10 Best Long Range WiFi Repeaters in 2024 – Top Rated Picks

Choosing the best WiFi repeater is not easy because, especially in this sector, the factors and characteristics to consider are manifold. For this reason, we decided to tell you about the guidelines to follow to make the best choice, and then move on to a real buying guide, with the best WiFi repeaters listed according to the price range.

WiFi repeaters, or range extenders, are devices that amplify a router’s WiFi signal. It may happen, especially if you had a very large house or with very thick walls, that you need to expand the WiFi network signal, in order to reach even the most remote corners of the house, where with only the modem/router cannot connect to the network. The repeaters are also compatible with those who use a connection with fiber optic cables, the new technology that allows you to navigate at a faster speed.

Lets move on to a real buying guide, with the best WiFi repeaters listed on the basis of reviews and top selling.

Everything You Need to Know About WiFi Repeater

What Is a WiFi Repeater?

A WiFi repeater is a device that allows you to amplify the signal of a router and increase it, even where it is weak. It looks like a small plastic box and should be plugged into a power outlet. Once configured, it will do it all by itself.

It can be equipped with antennas, which guarantee greater amplification, and with LED lights, which signal its correct functioning and indicate on which type of band the repeater is transmitting.

How a WiFi Repeaters Work?

The WiFi repeaters connect to the router via WiFi, receives the signal and amplifies it allowing the connection even in those places where only the router’s WiFi signal cannot reach. However, it is important to know that a repeater consumes part of the router’s bandwidth to receive the WiFi signal and re-transmit it. In practice, the signal transmitted by the repeater is “repeated twice” causing a slowing down of the speed of navigation and connection. Just to avoid this inconvenience that many users use instead of the WiFi repeater a system equipped with Mesh technology.

Before proceeding with the purchase of the best WiFi repeater, it is, therefore, necessary to consider several factors and answer a series of key questions, to be sure of extending the home wireless network with maximum performance.

What Type of WiFi Network Should I Repeat?

This is the most important question to ask yourself before buying a WiFi repeater. Over the past few years, although many haven’t even noticed, WiFi standards have changed a lot. The vast majority of modems/routers on sale or on loan through telephone operators have the possibility of using different standards which are almost always divided into 802.11n on 2.4 GHz networks and 802.1ac on 5 GHz networks, and both are in can support WPA2 encryption which protects network passwords.

It is therefore very important to understand the modem/router you are using, what type of WiFi connections it supports. Usually, this feature is marked on the device box or is visible by entering the control panel of the router.

In any case, do not be afraid to make the wrong choice: WiFi technologies are “backwards compatible”, so if you were to purchase a WiFi repeater compatible with more standards than those supported by your old modem, you would still be able to extend the wireless network.

Some WiFi repeaters also have an input for an Ethernet cable, another very convenient feature if you need to connect a TV, a console or other devices that need a wired connection and that do not integrate the module for wireless networks.

Do I Need a Passthrough Repeater?

This is another thing to consider. Generally, most WiFi repeaters connect to the electrical outlet and do not give you the option to continue using that particular location. However, there are some particular models that integrate the Passthrough socket, that is, a real through socket where you can connect an additional 220v device.
It’s a very convenient feature, especially if you don’t have many outlets available.

How Many WiFi Repeaters Should I Buy?

Theoretically, a WiFi signal should easily exceed a range of 100 meters. In real life, however, things are very different, because the factors that influence the real signal quality are many. One of all the network technology that you want to extend: 2.4 GHz networks are slower, but have a greater range of action than 5 GHz networks which are much faster, but suffer much more from interference.

If you are reading this article, it is clear that you have already found that in some areas of the house the WiFi signal does not take, and to understand how many WiFi repeaters to buy, the best thing is to use a free Android app, with which you can analyze the real range of your wireless network, to then evaluate the purchase of one or more repeaters.

Once the application is downloaded, you need to start it and walk around the house, in order to understand which areas are not covered, which are the areas on the edge of the roof and – above all – see if there are electrical outlets at that place which to connect a possible network repeater.

Generally, for a two-storey house, a single WiFi repeater could be enough to increase the range of the wireless network, as long as it is positioned in a ” strategic point ” and that the walls are not too thick: in case the walls of your home are significantly larger than normal, you may need to purchase at least two.

Where Do I Connect the WiFi Repeaters

Positioning correctly (or not) a WiFi repeaters, could influence a lot on the signal quality of your wireless network. The concept that hides in a WiFi repeater is to act as a “bridge” between your modem/router and the various devices that will then connect to the WiFi network. It is therefore very important to place the repeater in an area where there is a good WiFi signal coming from the modem because the further you move away from the source of the wireless network, the higher the latency becomes and the lower the actual browsing speed becomes.

