I live in a one-story, two-bedroom apartment with one TV, two Chromebooks, one phone, and three tablets using the connection. I have Verizon Fios and recently upgraded to a 1 Gig plan, which came with a Wi-Fi extender at no extra charge. Since the apartment is relatively small and all on one floor, I'm wondering whether the extender would provide any real benefit or if the main router should be enough. How can I tell whether I actually need to use it?
4 Answers
Before setting it up, check your bill to make sure the device is truly free and not being added as a monthly rental. If you do use it, place it somewhere that still gets a strong signal from the router—not in the room where the signal is already unusable. It might also be useful near a TV if the extender supports a wired Ethernet connection.
Traditional extenders can reduce performance because they have to receive and retransmit traffic. They’re useful when there’s a genuine dead zone, but extending a weak signal doesn’t magically make that signal better. If you need coverage, a wired access point is generally better, while a properly configured mesh unit can also work well.
For a typical two-bedroom apartment, the main router should usually cover the whole place, especially if it’s positioned somewhere central and out in the open. If every room has a strong, stable connection, the extender probably won’t improve anything.
The important question is whether you have weak spots, not the size of the home by itself. Walk around the apartment while checking Wi-Fi signal strength with a phone app, and test the connection where you normally use your devices. If the signal and performance are good, leave the extender unplugged.
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