MX Linux Forum

I'd wager most of you have had issues at one point or another when using wireless networking adapters with any flavor of Linux. Me too. I finally got sick of it. I'm struggling to realize why I failed to think of this sooner. I bought a wifi extender from TP-Link that worked flawlessly out of the box. It has an RJ45 jack on it. I then bought an 8 port switch as well. Run cable from extender to switch. Attach PC(s) to switch. No more wlan issues. All for ~$50.00. Hope it helps.

Here's what I purchased:
The Extender
The Switch

Excellent work around and thanks for posting!

Just curious, what is your download speed using this connect, versus wired up NOT on the extender? (most extenders cut your speeds - some as much as by half and NOT including if you have poor Wi-Fi signal.)

Extender bandwidth is much slower due to two wireless links in use. Most times close to half. When used as an AP device expect it to be nearly as fast as a wireless router with ethernet connection to the existing router.

Why nearly? The CPU power and buffering capacity of most extenders is significantly less than the big boy wireless routers costing 3X to 5X more.

He's using the extender in AP mode. So essentially its a router and a switch cascaded. All extenders have no LAN ports, the only difference between it and a regular router.

Anyone contemplating doing this:

1) The cheapest extenders do NOT have an ethernet jack.

2) Not all extenders can be placed in AP Mode.


Edited to clarify 1st paragraph.

At the price of el cheapo or used smartphones, setting one of those to use the wi-fi network and then tethering it to the Linux computer could be another option.

CharlesV wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 12:26 pm Excellent work around and thanks for posting!

Just curious, what is your download speed using this connect, versus wired up NOT on the extender? (most extenders cut your speeds - some as much as by half and NOT including if you have poor Wi-Fi signal.)

Thanks. My download speeds are about the same as it was on wifi. I get about 80Mbps u/d on a 200Mbps u/d connection.

FullScale4Me wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 2:35 pm Extender bandwidth is much slower due to two wireless links in use. Most times close to half.

He's using the extender in AP mode. So essentially its a router and a switch cascaded. All extenders have no LAN ports, the only difference between it and a regular router.

Anyone contemplating doing this:

1) The cheapest extenders do NOT have an ethernet jack.

2) Not all extenders can be placed in AP Mode.

It should go without saying - "check what I bought, do you research, decide for yourself."

I didn't notice slowdowns from before and after. Everyone's mileage will vary of course. I bought a refurb of what I linked in the original post for ~$18.00 and the switch was about ~$20.00.

Stevo wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 3:11 pm At the price of el cheapo or used smartphones, setting one of those to use the wi-fi network and then tethering it to the Linux computer could be another option.

I can see using that in a pinch. Great idea Stevo!

korilius wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:05 pm
It should go without saying - "check what I bought, do you research, decide for yourself."

I didn't notice slowdowns from before and after. Everyone's mileage will vary of course. I bought a refurb of what I linked in the original post for ~$18.00 and the switch was about ~$20.00.

My bad for not being clearer. A big reason that I never post rough drafts online. I usually print them on paper and then add notes while relaxing to music or videos. That printout ends up looking like a toddler scribbled on it.

I'll change my post to:

"Extender bandwidth is much slower due to two wireless links in use. Most times close to half. When used as an AP device expect it to be nearly as fast as a wireless router with an ethernet connection to the existing router."

Why nearly? The CPU power and buffering capacity of most extenders is significantly less than the big boy wireless routers costing 3X to 5X more.

korilius wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:00 pm

CharlesV wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 12:26 pm Excellent work around and thanks for posting!

Just curious, what is your download speed using this connect, versus wired up NOT on the extender? (most extenders cut your speeds - some as much as by half and NOT including if you have poor Wi-Fi signal.)

Thanks. My download speeds are about the same as it was on wifi. I get about 80Mbps u/d on a 200Mbps u/d connection.

Yup, thats pretty good if its close to your regular wi-fi speeds. I have lost count how many of those devices I have pulled and thrown away and those are the number one thing we pull when we go into a place and hear the 'wifi speeds are horrible' ;-/

Around 90% of the time we find that those extenders half the speeds or more, and you couple that with a weak signal and it all becomes pretty bad.

Glad that worked for you and excellent work around for anyone having trouble - just watch those speeds :-)

The only thing worse than these extenders in WiFi mode is the power line network extenders.

The last one I encountered in the wild made me nostalgic for dial-up networking. I showed them how to snake a floor-to-floor ethernet wire alongside a forced air heating duct. Builder left huge gaps, I could have run all ethernet! They had 2 routers onsite so it got reused.

FullScale4Me wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 8:19 pm The only thing worse than these extenders in WiFi mode is the power line network extenders.

The last one I encountered in the wild made me nostalgic for dial-up networking. I showed them how to snake a floor-to-floor ethernet wire alongside a forced air heating duct. Builder left huge gaps, I could have run all ethernet! They had 2 routers onsite so it got reused.

