Is the Wi-Fi in your Internet box too weak to cover all the rooms in your home? Invest a few euros in this accessory to give it a good boost!
Wi-Fi is convenient! Thanks to this wireless connection technology, you can directly access the home Internet box to benefit from all online services without having to connect any cable, and even by changing place, whether with a computer, a tablet, smartphone or any other compatible device. But if this system, very popular today, is particularly simple to use, it suffers from a well-known flaw: its range is limited to a few meters. And for good reason: as it relies on radio waves, Wi-Fi has difficulty with great distances and with certain materials which slow down or block its propagation, in particular, load-bearing walls, concrete or stone. As a result, it is impossible to receive reception in certain rooms, the furthest from the box.
Certainly, recent boxes all benefit from more modern Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6, 6E or even 7) capable of covering larger spaces, with better speed and many simultaneous users, which is ideal for large dwellings, especially when it is necessary to ensure a connection over several floors. But not everyone has the chance or the means to have a latest generation box, these models being logically more expensive than the older ones.
However, there is a very simple solution to extend the range of Wi-Fi with any box: the repeater. This is a small device which, once plugged into an electrical outlet and correctly configured, serves as a relay for the box’s Wi-Fi. This type of accessory is very easy to use. And it is becoming more and more widespread, with operators now offering it as an option with their new boxes. But you can perfectly enjoy it with an old model!.
Especially since a repeater really doesn’t cost much. And if we find many models between 20 and 40 euros in specialized brands (TP-Link, Netgear, Mercusys, etc.), there are some very economical ones. This is the case of the Xiaomi Mi WiFi Range Extender Pro, a repeater sold for less than 10 euros on merchant sites like AliExpress and even at Lidl!
Of course, it is a basic model, which offers limited bandwidth, but it is more than enough for standard use, for surfing the Web or watching streaming videos. No reason to deprive yourself of this very economical way to improve a home Wi-Fi network. And for the most demanding, it is always possible to upgrade to a more efficient – and therefore more expensive – repeater, or even to a system of “mesh” repeaters (Mesh), capable of covering large houses with very high bandwidth.