martin
Expert Member
I've been struggling with Wifi coverage in some parts of my home for some time now. Our house is fairly longish, rectangular shape with the LTE router sitting at one end of the house due to the external antennae wires terminating there. As a result devices in rooms at the opposite end really struggle to connect to it's Wifi signal. The signal has to pass through four consecutive bedroom walls. Extending the Wifi signal with an old ADSL router sort of worked but it was very fiddly. The older ADSL router would often refuse to connect because of pure spite (it was probably incorrectly configured by me). A better solution was required.
Options:
1. Ubiquiti: the Gold standard. My neighbour runs a Ubiquiti setup and his Wifi covers the entirety of my home too. Alas, budget rules this out for now.
2. PoE: my wall sockets are on different electric circuits. I could probably get close enough to the far end of the house but I can't be sure. Wiring in the house is a mess in general and I decided not to take the chance.
3. Wifi Range Extenders: reading the MyBB forums, it seems this is a less ideal option. Mileage may vary...
4. Which left me with: purchasing a 'budget' Wifi Router
I eventually decided on the Tenda AC6 Smart 11ac Dual Band WiFi Router. Picked one up from Scoop (Dealer Excl VAT R395.00, Retail Incl VAT R575.00). I was under no illusions that it would be as good as similar products from Ubiquiti, TP Link, etc.. but I've come away impressed nonetheless. It's living up to my expectations and needs.
Pros:
- Decent web interface. Easily found every setting I was looking for. Tenda has a cellphone app too, which can be used to interact with the router. It works well but the app does not support AP mode (yet). Edit: To clarify, the router does support AP mode (it's just the app that doesn't right now) but you'll be forced to use only the web interface to interact with the router. If you don't see an AP mode option in your web interface you'll need to upgrade firmware.
- Dual Band (5Ghz & 2.4Hhz): connect your devices needing higher bandwidth (HTPC, console) up to the 5Ghz network and keep them separated from other devices like cellphones which you connect to your 2.4Ghz network. Everything in my home runs over Wifi and network degradation has been noticeable in the past if all devices are connected. Things are running far more smoothly now. Really like this feature.
- Coverage/range: I now have decent coverage throughout the home. Roughly 50% signal at the far end of the house (up from 0%), completely usable. I tossed the old ADSL router I was using as a range extender and disabled Wifi on my LTE router. No need for any other Wifi routers anymore.
Cons:
- Router documentation is not great but also not the worst I've seen. You'll easily find all the basic setting by just exploring the interface for a few minutes.
- Build quality: it'll probably survive a few drops (edit: it did!) but you do get what you pay for here. It looks okay at least.
- EDIT: LAN Ports are limited to 100mbps. Not an issue in my particular use case but noteworthy none the less. If this is a deal killer, you may want to consider some of the other Tenda models like the AC9.
Parting thoughts:
First off, this is by no means a comprehensive review or even a recommendation. I need to test it for a longer period of time and there are a few more features I still want to play around with like Beamforming and a Wifi scheduler (for power saving). If you're looking for a dual band wifi router on budget, the Tenda has so far been very decent value for money.
(Just don't buy it on Takealot. You'll end up paying R1500 for a R500 router)
EDIT: Four months later and still happy with this hunk of plastic
Options:
1. Ubiquiti: the Gold standard. My neighbour runs a Ubiquiti setup and his Wifi covers the entirety of my home too. Alas, budget rules this out for now.
2. PoE: my wall sockets are on different electric circuits. I could probably get close enough to the far end of the house but I can't be sure. Wiring in the house is a mess in general and I decided not to take the chance.
3. Wifi Range Extenders: reading the MyBB forums, it seems this is a less ideal option. Mileage may vary...
4. Which left me with: purchasing a 'budget' Wifi Router
I eventually decided on the Tenda AC6 Smart 11ac Dual Band WiFi Router. Picked one up from Scoop (Dealer Excl VAT R395.00, Retail Incl VAT R575.00). I was under no illusions that it would be as good as similar products from Ubiquiti, TP Link, etc.. but I've come away impressed nonetheless. It's living up to my expectations and needs.
Pros:
- Decent web interface. Easily found every setting I was looking for. Tenda has a cellphone app too, which can be used to interact with the router. It works well but the app does not support AP mode (yet). Edit: To clarify, the router does support AP mode (it's just the app that doesn't right now) but you'll be forced to use only the web interface to interact with the router. If you don't see an AP mode option in your web interface you'll need to upgrade firmware.
- Dual Band (5Ghz & 2.4Hhz): connect your devices needing higher bandwidth (HTPC, console) up to the 5Ghz network and keep them separated from other devices like cellphones which you connect to your 2.4Ghz network. Everything in my home runs over Wifi and network degradation has been noticeable in the past if all devices are connected. Things are running far more smoothly now. Really like this feature.
- Coverage/range: I now have decent coverage throughout the home. Roughly 50% signal at the far end of the house (up from 0%), completely usable. I tossed the old ADSL router I was using as a range extender and disabled Wifi on my LTE router. No need for any other Wifi routers anymore.
Cons:
- Router documentation is not great but also not the worst I've seen. You'll easily find all the basic setting by just exploring the interface for a few minutes.
- Build quality: it'll probably survive a few drops (edit: it did!) but you do get what you pay for here. It looks okay at least.
- EDIT: LAN Ports are limited to 100mbps. Not an issue in my particular use case but noteworthy none the less. If this is a deal killer, you may want to consider some of the other Tenda models like the AC9.
Parting thoughts:
First off, this is by no means a comprehensive review or even a recommendation. I need to test it for a longer period of time and there are a few more features I still want to play around with like Beamforming and a Wifi scheduler (for power saving). If you're looking for a dual band wifi router on budget, the Tenda has so far been very decent value for money.
(Just don't buy it on Takealot. You'll end up paying R1500 for a R500 router)
EDIT: Four months later and still happy with this hunk of plastic
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