TP-Link WIFi Extender - no internet

[MiracleMaud]

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?

[naylor2006]

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.

[MiracleMaud]

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!

[naylor2006]

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.

[MiracleMaud]

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?)

[naylor2006]

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.

[MiracleMaud]

These replacement adapters are Gigathingy.

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

[naylor2006]

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. 

[licquorice]

@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.

[naylor2006]

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.