Should I go for Wi-Fi standalone range extender?

[sniper]

So my primary router (Xpon) is on the ground floor with a poor wifi strength that is barely accessible on the entire first floor (though directly above it does work fine).

I was wondering if I can wirelessly connect a secondary router through WDS bridge mode on the first floor to the primary on the ground I can increase the wifi range on the first floor. A standalone wifi range extender (TP-Link) can do the same as well. What are the pros & cons for both the choice?

I have an old D-Link 2750u ADSL 2+ router but it does not support WDS bridge connection. Which low budged router (TP link or D link) supports WDS bridge mode?

 

[Nishant]

Best is to lay a Cat6 cable from Ground floor to 1st floor and put a router there in Access Point mode.

 

[sniper]

@Nishant That's one way to do it & would be relatively a lot cheaper than buying an extender or a router. But the path would be very tortuous for a long ethernet cable from the ground to the first floor at my home.

 

[Nishant]

Wireless Bridging and even Mesh routers would give you a very mixed bag experience. Hence, even though it is a torturous one time activity, a wired networking is always better.

If there's absolutely no way out, you can probably buy a pair of TP-Link routers that supports their OneMesh tech. You can then put the D-Link on Bridge mode and configure PPPoE in the main TP-Link router.

 

[sniper]

@Nishant Got myself a 20m Cat6 cable & created an access point on the first foor with my old router (secondary) connected to the primary on the ground floor. It was a tortuous task but I managed to lay the cable after much deliberation on the route.

To check how it differs from a wireless bridged connection I borrowed a friend's router that has WPS & I could immediately see the difference. On wireless mode the speed fluctuates much (around 20-25 Mbps less on a 100 Mbps connection) while on a wired connection I couldn't see any drop over several tests.

You were absolutely correct! A wired connection is superior to a wireless one. Thank you for the advice!