When your home wifi may be weak, not have coverage in some areas cannot connect, or is very laggy, etc., you just want to buy a better wifi transmitter to replace the one you have at home and hope things will get better. But the wifi transmitter, like all other technological devices, needs to meet your needs. In the worst case, you will buy a transmitter that does not meet your needs, leading to having to waste time and money on buying another wifi transmitter.
There are many articles about wifi transmitters online, but you have to spend time and brainpower to read and learn, and this knowledge can only be used once because after you have purchased a satisfactory wifi transmitter, you will rarely touch that knowledge anymore. So if you don’t want to waste time and effort, there are only two things you need to know when buying a wifi transmitter for your family.
Table of Contents
Determine the total number of devices connected at the same time
The characteristic of wifi waves is that the more devices using it at the same time, the weaker the signal becomes. That’s why you need to know the total number of devices connected to the transmitter at the same time. In addition, when a device is connected, the wifi transmitter needs to handle the upload and download data of each device. Many wifi transmitters are only equipped with very weak processors. If too many devices connect and use the Internet, even the signal will still have 3 bars but the speed of loading websites and other things will be very slow.
Count every device that uses wifi in the house such as phones, laptops, and TVs, and plan a little more in the future if you plan to buy more refrigerators, washing machines, etc. The Internet Of Things is becoming popular, in the future, almost every device in the house will connect to the Internet and your wifi transmitter needs to be able to meet it.
Suppose your family has 4 people, each person has 2 devices connected to wifi, plus 2 smart TVs, air conditioners, and washing machines connected to wifi, so there are a total of 12 devices, assuming they connect to wifi at the same time.
Determine where to hang and where the transmitter needs to reach
This is extremely important because the wifi transmitter must be plugged in and possibly a network cable, you cannot leave it in the best places for wifi signals (for example, in the middle of the house). There is a high possibility that it is due to limited power lines and network wires, or to maintain the aesthetics of the house, you have to put it under the stairs, on the ground, in a glass cabinet,… and that greatly affects the ability to develop WIFI. Try to choose a high, airy, less obstructed place to mount the wifi transmitter before buying. If the mounting location is on the wall, on the top of the cabinet, or in a good location, you can buy regular wifi transmitters. If the mounting location must be in a hidden corner or low, you should look for wifi models that can penetrate walls.
Where the transmitter reaches is also important. Suppose you have a nice place to hang wifi on the wall in the living room, but you need to transmit wifi into the bedroom, away from a wall, you will see the wifi signal is noticeably weaker. If you live in a tube house and have a bedroom in the back, that room will be almost impossible to receive a Wi-Fi signal. At this point, you need a transmitter with good wall penetration ability and/or a repeater in the hallway or the next bedroom.
In short, you need to determine where to mount the wifi transmitter and the furthest, most hidden place that the wifi signal needs to reach, how many walls are between the two points, and the thickness of the wall separating the two points.
I want to know more!
Above are the two most important and minimal information you need to know when choosing to buy a wifi transmitter. If you want to learn more and choose your wifi router, here is some information you need to know:
Common Wifi standards
Currently, Wifi has 3 most popular standards: Wifi 4, Wifi 5 and Wifi 6
Wifi 4, also known as 802.11n, operates on the 2.4 GHz band and has a theoretical data transmission speed of up to 450 Mb/s. This frequency is capable of transmitting signals long distances and penetrating walls well, but it is too common, even microwave ovens emit frequency waves in this range, so 2.4 GHz Wifi is often interfered with, making it difficult for you to see wifi 3 signal but cannot connect, or is disconnected frequently, or connects but the speed is extremely slow.
Wifi 5 (802.11ac) standard operates on the 5 GHz band, allowing theoretical data transfer speeds of up to 1300 Mb/s. 2.8 times faster than Wifi 4, 5 GHz waves are not as widely available as 2.4 GHz waves, so they are less susceptible to interference, but the trade-off is that the coverage is not as wide and the ability to penetrate walls is poor.
Wifi 6 (802.11ax) standard also operates on the 5 GHz band, the transmission speed is increased compared to Wifi 5, but most importantly, it improves the ability to communicate with multiple devices at the same time. If your house is crowded (>10 people), using this standard wifi is reasonable. If you buy it for a cafe, it is even more reasonable, even though the price is not cheap.
So if you want the best transmission speed and the distance between you and the transmitter is not too far, not blocked by walls, choose Wifi 5 or Wifi 6 transmitters. If you need a transmitter that penetrates walls, then Wifi 4 is the best choice.
Wifi transmitter and extender
Wifi transmitter – Router
It is the wifi transmitter you often see, it is usually big, has antennae (external antenna), and is plugged in with a network cable. Currently, many routers are compact and do not even have antennas but use hidden antennas inside. But in general, it requires a network cable to be plugged in.
Wifi extender – Repeater, Extender
Repeater roughly translates as “receiver” and it performs the same function – receiving wifi signals from the router and transmitting them back, thereby expanding the wifi coverage (the reason it is also called Extender wide signal) without needing to plug in a network cable. Very convenient and aesthetically pleasing if the location you need to broadcast to does not have a pre-existing network cable.
If your wifi signal is weak at one point in the house, you can buy a repeater and that will be enough. However, if your wifi signal is weak at many points, or you are experiencing the situation of not being able to connect to wifi even with full signal strength, you need a new router.
In short, you only need to know two things: “Determine the total number of devices connected at the same time” and “Determine where to hang and where the transmitter needs to reach”.