You bought the extender because one room was hopeless, and now the whole house feels slower and your phone clings to the wrong signal from the kitchen.
That is not a faulty unit. Two of the biggest makers document exactly why it happens, and one of them tells you not to set it up the way almost everybody does.
Before writing I read what this laptop is actually connected at, and the number made the case better than any argument would have.
Read your own link before you buy anything
Sixty seconds, and it changes what you should buy.
⭐ This laptop has a Wi-Fi 6 adapter in it. The link it is sitting on right now is 802.11n on the 2.4 GHz band.
⚡ The rates are 144 Mbps out and 78 Mbps back, at 69 percent signal, on channel 9.
⚠️ So the radio is two generations ahead of the link it settled for. An extender would not touch that gap.
⛔ Run `netsh wlan show interfaces` in Terminal and read your own. Band, radio type and rate, in one screen.
What an extender does to speed, in TP-Link's words
The trade nobody explains at the point of sale.
⭐ TP-Link says the shape of it directly on its range extender speed page: "Due to the working pattern and protocol/regulation of Wi-Fi technology, the more wireless hops, the slower the speed would be."
⚡ And it names the comparison: a client on the extender "will be slower" than one on the router, "as Client 2 goes through an extra wireless hop compared to Client 1".
⚠️ An extender buys coverage and spends speed. That is the deal, and it is a good deal in a dead room.
⛔ It is a bad deal everywhere the router already reached. Which is where most of the disappointment comes from.
The halving claim, and where it is not
Worth saying, because the number is repeated everywhere.
⚡ You will read that an extender halves your speed. Every time I have looked it up, the reasoning given is that it talks to the router and the client in turn rather than at once.
⭐ We could not find that figure on TP-Link's support pages. Its own documentation says more hops are slower and stops there.
⚠️ The halving explanation turns up in its community forum instead, and a forum answer is a different thing from a specification.
⛔ So treat it as a rule of thumb, not a spec. Expect a real drop, do not expect an exact fraction, and measure your own.
The naming trap, and the makers disagree
Two vendors, two answers, and the disagreement is the useful part.
⭐ TP-Link is blunt: "Do not set the same Wi-Fi name(SSID) for the range extender and router. Otherwise, please reset the range extender and create a separate SSID."
⚡ NETGEAR ships the opposite by default, appending _2GEXT and _5GEXT to your existing name so the two are told apart.
⚠️ Both are solving the same problem from different ends. One name is convenient. Two names let you choose.
⛔ On a mesh system this argument disappears, because roaming between units is handled for you rather than by the phone.
Why your phone stays on the weak signal
The complaint behind half the extender reviews on the internet.
⭐ NETGEAR says it plainly on its same network name page: "some of your WiFi client devices might stay connected to the router even when the extender provides a stronger signal, which can hurt WiFi performance".
⚡ Nothing is broken when that happens. The device decided, and devices are stubborn about a connection that still works.
⚠️ Walking out of range and back is the crude fix. Turning Wi-Fi off and on again forces a fresh choice.
⛔ With two separate names you pick, rather than hoping. That is the argument for TP-Link's advice, and it is a real one.
Where to put it, and it is not where you think
Not in the dead room. That is the single commonest mistake.
⭐ TP-Link's instruction: "Place the extender roughly halfway between your router and the area with a weak signal".
⚡ Height matters too: "Position the extender at about the same height as your router, around four feet off the ground."
⚠️ And what to keep it away from: "mirrors and large metal surfaces, which reflect signals", plus "walls, cabinets, and masonry, which absorb them".
⛔ An extender in the dead room repeats a bad signal. It cannot invent what it never received cleanly.
When an extender is the wrong purchase
Four situations where it is the wrong purchase, and this list is ours.
⚡ When the problem is your internet rather than your Wi-Fi. Test the two separately before blaming either.
⭐ When the far room has a socket. A powerline adapter or a cable beats any extender for the same money.
⚠️ When your router is old. Replacing a five year old router often fixes more than adding a box to it.
⛔ And when only one device struggles. That is a device problem, not a coverage problem.
Status: the Wi-Fi link on this laptop read on 28 August 2026, Windows 11 Home, alongside TP-Link's and NETGEAR's own range extender documentation. ⛔ No network name, router make, address or hardware identifier is published, no extender is owned or tested here, and nothing was changed on the connection.
Does a Wi-Fi extender slow down your internet?
It slows the devices connected through it. TP-Link's own wording is that the more wireless hops, the slower the speed, and that a client on the extender is slower than one on the router because of the extra hop. It buys coverage and spends speed, which is worth it only where the router did not reach.
Should my extender have the same name as my router?
The makers disagree. TP-Link says not to, and to create a separate name instead. NETGEAR defaults to your existing name with _2GEXT or _5GEXT added, so the two are distinguishable. Separate names let you choose which one you are on, which is the practical advantage.
Why does my phone stay on the router instead of the extender?
Because it decided to. NETGEAR documents that some client devices stay connected to the router even when the extender has a stronger signal, and warns this can hurt performance. Devices hold on to a working connection. Separate network names let you take the decision yourself.
Where should I put a Wi-Fi extender?
Roughly halfway between the router and the weak area, at about the same height as the router, around four feet off the ground. Away from mirrors and large metal, which reflect, and away from masonry and cabinets, which absorb. Not in the dead room, because it will only repeat a poor signal.
Is a mesh system better than an extender?
For roaming, yes. A mesh system decides which unit a device uses, rather than leaving that decision to the phone, which is the behavior NETGEAR warns about. It costs more than an extender and it replaces the router as well, so it is a bigger job than plugging a box into a socket.
The Short Version
- Read your own link first. The bottleneck is often the band, not distance.
- This laptop has a Wi-Fi 6 adapter sitting on an 802.11n 2.4 GHz link.
- TP-Link says more wireless hops means slower speed. That is the trade.
- The halving figure is not on TP-Link's own support pages.
- TP-Link says do not give the extender the same name as the router.
- NETGEAR defaults to the same name plus _2GEXT or _5GEXT.
- NETGEAR warns devices may stay on the router despite a weaker signal.
- Place it halfway, at router height, not in the dead room.
Where to Next
Read your own connection before you spend anything. Band and radio type in one command.
If the band is 2.4 GHz and your router offers 5 GHz, that is a free upgrade sitting there.
If you already have an extender and everything feels slow, try giving it its own network name.
Move it to halfway between the router and the dead room, at about the height the router sits at.
And if separate names fixed a house that an extender had made worse, say so in the comments. That advice is buried in a support page nobody reads.
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.