Home > Can you use multiple WiFi extenders?
With modern life demanding that we spend more and more time online, whether it is for works, online classes, or streaming TV shows and movies, our home WiFi networks are under a great strain. The patchwork of weak signal reception around our homes that we used to live with is now a huge hindrance. WiFi booster has become a necessity.
Generally speaking, most common WiFi networks that operate on 2.4GHz frequencies can reach distances of up to 150 feet indoor and 300 feet outdoor, under the best conditions. Modern WiFi standards that operate on 5GHz frequencies offer much higher speeds, but the signal is much more sensitive to physical obstacles. So, having good coverage of the area where we need WiFi is impossible with the router alone.
But sometimes using a single WiFi extender may not help us fully cover the needed area. The short answer to the question “can you use multiple WiFi extenders?” is yes. The longer answer is a bit more complicated and depends on several factors.
The answer to the question “can you use multiple WiFi extenders?” depends on several factors. First and foremost can you have more than one WiFi extender depends on whether the particular make and model of your booster allows for cascading connections. Many of the products available on the market do not allow for this. In other words, you can’t extend an already extended WiFi signal.
But this doesn’t mean that you can not use two of such devices.
In case that you can’t piggyback them off of each other, but still wondering “can you use multiple WiFi extenders?” the answer is yes. You can use them to extend your WiFi network coverage to two different sides of your main WiFi router, or you can use one to go vertical while the other to use to extend the WiFi signal on the same level as the main router.
In case that your make and model do support cascading then you can use at least one additional extender in a daisy chain configuration. Some products support a higher number of cascaded extenders, but those are exceptionally expensive and offer an option that you will not need. From a point of view of a home user, they cost a lot and offer the same as much more affordable products.
But such cascading comes with a certain price. The maximum possible speed on the second extender will be only half of the speed available on the first extender in such a chain. For many people, this doesn’t
present an issue.
When planing on buying additional WiFi extenders like PH0R 4 one question to ask is “can you use multiple WiFi extenders?”, and another is can they work together. Depending on the exact model of them they can in one of two different ways, in parallel or cascaded.
When they are in parallel configuration is means that they both extend the WiFi coverage, but to two different sides from your main WiFi router. This way practically all extenders can work, and you can use one to cover the dead spots inside your house and the other to extend your WiFi to your backyard, for example.
The potential problem with this type of configuration is that your main router must be in the center.
Depending on the layout of your home, you may not be able to set it at the perfect location.
Piggybacking, daisy-chaining, or cascading means connecting one extender to your main WiFi router and then for that extender connecting another extender. Some models support these configurations, and you can use them for reaching quite a big distance with your WiFi network signal.
But this ability comes with a speed penalty, connection speed on the second extender will be halved. Depending on many factors, this actually could be completely irrelevant for you.
Can you use multiple WiFi extenders in a daisy chain configuration without the loss of speed is a bit tricky question to answer because the correct answer is both yes and no. The first thing you must understand is that there are two speeds when talking about the WiFi network internet access, and many people waste their money due to a lack of understanding of the difference.
First is the speed of your internet connection, it is what you are paying to your ISP or a cable operator. This is the maximum theoretical speed at which you could access some website or some other online service, but not the real speed you will access it with. This is the maximum speed you can communicate with the world outside of your WiFi.
Before you get needlessly angry at your ISP, you should know that all online services limit at what maximum speed their users can connect to their servers. This allows them to have the highest possible number of concurrent users at any moment.
The second speed is the speed of your WiFi network. In other words, the speed at which devices inside of your WiFi network can communicate with each other. As long the speed of your WiFi is higher than the speed of your internet connection you will be OK.
Thus, can you have multiple WiFi extenders daisy-chained together actually is a moot question. The majority of people have internet connections in the 50Mbps range and the fact that on the second daisy-chained extender WiFi extender the maximum possible speed will drop to “lowly” 300Mbps is meaningless. That’s not a typo, three hundred megabits per second are the worst-case scenario.
Now that you know the answer to the question “can you use multiple WiFi extenders?” we can move on to how many WiFi extenders can you use. In principle, the WiFi extenders, from the point of view of your WiFi router, are just another device connected to your WiFi network. Thus, the limits are determined by the capabilities of your router.
In theory, this means that you can have some crazy number as high as 255, but in reality, you shouldn’t have more than 20 devices connected to your home WiFi network. Each connected device has a slightly negative effect on the quality of the radio signal, so keeping this number low is a good thing to do.
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Jim
