I have a question that kind of stumps me, sorry for the long post. I’ve searched this issue here and few a few threads showed up but they’re outdated and don’t seem to ask the questions specific to my situation.
I have an Arris TG1682G modem/router supplied by the ISP (Cox). I live in a 3 bedroom apartment (about 1,500 sq ft) and the signal can be spotty in the master bedroom and most times provides no signal and a very weak connection. We recently got all stainless steel appliances and new cabinets in the kitchen so I’m sure that’s blocking a lot of the signal. The kitchen and laundry room is between the router and the bedroom.
I have a lot of tech in the place. A Nest Cam in the living room to watch the pets/security, Nest thermostat, a few HomeKit devices, 2 Apple TVs, 2 iPads, and some other random stuff. The apartment is on the second floor but our stairs are indoors, kind of like a townhouse entry. So the apt is upstairs, but the front door is downstairs and I have a Ring Doorbell there.
I recently bought a Netgear EX6100 that I put in the bedroom and hardwired with a CAT6 cable to the main router. It broadcasts a different SSID for the deadzones and the connection is great. The living room gives us about 280-310mbps and the new extended network gives us about 200-250mbps.
The extended network is used to connect an Apple TV, an iPad and occasionally a Nintendo Switch. There’s also 2 iPhones that we have to manually switch to the extender when we lounge in the room on our phones. Don’t act like you don’t browse your phone for 45 minutes in bed before going to sleep lol
It’s not bad having to manually switch the devices to the extended network, but is there some settings I can change on the extender to make it act similar to a mesh network? Or make the iPhones/iPads connect to the access point with the strongest signal? Just giving it the same SSID won’t work because the iPhone won’t automatically connect to the stronger access point.
I just want to try to make a seamless experience without having to invest in a mesh network. It’s still an apartment, I don’t think investing in an expensive mesh network setup is fully beneficial or needed.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!
I have an Arris TG1682G modem/router supplied by the ISP (Cox). I live in a 3 bedroom apartment (about 1,500 sq ft) and the signal can be spotty in the master bedroom and most times provides no signal and a very weak connection. We recently got all stainless steel appliances and new cabinets in the kitchen so I’m sure that’s blocking a lot of the signal. The kitchen and laundry room is between the router and the bedroom.
I have a lot of tech in the place. A Nest Cam in the living room to watch the pets/security, Nest thermostat, a few HomeKit devices, 2 Apple TVs, 2 iPads, and some other random stuff. The apartment is on the second floor but our stairs are indoors, kind of like a townhouse entry. So the apt is upstairs, but the front door is downstairs and I have a Ring Doorbell there.
I recently bought a Netgear EX6100 that I put in the bedroom and hardwired with a CAT6 cable to the main router. It broadcasts a different SSID for the deadzones and the connection is great. The living room gives us about 280-310mbps and the new extended network gives us about 200-250mbps.
The extended network is used to connect an Apple TV, an iPad and occasionally a Nintendo Switch. There’s also 2 iPhones that we have to manually switch to the extender when we lounge in the room on our phones. Don’t act like you don’t browse your phone for 45 minutes in bed before going to sleep lol
It’s not bad having to manually switch the devices to the extended network, but is there some settings I can change on the extender to make it act similar to a mesh network? Or make the iPhones/iPads connect to the access point with the strongest signal? Just giving it the same SSID won’t work because the iPhone won’t automatically connect to the stronger access point.
I just want to try to make a seamless experience without having to invest in a mesh network. It’s still an apartment, I don’t think investing in an expensive mesh network setup is fully beneficial or needed.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!
