Is wifi extender needed

[Bruinator]

Hi,

 

All my tvs' are connected to wifi. On the one I use mostly the connection drops causing a black screen instead of what I am viewing. After talking to verizon, they said I should reboot my router every 2 to 3 weeks to help resolve it. Also, they mentioned getting a wifi extender would help it without having to reboot my router.

 

Which methed do you think would work better to solve my issue.

 

TIa

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I would say that it depends. Does the TV disconnect because the signal is poor?

I'm not sure that is the best advice they have provided. I would say that if I was told that I needed to reboot my router every 2 to 3 weeks I would be looking to get a different router.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I have an AP wireless device in my living room. Pretty much goes everywhere in this one-story house.

(shouldn't this go in Networking Forum?)

[Bruinator]

On 15/03/2025 at 12:49, Nick H. said:

I would say that it depends. Does the TV disconnect because the signal is poor?

I

yes, Nick that is what they told me. Do you think otherwise?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 15/03/2025 at 20:47, Bruinator said:

yes, Nick that is what they told me. Do you think otherwise?

I think that this needs more information before I can give a real opinion. My questions are the following:

• What is the signal strength for the TV when it is connected to the WiFi?
• Where is the router located in relation to the TV that is having issues?
• If you can temporarily connect the TV to the router via a cable, does it suffer the same issues?

Their suggestion of resetting the router every couple of weeks doesn't make any sense for multiple reasons, but the primary reason for it not making sense is that all the other devices continue to work fine (I assume?). So the issue isn't the do with the router.

@Mindovermasteris right, this is better suited in the networking area. I'll move it now.

[Bruinator]

On 15/03/2025 at 17:17, Nick H. said:

I think that this needs more information before I can give a real opinion. My questions are the following:

• What is the signal strength for the TV when it is connected to the WiFi?
• Where is the router located in relation to the TV that is having issues?
• If you can temporarily connect the TV to the router via a cable, does it suffer the same issues?

Their suggestion of resetting the router every couple of weeks doesn't make any sense for multiple reasons, but the primary reason for it not making sense is that all the other devices continue to work fine (I assume?). So the issue isn't the do with the router.

@Mindovermasteris right, this is better suited in the networking area. I'll move it now.

Hi Nick, I am assuming you are looking for some sort of signal strength via a number cause the original answer that was given was poor. My laptop in the same room as the tv has a wired connection. I am wondering if I use a splitter on that connection and connect the tv via cable if that would solve the issue. That way i dont have to run a long cable and drill a hole through my floor to run it directly? Your thought on that plz?

 

TIA

[Mockingbird]

Do you have a gateway or a modem and a router?

[Bruinator]

modem and router i believe.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 15/03/2025 at 21:43, Bruinator said:

Hi Nick, I am assuming you are looking for some sort of signal strength via a number cause the original answer that was given was poor. My laptop in the same room as the tv has a wired connection. I am wondering if I use a splitter on that connection and connect the tv via cable if that would solve the issue. That way i dont have to run a long cable and drill a hole through my floor to run it directly? Your thought on that plz?

 

TIA

I'll need to take a look at my TV tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure they offer a signal strength rather than just "connected/disconnected." Your laptop could provide you with a rough idea if you try and connect it to the WiFi, although I appreciate that the WiFi cards will be different.

But yes, I want to know the WiFi signal strength in that room in order to continue the troubleshooting.

[Bruinator]

On 15/03/2025 at 17:49, Nick H. said:

I'll need to take a look at my TV tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure they offer a signal strength rather than just "connected/disconnected." Your laptop could provide you with a rough idea if you try and connect it to the WiFi, although I appreciate that the WiFi cards will be different.

But yes, I want to know the WiFi signal strength in that room in order to continue the troubleshooting.

Nick connection is as stated:  

DOWNLOAD

225

Mbps

UPLOAD

138

Mbps

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 15/03/2025 at 22:36, Bruinator said:

Nick connection is as stated:  

DOWNLOAD

225

Mbps

UPLOAD

138

Mbps

Ok, but that is you network connection speed. What I'm asking about is the signal strength that your TV is reporting. For example, in Linux I can run wavemon and see the following information:

 

You should be able to find similar information under your TV's settings; possibly under the network options.