External WiFi Repeaters

There are some WiFi repeaters suitable for outdoor environments and also capable of resisting rain and possible accidents; thanks to this type of repeaters, it is possible to extend the signal even in a garden, park or courtyard. They are perfect products if you want to increase the wireless signal, for example in the garden or between two distinct buildings. They are not yet as popular as indoor repeaters, but they promise very well.

WiFi Repeaters or Access Point?

WiFi repeaters are divided substantially into two categories: simple ” repeaters ” of the signal of the home WiFi network, or access point. The operating principle, however, is very simple. The purpose of these devices is to work as a “bridge” with the WiFi signal generated by the modem/router, in order to capture the existing wireless home network and extend its range of action by creating a new one, but on different channels.

In essence, a WiFi repeater does not require a physical connection to the network, but must be able to connect to the main router, and then amplify it using the broadcasting function: this, therefore, allows you to extend the home WiFi network, even in areas where which the router was unable to reach.

An access point, on the other hand, physically connects to the network via an Ethernet cable and re-transmits its signal via WiFi, just like a router would. This is a good solution if you already have a wired network available and only need to cover certain areas with WiFi.

Standard WiFi

When you want to buy a WiFi repeater to improve the coverage of the router in the home, it is essential as a first step to check precisely which WiFi standard the router itself is updated too. This is particularly important because, if the standard of your router is not also supported by the repeater of your choice, the two devices will not be able to communicate with each other: in short, you will have made a useless purchase.

Compatibility with The Modem Router

Likewise, it is important to purchase a WiFi repeater that receives and transmits data on the same frequencies used by the router. The frequencies used always depend on the supported WiFi standards, so even in this case with a universal amplifier, you will already be sure that you have a compatible device. If your router is Dual Band, and therefore uses both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, it will be necessary that the WiFi repeater is also Dual Band, under penalty of losing one of the two frequencies (usually the faster one), from 5 GHz).

Dual Band WiFi Repeater in the same way, if you have a Single Band router, which transmits only on 2.4 GHz, you will not need a Dual Band repeater: you can, therefore, buy a Single Band model, rather inexpensive, and be perfectly satisfied.

 Antennas

A further detail to pay attention to when purchasing a WiFi repeater is the antennas with which it is equipped. We recommend that you take note of where the antennas are located, whether outside the amplifier or integrated inside it, and how many they are.

By now the external antennas no longer have the advantages of the past: thanks to the new technologies that are integrated in most of the medium-high range devices, in fact, the signal distribution and the transmission and reception of data are optimized automatically, without the need to manually orient each individual antenna. If until a few years ago a WiFi repeater could be as cumbersome as a router, now the designs are increasingly compact, and the repeaters are easy to position, connecting them to any power outlet in the house and offering even better performance.

WiFi Mesh

More and more devices today carry the wording ” Mesh WiFi ” on the packaging, an important technological advancement in network peripherals whose benefits, however, are not yet clear for many users. If you are looking for a generic definition it is, in fact, difficult to understand what the difference is with a normal home system: a mesh network is composed of the router and other devices that, together, allow you to extend the WiFi network throughout the house.
The real difference lies in the efficiency with which the signal is distributed and managed by all the components of the network.

WiFi Mesh Repeater

WiFi mesh repeater in the older router-repeater couplings the wireless signal is only amplified (the repeater, therefore, risks slowing down the router’s performance), a mesh network places all the devices on the same plane. In this way, all its components can ensure high level performance, allowing a much more homogeneous signal diffusion. In addition, mesh devices can also automatically manage data traffic, giving priority to the most important operations and ensuring maximum efficiency.

Even if there are several mesh kits on the market, there are more and more repeaters compatible with this technology, which allow the user to freely create the system that best meets his needs.

Doors

The last factor to consider before purchasing is the ports on the WiFi repeater, especially if you think it can also serve as an access point. In fact, the simpler models, which only function as signal repeaters, are free of both LAN and USB ports, and this is compatible with their use of “pure” repeaters.
However, we have already mentioned that many models, even in the economic segment, now also support the access point mode, so on these models, it is possible to normally find at least one, maximum two network ports.

WiFi Repeater Connection

LAN Ports: As we have said, wired devices without integrated WiFi connectivity can be connected to the network ports, so as to enable them for wireless connectivity. The network ports that can be found on WiFi repeaters can be faster or slower: typically the cheaper models mount fast Ethernet ports, with a maximum transfer rate of 100 Mbps, while the medium and high-end models mount almost exclusively Gigabit Ethernet ports, with top speeds of 1 Gbps.

USB Ports: On higher-end, more complex models, it is also possible to find USB ports: these are useful for use in bridge mode and therefore for the connection of devices without an Ethernet connector. This is the case, for example, of some printers and external hard drives that you want to share on the network. Also in these cases, the type of USB ports can be either of the old type 2.0 or of the more modern type 3.0, whose data transfer speed is more than tenfold compared to the previous standard.