Wanting more distance and speed from Apple Airport Extreme

[Lewis]

Hi, have a situation where I have an Apple Airport Extreme (4th generation) in the lower level of a bi-level house, at one end of the house. Coverage of WiFi is good there, but when I'm upstairs at the other end of the house, it's almost nonexistent. We have two Mac computers, two or three iPhones, and AppleTV and one iPad.
Thoughts:
1). Putting in a Netgear AC1750 connected upstairs and as an access point via ethernet cable that's already up there.
2). Replacing the Airport Extreme with a Netgear AC1750 and still adding the second one upstairs as an AP.
3). Or simply replacing everything with a two unit Netgear Orbi system.

Any feedback or alternative suggestion are welcomed. Thanks!

 

[thiggins]

I see no reason to get rid of the Airport Extreme. Adding most any router converted to AP or AP via Ethernet will improve coverage.

Orbi makes more sense if you don't have Ethernet backhaul available. Nothing beats Ethernet for AP backhaul.

 

[Lewis]

I see no reason to get rid of the Airport Extreme. Adding most any router converted to AP or AP via Ethernet will improve coverage.

Orbi makes more sense if you don't have Ethernet backhaul available. Nothing beats Ethernet for AP backhaul.

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So, it sounds like adding the Netgear AC1750 as an AP is the way to go. Any need for a Netgear Blackhawk model higher/newer than the Netgear AC1750? From what reading I'm confused it that makes any difference in speed or range.

 

[thiggins]

You might find a bit more range from a 4x4 AC2600/AC3150 class router. Or you might not. The R7000 Nighthawk should be fine.

 

[Lewis]

You might find a bit more range from a 4x4 AC2600/AC3150 class router. Or you might not. The R7000 Nighthawk should be fine.

One more question... if I set the Netgear SSID and password to the same as the Apple Airport Extreme, will my devices automatically switch/connect to it when it's more in range/stronger than the Airport Extreme and vice versus?

 

[thiggins]

One more question... if I set the Netgear SSID and password to the same as the Apple Airport Extreme, will my devices automatically switch/connect to it when it's more in range/stronger than the Airport Extreme and vice versus?

It might or might not. Roaming behavior is primarily controlled by the device.

 

[yk101]

I suppose that moving the router to the center of the house is not an option?

 

[sfx2000]

I suppose that moving the router to the center of the house is not an option?

Physics is the limiting factor - really depends on the floorplan and where most usage typically is - 5GHz is good, and use 2.4GHz as the backstop.

Common SSID for both - Apple devices are pretty good about hopping from band to band (and AP to AP) in that environment.

 

[Lewis]

Right, but I'm talking hopping between Apple and a Netgear used as an AP.


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