This topic

TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 17:06:37 GMT

We are having all manner of issues with our new full fibre set-up. We have an engineer booked for Monday (fingers crossed).

Part of the issue is 2 of our Powerline extenders refusing to pair, so as an interim (or maybe not so interim) solution, we bought a TP-Link wifi range extender. I can log into it, rename it (to make the extender visible on the network list) and make it visible on our available networks, but it has no internet.

Any thoughts anyone?

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 10:44:07 GMT

Powerline wont pair if the electrical setup in your house isnt sufficient to allow it to, Powerline's milage varies wildly from house to house, I would never recommend using it under any circumstance.

I setup a Netgear WIFI extender for my brother the other day as he refused to buy anything proper 🙂 (I wanted to Unifi his house he said no).....but I found something interesting. The Netgear WIFI extender created two new networks, one for the 2.4Ghz band and one for the 5Ghz band, labelling them both EXT.....this is fairly normal to do it this way but the 5Ghz band never had internet connection, couldnt solve it at all, tried everything.

The 2.4Ghz extended network on the WIFI extender did work fine albeit it slower, however his internet is slower than the 2.4Ghz upper limits anyway so no big deal. He has a Smart Hub 2, so maybe the TP-Link is doing the same thing, I never figured out why but if your Netgear is providing a combined WIFI network and can be split, or is split anyway then try connected to its 2.4Ghz extender network and see.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 11:04:31 GMT

Thanks for your response, Naylor. It's a TP-Link wifi extender.

This morning, by obviously better with these things than me half has got it "working". I use the parenthesis because all his devices are tickety-boo, as is my iPhone, and the laptop I'm typing on, by neither my iPad, nor another laptop I use in another part of the house have working internet. The devices say there is internet, but neither device can load a page, or have a Speedtest (as in speedtest.net) run on them.

As things stand, roll on Monday!

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 11:15:20 GMT

Yeah......I know yours is a TP-Link, I was just offering a possible explanation...you can connect to a WIFI network successfully but have no internet, that was exactly the scenario I experienced and was explaining.

Anyway, not sure how far the engineer will go to support powerlines or a tp-link unless its a general help sorta person. If its an Openreach engineer coming to check internet they'll only look as far as the router.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:03:05 GMT

I'll also be curious too.

Since the engineer was booked, I have received both a replacement router and 3 (although we use 4) Powerline adapters.

It is accepted we have adequate speed coming in. It's the distribution that's not great, although bearing in mind we pay extra for a second TV box, it must be accepted that powerline adapters could be required for some buildings.

We'll see what Monday brings.

(Allegedly this new band of engineers carry all manner of spares on their vans, in an attempt to make once-and-done calls. My working assumption is this is all part of getting Full Fibre out there, without too much dire feedback to act as fuel to the competitors.

Cynical, moi?)

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:07:04 GMT

You could have a 1000Mbps internet connection coming in but a Powerline would be lucky to get more than 100Mbps moved to its friend, plus the latency is so bad. Yes in some cases it is the only way but good distribution is always best by running ethernet to access points around the property. Its a pain and really hard to do neatly but it only needs doing once, then you have as good as you get at the router at each access point.....given or take traffic distance from AP etc.

The tools to do is are far cheaper and easier to use now and you wont regret it.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:11:37 GMT

These replacement adapters are Gigathingy.

For now, I'm in keeping an open mind mode. Monday will reveal all.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:14:30 GMT

Yep, Powerline adapters have Gigabit ports on them, but the methodology of passing the internet through the wires will not get anywhere near that, I promise! Link speed will be 1Gb on an attached device, but throughput will be disappointing by comparison.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

licquorice — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:26:27 GMT

@naylor2006 whilst I agree with most of your comments, you have to understand not everyone wants very high speeds and low latency. The vast majority of customers simply want to browse websites, use email and perhaps stream a single channel of TV. For those customers, powerline adapters are more than adequate.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:37:33 GMT

Sorry @licquorice , I totally understand that, I have family/friends who rely on me to setup stuff at their house, they do not want what I want...or need it for that matter.

The reason for my line here was in the first post it was mentioned by the OP the Powerlines were not pairing at all (not uncommon for PL), TP-Link extenders were not working either, later it was mentioned that the Powerlines have a Gigabit port on them which they never run at ever, so the context was around that, plus also specifically they were talking about distribution.

Ill take my medicine though and stand down.

Lastly @MiracleMaud you may wish to look at MESH if nothing works monday.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 13:25:36 GMT

Thank you.

Neither of us are gamers or heavy data traffic users, but spending a fair amount of time in a place where high speed is just that, one sort of gets used to it.

If all else fails Monday, we'll consider other options.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

chrisjp — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:34:07 GMT

I never had much success with powerline adapters or Wifi extenders.
So I went for a mesh system, with one unit plugged into my SH2 via ethernet and the other 3 units forming a mesh via WiFi. All the units have ethernet ports on them, so I can connect stuff that doesn't have WiFi to these units be ethernet cable. There is of course some speed degadation but this system works excellently. And I have one WiFi network throughout the house with stuff connected to it connecting seamlessly from unit to unit as I move around the house.
MUCH better than powerline adapters and WiFi extenders

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:37:05 GMT

Indeed, a large MESH took care of my house for 4 years, then over time connected ethernet to each one but with MESH of course that didnt need to be done all at once, if you want to of course.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

licquorice — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 14:44:36 GMT

Horses for courses, I have 3 powerline adapters that give good coverage of my largish bungalow. But then I only get about 50M on FTTC so speed isn't an issue.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 15:07:39 GMT

A chunk of my irk is it all worked perfectly, the Full Fibre arrived and our promised speed was patchy in terms of sometimes great, and others pretty slow, the the Powerline adapters failed - 2 of 4 failed.

Anyway, Monday will soon roll around, then we can make better informed decisions.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 07:33:04 GMT

Did you get it all resolved yesterday?

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 07:43:32 GMT

Sort of/Maybe/Maybe not* (Delete as appropriate)

We have the new router in and working. 2 new Powerline adapters in and working, but the third overlooked and dismissed as not required by the engineer.

Engineer was an "interesting" character. Despite the promises of BT/EE, said engineer did not check our connections at the "box by the manhole", or up the pole serving us. She only did work indoors.

We'll see how we go on this arrangement, and if necessary think again.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 07:44:44 GMT

Is this the engineer you get through Halo?

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

MiracleMaud — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 12:21:38 GMT

To my knowledge, we don't have Halo.

It was all arranged via the standard phone-in helpdesk, after literally hours on the phone.

Re: TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

naylor2006 — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 12:29:23 GMT

Oh right, nice well at least they sent someone helpful.

Best of luck.