29 January 2024 , 15:22
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Of all the daily nuisances we encounter, poor Wi-Fi has to be among the most frustrating. You pay a small fortune for the service, only to be met with signal dropouts or poor speeds which can leave you banging the desk in frustration.
It's a problem I experienced recently, but thankfully managed to solve within 24 hours thanks to a £22 gadget and Amazon's Prime delivery service. I have a baby on the way and the arrival of prams, cots and all manner of toys ahead of the little one entering the world has already made the house feel that bit smaller.
So my computer setup in the spare bedroom had to be relocated to make way for all the baby attire. No problem, or so I thought, there's a spot in the utility room that will be perfect for a computer monitor, with just enough room to squeeze a chair in - problem solved.
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After fiddling about dismantling the desk and unplugging 6,000 wires for what felt like an eternity (who knew a basic setup could be so complicated) I thought the job was done. That was until I came to use the laptop next.
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The Wi-Fi icon was displaying a dreaded single line, indicating a very weak signal, and it showed in the speed. Web pages were taking an age to load, while trying to do anything like watch a video was impossible, my relocation plan was foiled before it had begun.
In hindsight I should've thought about that before moving it all, but I live in an average sized house, not a mansion with thick castle walls, it was definitely a problem I hadn't foreseen. The utility space is the furthest point from the router though, and was seemingly just out of reach.
After a few huffs and puffs I remembered hearing about Wi-Fi extenders. I'm always a bit cynical about such things and wasn't sure it would work, but figured it was worth a try.
After having a scout around Amazon, I discovered they can be picked up fairly cheaply and thought it was worth a go before having to slog my setup to another inconvenient spot in the house. And it's proved to be a brilliant decision.
After reading the reviews of the pretty basic options, I went for the TP-Link AC1200 which is £20.99, or £21.99 if you opt for it to include an ethernet port, I went for the latter. Thanks to using Amazon Prime it arrived the next day and was pretty simple to set-up.
The device has solved the problem (Staff)I first tried doing it via the WPS button but couldn't get it to work, so opted for the TP-Link app which did the trick. A quick set-up to connect it to the existing Wi-Fi followed and it was good to go.
You simply plug it in within the existing range of the router and it gives the signal a welcome boost. I gingerly turned on my computer, praying it had worked and was delighted to see the one Wi-Fi line had been replaced by full bars.
I've had it for about a week now and found it spot on. It has the added bonus of pushing the signal further out into the garden too, which will be welcome over the summer months.
If you have any Wi-Fi dead zones or areas with weak signal around your home and garden, it's definitely something I'd recommend giving a try. Some Wi-Fi boosters are quite big and a bit ugly, meaning they'd look out of place when plugged in, but I haven't found this one to be too bad on that front.
One thing that is worth noting is that where you choose to plug it in must be within the existing range of the router for it to work, and then project the signal further. Other user reviews left on Amazon are broadly very positive, with an average rating of 4.1 stars out of 5.
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One said: "Very easy to setup and works a treat. We had a room where the wi-fi was very slow. After installation of the extender and connecting to the network that it created the signal was boosted by about 50x."
However, another added: "On the positive side this is easy to set up because it has limited options. And it's very cheap!
"On the negative side it has very limited functionality - one specific thing that you don't find mentioned anywhere unless you really delve deep is that it only supports one WiFi SSID. If you want or need multi-SSIDs (such as for an isolated guest network to keep your guests isolated from your in-home devices), and/or VLAN support, you need a more professional level device like the EAP230/235 or 6XX series."
Argos also sells a selection of Wi-Fi boosters that range massively in price. The Netgear EX3700 AC750 Wi-Fi Dual Band Range Extender is at the cheaper end, priced at £29.99, while more expensive advanced options include the Sonos BOOST Wireless Range Extender, priced at £75.