How to Install a Wi-Fi Extender?

Before you think about installing a Wi-Fi extender, you might need to buy one. You can have options of a variety of devices that comes in many prices and forms and with specific uses like portability or range or gaming. Keep all the important factors in your mind and buy a suitable extender for your Wi-Fi. 

As you have found yourself the best choice of Wi-Fi extender, you now have to decide on where to place this device. For that, you need to find a sweet spot in your home that is quite closer to your router in order to pick up the signal easily. This way, you can spread the signal far enough to cover the space you want with the extender-created network. You can even consider a mesh network according to the complexity and distance between your router and extender. 

To start setting up, you can read the manual that came with the device. There would be an app or a website to guide through the initial setup process offered by the manufacturer company. If you happened to have lost the paper manual, then don’t worry. You can get the instructions if you search for your device’s manual online. Using the WPS button or engaging with WPS mode, you can connect your router with your extender. For some, there might be any software to set up the device. 

*Must Read : How to Make Your Laptop a Wi-Fi Extender?

Having your extender, manual, and a computer or a phone set, you might now learn some basic information about your router with the extender’s software. You should be aware of your router’s name, password, and the frequency in which your router broadcasts. Some modern routers can support the broadcast frequency of 2.4GHz or 5GHz appearing as separate networks. A dual-band router by default can broadcast in both frequencies taking the form of 2 wireless networks, in the name of each other. If you own a dual-band router, then make sure your extender also supports the dual-band of 2.4GHz and 5GHz and vice-versa. 

After plugging in your Wi-Fi extender, follow its setup instructions. After your device is powered on and is connected to your network, you might have to use the Wi-Fi extender’s software in order to check the signal strength. If your extender does not have a solid connection with your original Wi-Fi network, then there is nothing much good we can do about it. After confirming that there are no signal issues, you may change the name of your extended networks to match it up with your already existing network setup. 

By setting it up correctly, following all the instructions, and connecting it with a strong signal, you have successfully installed the Wi-Fi extender. Whenever you are in or near the range of your extender’s network, you likely have to manually join the network. Similarly, you likely have to manually switch it back to your regular network whenever you go out of your network’s range. As an exception for more premium and expensive extenders, they can support seamless roaming, where the extender’s network and the original network seems to appear as the same network, making the switch happen automatically coming in and out of the range of the network.