Range Extender (TL-WA850RE) Cutting Speeds Dramatically
Hi all,
I've been reading around for similar threads but haven't been able to find a solution.
Our smart TV in our living room seems to have a hard time consistently connecting to our WiFi. We'll see the picture quality on streaming sites constantly drop to lower resolutions as the TV struggles to keep up. Laptops and phones don't seem to have an issue, so we figure that may be due to better WiFi detection in general on those devices. TV is a newer Samsung less than 2 years old. Figured a range extender might help!
Our router in the bedroom is about 20-25 feet horizontally away from the TV, with a thin closet wall and a regular bedroom wall in-between. We installed our TP Link extender on the opposite side of the bedroom wall (approx. 15 ft away, in the living room where the TV is located) where it gets 3 blue lights for signal strength. The extender is as close to half-way between the router and TV as I can get it.
Standing in front of the TV on my normal home network (on phone or laptop), speeds are 205 mbps down / 116 mbps up. With the TP Link Extender, speeds are reduced all the way down to 10.5 mbps down / 19.8 mbps up. The product says it's good for up to 300 mbps, but we're seeing a reduction in speed by about 20x. What could be causing this? I've tried relocating the extender to spots closer to the router (even though they're farther from the TV) and am getting similar results.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks!