Stiftung Warentest checks devices with which one can extend the range of the domestic WLAN. The best solution is cheap, the most expensive technology not necessarily in the advantage.
If you do not have a very small apartment, you will most likely have places in your own home that can no longer cover the WLAN of the router. Stiftung Warentest has investigated which technology and which devices can best be used to enlarge the network. The most important finding: Expensive is not necessarily better.
The cleverest solution is to use special mesh systems that set up their own WLAN and where the nodes communicate with each other. End devices are passed on from one access point to another almost without delay, never losing connection. In the test, it was best to cut off Google’s mesh system . However, it is expensive, costs 250 euros with two knots, as a three-pack 360 euros.
Repeaters can do it too
However, the examiners did not notice any major difference in transfer rates to simple repeaters that amplify the signal from the wireless router. The best package offers here according to the product test of the AVM FritzWLAN Repeater 1750E, which costs on average 67 euros. Repeaters work best over shorter distances and when as few obstacles as possible weaken the transmission.
Even for longer distances, the testers recommend a product of the Fritzbox manufacturer. FritzPowerline 1260E WLAN set for 135 Euro extends the network via power lines. A socket adapter is connected to the router, the other takes over the data stream at another socket and passes it on via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable. Here you should make sure that the adapters are in the same circuit, multiple sockets are avoided and no other sources of interference in the vicinity have been plugged.
According to Stiftung Warentest, the fact that the AVM products perform so well is due to the fact that the Fritzbox with powerline adapters and repeaters practically also spans a mesh network that offers similar advantages as the special solutions. This was also found by n-tv.de in a comparison test .