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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 7:30 am
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Range Extender Question

I want to add a range extender to my Telmex home wifi router in Mexico.

I am confused by the Mbps numbers with some of the models of the range extenders. (300-1200)

My internet connection in Mexico is marginal with fairly slow speeds.(25Mbps)

If I am understanding correctly because of the limited speed of my existing router getting a range extender with a high Mbps would be overkill....300 which seems to be lowest would work as well as it is going to..... or would a higher number give me a stronger signal?

Thanks for any input.

Last edited by david55; Nov 30, 2015 at 8:02 am
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Old Nov 30, 2015 | 7:17 pm
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Originally Posted by david4455
I want to add a range extender to my Telmex home wifi router in Mexico.

I am confused by the Mbps numbers with some of the models of the range extenders. (300-1200)

My internet connection in Mexico is marginal with fairly slow speeds.(25Mbps)

If I am understanding correctly because of the limited speed of my existing router getting a range extender with a high Mbps would be overkill....300 which seems to be lowest would work as well as it is going to..... or would a higher number give me a stronger signal?

Thanks for any input.
Yes and no. If you actually get the full performance of the WiFi then it would be overkill. In practice, however, the farther you are from the transmitter the less speed you'll get.

Also, if you are using the WiFi to connect two machines (for example, when I sync my active directories between my desktop and laptop) you can get the full speed.
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Old Dec 1, 2015 | 8:26 am
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You are confusing or lumping network speed with internet speed, which are rarely the same.

For example: My home office has multiple computers connected to each other via a 1 Gbps wired network router. My network also includes a 300 Mbps (max) wireless access point to connect WiFi devices. The entire network is also connected to the internet via a DSL modem with 20 Mbps download and 750 Kbps upload. If I was going to extend my network I'd want to come as close to the highest existing connection speed as possible (1 Gbps in my example.)

Some network devices include wired network, wifi network, and internet modem in one device. But the varying speeds and concepts are still the same.

If you ONLY connect the extended devices to the internet it's mostly a moot point. I don't think they make extenders with network speeds as low as most wireless, cable, or DSL internet speeds.
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Old Dec 1, 2015 | 10:39 am
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Originally Posted by david4455
I want to add a range extender to my Telmex home wifi router in Mexico.

I am confused by the Mbps numbers with some of the models of the range extenders. (300-1200)

My internet connection in Mexico is marginal with fairly slow speeds.(25Mbps)

If I am understanding correctly because of the limited speed of my existing router getting a range extender with a high Mbps would be overkill....300 which seems to be lowest would work as well as it is going to..... or would a higher number give me a stronger signal?

Thanks for any input.
One thing to look at is the actual wifi type and speeds of your present router. If it's a 802.11g then getting a faster extender won't really benefit you at all. One thing to maybe consider is to replace your present router with a faster longer range version. Another consideration is to use a wired connection to your extender. Using a wireless connection results in more latency and slower speeds of the network given the need to duplex your connection wirelessly. The newer powerline connections are good options. I've done everything to beef up my internal network speed as I deliver video from a central server throughout my house. So all my access points are wired and many of my computers and media streamers as well.

Fdw
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