Wi-Fi extenders and mesh networking are technologies designed to provide wider network coverage across your home, but there’s some clear differences between the two technologies, and reasons why you might want one or the other.
Both methods are great solutions for houses with limited Wi-Fi coverage due to wall materials or sheer size. If you’ve ever struggled to get a solid connection on your phone or laptop in a particular part of your home, these options are well worth exploring.
So if you’re trying to set up your whole home Wi-Fi network, it’s important to consider which one is best. Here’s how they work and how each performs in a range of categories.
WiFi Extenders/Repeaters
Wi-Fi repeaters or extenders take your existing Wi-Fi network and rebroadcast it. These are devices that connect to your router’s Wi-Fi network and retransmit the connection from a new location.
Essentially, Wi-Fi extenders sit between your router and the zone you’re trying to cover with a more solid signal. They provide a secondary network that your device can switch to when the primary signal is weak.
That means Wi-Fi extenders should be placed in a location where it can receive a strong signal from your router, but still retransmit to your target area.
Mesh WiFi
Mesh Wi-Fi accomplishes a similar thing, but does so differently. Instead of retransmitting the signal, a mesh system replaces your whole router setup with a group of nodes – typically two or three – and these nodes work together as a unified network.
One of these nodes connects to your NBN modem as the primary gateway while the others are placed around your home and blanket the area under a single SSID network. That gives you seamless roaming Wi-Fi across your whole home.
Mesh nodes communicate with each other via a dedicated backhaul channel that keeps inter-node traffic separate from client traffic. Some systems support wired backhaul using ethernet cables to connect the nodes for even better performance.
WiFi Extenders vs Mesh: Which is best?
There’s definitely reasons to opt for either option here, but mesh systems do have clear advantages over Wi-Fi extenders.
Performance: Mesh is best
Since quality tri-band and quad-band mesh systems use a dedicated, separate backhaul connection, your client device gets the full speed your network can provide and there’s no latency impact. Some systems may have limited degradation in speed compared to a high-quality direct router connection, but it’s only up to 10 percent in most cases.
Virtually all consumer-market Wi-Fi extenders slash your network speed in half because they use the same radio to receive and retransmit the signal. That causes a typical loss of at least 50 percent of your speed and a noticeable increase in latency.
If you’re determined to minimise speed loss on your network, consider a mesh system with wired backhaul and connect each node with ethernet cable to virtually eliminate any speed loss. It’s a more difficult installation process, but you’ll be certain you’re receiving maximum network speeds.
Roaming and handoff: Mesh is best
Mesh Wi-Fi systems provide a single, unified network broadcast from each node in the system. Plus, that very system decides which node will provide the best signal strength – not the client device. This is usually referred to as “intelligent handoff”.
Extenders create a secondary network that your client device can switch to if the signal from the primary network becomes too weak. However, many client devices like laptops and phones stubbornly hold onto weak connections instead of switching to a superior one.
Ease of Setup: Either is fine
Extenders are easy to set up as single devices that connect to your network. However, if your home is big enough to require more than one extender they can become cumbersome to manage.
Plus, daisy chaining extenders is a terrible idea because you’ll quickly degrade your speed and latency.
Mesh systems often use an app for network management, allowing you to see all your nodes and run diagnostic tools. That makes them pretty easy to set up as well – just connect to your modem and power, launch the app and follow the instructions to set up.
Cost: Extenders are best
This is the one area extenders provide a significant advantage. If you just need to cover an extra room and aren’t particularly concerned with speeds, an extender is often a fraction of the cost of a mesh setup.
A decent Wi-Fi range extender like the TP-Link RE205 is good enough to provide a bit of extra coverage where you need it and costs as little as $50.
Mesh Wi-Fi systems often cost $300 to $400 and up for quality packages like the D-Link M36. It’s definitely the best solution for larger homes though – it costs more per metre but your network will be noticeably better for it.
Which to choose?
It’s clear from the above that mesh is the superior technology for most situations. It’s faster, smoother to use, and it’s just as easy to get set up.
If you’re in a smaller home or apartment that’s just got a single Wi-Fi dead spot where you need to nudge a signal, a Wi-Fi extender might be just what you need, and doesn’t cost nearly as much.
Otherwise, mesh networks are definitely the way to go. Every node in a mesh network provides full connection speeds, and the network itself switches to the best node for your device depending on where you are.
That means you’ll have a reliable connection across your whole home with the best possible speed and latency.
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