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I was told that using a wifi booster will cut my download/upload speeds in half. However, after setting up a booster and running a speed test on my original network and the booster network, there was a negligible difference (the ping was a bit better on the original network, 48ms vs 59ms, but the down/up speeds were virtually identical). What's going on here? Why am I not seeing the slowdown? Does the slowdown just refer to ping? And if so, what are the practical implications of this? I guess I should stick to my original network when playing online games etc, but does higher ping matter when doing things like streaming HD video?

Adam
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  • Who or what told you it'd cut your speeds in half? That doesn't make any sense.... it'll affect your throughput but that's not the same as speed. – djsmiley2kStaysInside Feb 19 '17 at 20:53
  • I guess the guy I was talking to was a bit confused. Other answers do seems to say that a booster does cut bandwidth in half though: http://superuser.com/questions/435609/does-a-wireless-repeater-slow-things-down-for-everyone. – Adam Feb 19 '17 at 21:07
  • When you say it'll affect my throughput, is that because my bandwidth is cut in half? If so, why don't I see a difference with the speed test? – Adam Feb 19 '17 at 21:08
  • Probably not, because streaming video is buffered. The performance of an extender greatly depends on its connection to the main router. Some use 5ghz to link back to the router, and offers 2.4ghz at a negligible speed difference. Others if they are repeating on the same channel can cut speed if the bandwidth is saturated. – Tyson Feb 19 '17 at 21:10
  • @Adam the speed test likely maxes out your internet and not your wifi. (This of course depends on the speed of your internet, the speed of your wifi, and the speedtest itself). - Also it depends how the 'repeater' is attached to the network. – djsmiley2kStaysInside Feb 19 '17 at 21:12
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    Ok, so the take-home message here is: if there's no throughput degradation detectable in a speed test, I don't need to worry about it. If I was using a crappier booster (perhaps one that repeated on the same channel) I might see slower speeds on the booster network. But there is no hard-and-fast rule that the bandwidth of a repeater network is going to be 1/2 of the original network. – Adam Feb 19 '17 at 21:16
  • @Tyson If I was to add another identical repeater at another location in my house, would that cause a problem? If they were both using 5ghz to link back to the router for instance, would the boosters "compete" for the frequency and kill my bandwidth? – Adam Feb 19 '17 at 21:19
  • @adam it should be fine, 5ghz networks are much faster than 2.4ghz – Tyson Feb 19 '17 at 21:23
  • If you have 300mbs wifi & only a 10mbs internet connection, you'll never notice the difference. – Tetsujin Feb 20 '17 at 07:27
  • @Tetsujin at what speed would I start noticing a difference? – Adam Feb 20 '17 at 07:37
  • 300mbs give or take - though if your line were that fast anyway, you'd be unlikely to really care about dropping a few mbs. – Tetsujin Feb 20 '17 at 07:38

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