How to set up and properly situate a RE450?
Our Linksys WRT1900ACS wifi router has beamforming, but the house is 80x30 and even though it’s in the center of the house, on a high shelf, it doesn’t cover 3 security cams at one end, very well, which are outside the house.
So the security company suggested and extender, and I just bought a TP-Link RE450.
I don’t know if it’s a good idea that I set the SSID’s of the extender, with the same names as the Router, but it seemed like the way to do it.
In the sketch here, the cams are on the right and I installed this near the TV on the right, but it uses a remote wifi access point, to drive it, so the two were interacting weirdly and we kept getting sound interruptions.
The two cams in the upper right corner have the weakest signals to the wifi, usually. The security company wants them over 90% but they have been in the 70’s.
Any suggestions on the best way to accomplish this?
Thanks!
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Do not make the extender the same name of the router, your cams will not know the difference where some would connect to the router and others to the extender.
Set up the extender to have a different name or append -ext at the end of each network.
Having the same name is covenant, but if you need to make sure devices are connecting to where they need to be making things the same doesn't help.
I would have:
Router:
mywifi
mywifi-5G
Extender:
mywifi-ext
mywifi-5G-ext
I would place it around the red circle if possible:
The 2.4G network is able to broadcast further compared to the 5G so test with both networks to see which gives the better signal.
As far as setting up the extender I would recommend using our Tether app. Here is a FAQ that shows how: https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/1373/
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@Tony OK, I did that, but aapparently if it's too close to the access point in the far right bedroom, it chops the sound up in that TV.
And the signal strength to the back yard camera is still not good.
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The RE450s circle LED is the signal indicator to your modem if it is in a good spot so as you move it around, you want all LED lights lit. If the backyard has a weak signal, move it closer to that using the LED lights as a guide to see how far you can move it.
So the left side devices will utilize your router and the right side will use your extender.
Now you may not need the extender for some devices on the right side. Some users will use the extender thinking it is a booster, but in actuality connecting to the main router is better so it takes some testing.
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@Tony I don't have a choice. All 3 cameras are set up with one router setting, so if I use the extender, they all have to go through there.
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Tony wrote
The RE450s circle LED is the signal indicator to your modem if it is in a good spot so as you move it around, you want all LED lights lit. If the backyard has a weak signal, move it closer to that using the LED lights as a guide to see how far you can move it.
So the left side devices will utilize your router and the right side will use your extender.
Now you may not need the extender for some devices on the right side. Some users will use the extender thinking it is a booster, but in actuality connecting to the main router is better so it takes some testing.
@Tony Not sure what you mean by left and right side devices. Is the antenna on the left side different than the right side?
Also, There's only one option on the alarm panel, which to connect to - the router or extender. The alarm panel itself is right under the router, it's the cameras that are all at the east ( right ) end of the house. So I'm confused.
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