[+BudMan MVC]

Might be a hidden/debug menu - would depend on your TV. What specific TV do you have?

I have a hisense in the guest room - without going into any hidden/debug menus (if there are any).. What I can get for signal is "good"

An extender is almost always the worst solution - if you need better signal, better to put a wired AP closer to your clients. A extender will almost always cut the available bandwidth in half.. Unless you have one that uses a different band for the uplink than what the clients are using.

If you have a wire into the room where your TV is, you mention your laptop is using a wire - then yeah you could get a switch, have been seeing them use the term ethernet splitter - but they are actually switches.  Splitters that split the 8 wires to 4 each require another device on the other end where the switch is - and they limit speed to 100mbps per connection, etc. Those are rarely a good solution.. A 5 to 8 port gig switch can be had for like 20 to 40 bucks.. They can be very small..

Shoot a unifi flex mini for like 40 bucks is teeny tiny little thing.. And you can even power it via poe. Its also can be powered by usb - so you could plug it into one of your TVs or laptop usb ports to power it even.

Another option if the wifi on the TV isn't very good - just use a media stick/box, roku, apple tv, etc.  This is quite often a good solution because the apps on smart tvs are normally crap and behind in version, etc.

I use a roku stick on my hisense tv in the guest room - because I hate the hisense interface.. I have it still connected to the network, so it can update - and if for whatever reason if the stick gave out I could use the tvs apps until I got a replacement stick, etc.

 

 

 

[Bruinator]

Verizon used a wifi extender and connected my coaxil cable to it increasing the strength of wifi which brought connection speed from 200/180 to 580/520 u/d speed.  I will have to wait a few weekstosee how the picture on tv is.

[+BudMan MVC]

On 24/03/2025 at 22:13, Bruinator said:

connected my coaxil cable to it increasing

So they connected it via moca - ie a wire, it is not an "extender" then its just a AP.  Extender rebroadcasts the wifi, cutting bandwidth in half. Unless the extender uses a different radio/band then what the client is using to talk to the extender, the available bandwidth to the client is roughly going to be half.

200ish mpbs is more than enough for any sort of TV stream.. If you were having problems streaming it wasn't a bandwidth issue.. Unless you were trying to stream something locally that was a remux at a very high bitrate.. None of the online services, netflix, hulu, etc.. have any such requirements for bandwidth even for 4k..  Netflix states 15mbps or higher for their UHD content.. Hulu states 16 mbps https://help.hulu.com/article/hulu-speed-recommendations

A extender can help extend the range of the wifi - but it comes at a cost of total available bandwidth.

So they put in this

https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/equipment/moca-ethernet-adapter

 

 

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 15/03/2025 at 16:17, Nick H. said:

I think that this needs more information before I can give a real opinion. My questions are the following:

• What is the signal strength for the TV when it is connected to the WiFi?
• Where is the router located in relation to the TV that is having issues?
• If you can temporarily connect the TV to the router via a cable, does it suffer the same issues?

Their suggestion of resetting the router every couple of weeks doesn't make any sense for multiple reasons, but the primary reason for it not making sense is that all the other devices continue to work fine (I assume?). So the issue isn't the do with the router.

@Mindovermasteris right, this is better suited in the networking area. I'll move it now.

I tell people "if you have to reset your router every couple weeks, you have major router issues."

[adrynalyne]

On 29/03/2025 at 17:53, Warwagon said:

I tell people "if you have to reset your router every couple weeks, you have major router issues."

Major issues? More like typical for the average crappy consumer routers. 

[Move Star Logistics]

A WiFi extender is needed if your current WiFi signal is weak or doesn't reach certain areas of your home or office.

[gowtham07]

Hey!! Rebooting helps temporarily, but if the signal is weak where the TV is, a WiFi extender is a better fix. It'll boost the signal and keep your connection steady. Go for an extender. 👍