You have £400 to spend on a router and a repeater or extender.
You have £400 to spend on a router and a repeater or extender.
Hi everyone, I'm not a networking expert, but I’m happy to help. You’re facing a common challenge when moving into a new space with limited wired options. With your setup—about 32ft between router and repeater, and 22ft from the repeater to your PC—I’d recommend looking at a solid 802.11ac or Wi-Fi 6 router for better performance. A mid-range model should handle gaming traffic well within that budget. For the repeater/extender, a decent 2.4GHz unit around 22ft away will help extend coverage effectively.
Your download speed is currently 70mb/s wired, which is solid but not ideal for smooth gaming. Aim for at least 40mb/s on the wireless side to get a noticeable improvement. If you need a good wireless adapter, look for one with Wi-Fi 6 support and a decent range.
Let me know if you want more specific product suggestions!
Need powerline adapters when running cables isn't possible? Cut costs and save money without spending £400.
or powerline or mesh network whatever you prefer, I've tested wifi mesh systems and they perform well as long as they're not low-quality copies. I haven't installed any powerline setup before and also didn't work with other homes from family. So I generally don't recommend them. For those curious: yes, I completed the installation about four times in each location. I searched various YouTube videos showing similar models that worked successfully, but none did for me. All houses had different construction timelines and wiring setups across sites we visited. Also tried multiple brands.
We made several changes and tested various family homes with different wiring, but it didn’t function properly. We avoided trying to route it through multiple circuits since we expected it wouldn’t work. One neighbor experienced intermittent issues—his setup worked sometimes but often failed. He was using the router box with powerline adapters, which didn’t resolve the problem for us. We advised him that a mesh network would be better, and he still uses it without regret despite the initial difficulties.
I don't understand why this wouldn't work for you. I haven't experienced any problems with powerline adapters before, and I've used them for many years.
Hello, I thought about it, but because the outbuilding is large, we’ll need many electrics and its own fusebox. That means we’ll have a completely separate electrical box installed, distinct from our main one in the house. It’s likely to run on a different circuit altogether.
I think there might be some problems. My plan would be to purchase from Amazon to test various options. Return any items you don’t need—Amazon does that well! If the Powerline works fine, use it; it’s far superior to depending solely on wireless, even with mesh networking.
Amazon testing and returning items is a solid move for fairness. I’m leaning toward Powerline since it could really ease many issues. If not, I guess a good mesh network or a reliable router/repeater setup would work just as well.
Monitor their deals for the Eero devices—they’re likely to cut prices even more, particularly around Black Friday, with the latest Wi-Fi 6 models arriving soon.