keep your internet from getting interrupted wherever you are:
Netgear Nighthawk EX8000
Netgear Nighthawk EX8000
Whether you are streaming videos or playing games, you want your experience to be smooth and uninterrupted, even if others are enjoying on their devices. The Netgear EX8000 WiFi Amplifier delivers up to 3000Mbps bandwidth, so you don’t have to worry about connection lag.
It has tri-band Wi-Fi that covers up to 2,500 square feet, a huge range when compared to competing brands of WiFi amplifiers. In addition, you can enjoy higher data transfer rates and it is easy and painless to set up so you can easily connect to your devices.
The amplifier is compatible with any gateway, wireless router or cable modem with WiFi. It also features the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB 2.0 port.
If you have a large home or office, you can use multiple extenders to create a mesh network thanks to the tabletop design that allows you to add up to six additional antennas.
The main drawbacks of this amplifier are its price and some users say that they have experienced an unexpected drop in signal.
TP-Link AC2600 RE650
TP-Link AC2600 RE650
This is one of the best WiFi plug-in amplifiers, especially if you have a large home. It offers good performance at speeds up to 75 feet and a user-friendly design that makes it easy to set up and add four external antennas, as well as the Tether mobile / tablet app with security tools and advanced settings. It also offers dual band wireless connectivity. AC support.
However, it is more expensive and cumbersome than other Wi-Fi amplifiers on the market, but makes up for it with high performance and competitive speed.
Netgear EX6200 AC1200
Netgear EX6200 AC1200
This is an inexpensive Wi-Fi booster for large homes compared to our two top picks, which means you won’t find some features like data backhaul. While it makes a few concessions to make up for its high price tag, it has excellent performance, good range, and a wide selection of ports.
It supports dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and is easy to configure whether you want to position it vertically or horizontally. The design is sleek but cumbersome and you have up to four antennas that can be used for more coverage, although there are not as many as other Netgear WiFi boosters like the EX8000 that allow up to six antennas.
The EX6200 still gets the job done, whether you want to service one or two units in a remote room or backyard. If you need a wired connection, you can set it up using any of the five Ethernet ports. For example, you can connect a game console or printer and still get all the data transfer rates you need to get things done.
Get the most out of your WiFi connection
There are easy ways to improve your Wi-Fi connection if you are experiencing loss of signal strength. These include moving the wireless device out of an area with a low signal strength, moving the router closer or to a central location where there is no interference, or changing the channel on the router to get the best signal.
While this may help, it is not necessarily the best solution for getting a stronger signal in the dead zones of your home or office. A Wi-Fi booster is the best solution to provide the best Wi-Fi connection possible.
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