Creating a home network during the repair process. Strengthening Wi-Fi due to another router (access points)

Good afternoon!

I am renovating a new apartment. Among other things, it is necessary to properly create a home network.

In addition to the main router (in the pantry), I want to put a repeater at the far end of the apartment.

I know that it only needs a regular socket, but!..!

Since I’m renovating, wouldn’t it be better to have a separate Ethernet socket for the repeater? As a humanitarian, I have my doubts as to how it can make a strong signal out of the weak signal it receives. Logically, it can only extend the wi-fi coverage area…..

A friend suggested as an option to make an Ethernet socket and connect an access point to it via PoE. Will it be an extension of the network? Or will it just create a second wi-fi network?

Answer

Good day, you are right to ask about home networking during the renovation process.

If the apartment is large (or house), it is clear that the router that will be in the closet may not be enough to cover the Wi-Fi network. In this case, as you have already written, you can put a repeater (Wi-Fi signal booster). In principle, everything will work, but since the repeater receives the Internet on wi-fi, and distributes it further, there will be losses in speed. And the stability of such a scheme sometimes suffers. And as far as I know, you can’t connect the Internet to the repeater by cable. The repeater has LAN port, not WAN.

Since you have an opportunity to lay a network cable from the main router to the far room, you should definitely take advantage of this opportunity. You will be able to connect another router (in access point mode, or hotspot mode) to an outlet at any time, at the other end of the cable. On the question of expanding the main network, or creating a new Wi-Fi network. You can simply in the settings of the second router (access point) set the same wi-fi settings (name, password, and most likely the channel number) as on the main router. Then you will have one network, and devices will switch between routers unnoticeably. Repeaters work the same way, only they get internet via wi-fi instead of cable.

I think such a scheme will work stably. In any case, a network cable will not be superfluous. Especially since it is not difficult to lay it during the repair process.