Actually, I have had pretty good luck with a few powerline installs. But, they were newer buildings and I stayed on the same circuit in all cases. I have only done 3 installs, but all three worked perfect. On the down side.. I tested two more locations - but both were different circuits which will either never work, or work very poorly. It really is best to stay away from those if you can ;-/

My favorite "ugly install" was using two point to point wireless units - high end, and it was an awesome solution. The locations were approx half mile apart, but visible to each other. We ended up installing one unit on each roof and while calibrating was interesting... once we had them dialed in ... they ran for a VERY long time with very good results.

CharlesV wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 10:29 pm

FullScale4Me wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 8:19 pm The only thing worse than these extenders in WiFi mode is the power line network extenders.

The last one I encountered in the wild made me nostalgic for dial-up networking.

Actually, I have had pretty good luck with a few powerline installs. But, they were newer buildings and I stayed on the same circuit in all cases.

I had the bright idea to put a mini PC in my bedroom and hook it up to a television and use it as a media machine. I can use my laptop comfortably in bed, so assumed that a regular wi-fi connection would be fine.

Data transfers to the media machine were so slow as to make streaming anything impossible. Even at standard definition rates, watching something like a basic YouTube video at 480p took 45 minutes to buffer. This is when I began investing in youtube-dl, downloading low-res local copies of YouTube videos and then synchronizing them to the bedroom media PC with SyncThing during the day while I was at work, then watching them at night or over the weekend. This process was functional, but took hours.

I had a conversation with my boss about it, and he suggested I buy powerline network extenders. I suggested he give me a raise and I would. Eventually, we both were true to our word and I bought a, roughly, $90 kit of two TP-Link extenders and plugged them in. Bandwidth jumped up to what I can handily call "useable" and maintenance is non-existent. I still download videos and sync them to the media machine, but transfers take minutes, not hours. Streaming from a browser or with streamlink is possible as long as I keep it to 720p or less. Since the television itself is rated for 720p, this is fine.

I cannot say that powerline network extenders are perfect or don't have cases where they fail to live up to expectations. I had a problem and they improved my situation dramatically. I forget what the model is of the ones I bought off of Newegg five years ago or so, but they're all right in my book.

I have lived in rental houses all my Adult life and all of them have been built in the 60's, one socket per room and always in the worst possible place. For the last 3 rentals I lived in, I run Ethernet cables and fitted fixed network sockets to bring them up to the same specs as new houses being built without asking the landlords, I simply told them I'd done it after it had been done, that it had been done to professional standards and they it would remain when our tenancy ended and none of them complained. In 2 of the places, I improved the lighting too and left it behind when we left, never made an enemy of a landlord, always welcome to return at any time if ever needed.

In NZ, many old houses were made with NZ Kauri, a very hard wood, chainsaws are apt to polish and burn the wood more than cutting it when it's fully dried. That is to say, they may as well be concrete block walls as far as WiFi is concerned, penetration just aint gonna happen.

So what do I use to extend my WiFi? I use cheap Mikrotik Routers connected to one of the LAN cables I run from my primary Mikrotik Router. I simply erase all settings to a zero config state, then build it into a simple Bridging switch with WiFi access points that match exactly the ones already in use. Tested on all machines and OS's, WiFi switchover is seamless.

Simple steps below in code tags for easy identification.
If you wish to incerase security, disable unused LAN ports through Webfig or WinBox.

@m_pav very nice! I like those little routers and yes as long as you have a cable :-)

Free range extender attatched to wireless N usb on motorcycle shop computer. Cardboard keeps the heat down on the usb wifi dongle.
USB armored cable routed through wall of shop . Covered with clear nylon armored hose.
Setup is about 10 years old now. Wore out a IBM Desktop computer. The antenna has never needed repair or had to replace the dongle.

Wifi speeds are the fastest on that setup when it comes to updates. Dell 3500 took the place of the IBM m41.

rokytnji.1 wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:43 am



Free range extender attatched to wireless N usb on motorcycle shop computer. Cardboard keeps the heat down on the usb wifi dongle.
USB armored cable routed through wall of shop . Covered with clear nylon armored hose.
Setup is about 10 years old now. Wore out a IBM Desktop computer. The antenna has never needed repair or had to replace the dongle.

Wifi speeds are the fastest on that setup when it comes to updates. Dell 3500 took the place of the IBM m41.

Thats excellent! So many ways to solve a problem - love it!

I used a power line network extender and it was horrible. It might have been OK if all my gear was on the same circuit - but I wasn't willing to take the time to find out!

m_pav wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:21 am ... I use cheap Mikrotik Routers ...

I've heard nothing but good things about Mikrotik. Very powerful and reliable. I almost bought them but went with ubiquity (I don't like ubiquity now)>