Extender or Access point with XR500?

[Mirco29]

I have an ADSL 20/2Mbps connection and need something to extend the signal of the XR500 to the other portion of the house (with a thick wall in between).

Do you suggest an extender or an access point?Any differences between plugging a LAN cable into the Extender vs an Access point?

[Newfie]

2 hours ago, Mirco29 said:

I have an ADSL 20/2Mbps connection and need something to extend the signal of the XR500 to the other portion of the house (with a thick wall in between).

Do you suggest an extender or an access point?Any differences between plugging a LAN cable into the Extender vs an Access point?

A lot depends on the extender. I use the NG EX8000 extenders, these offer extender and Access point modes.

In Access mode you will need a wired connection between the extender and your X500. It’s triband in this mode and anything connected to it will show as wired on the XR500 device manager side and is the best way to go.

In extender mode you need the router to use a higher 5Ghz channel so you my have to use DFS. This will mean a backhaul channel of 1733mbps is used to link the extender to the XR500  and the extender will act like a dual band with the 5Ghz giving a max 866mbps rate.  This is the correct way to set it up. However in this mode it can be messy when dealing with Duma as it sees the extender as a device and struggles to control what is connected to the extender. This is a not a fault of Duma it’s just is not designed to work this way.

now the tricky part, no doubt you want to use it as roaming (same SSID name/names) but if the router and extender are fairly close roaming will not work so well as it’s dependant on the device.that’s not to say it’s an issue but positioning is important. Both offer transmit power so you can adjust a little but it’s pretty basic. 
 

personally Access mode is the best way to go with Duma for the best method of controlling devices.

[Mirco29]

Sorry, double reply, read below

[Mirco29]

2 hours ago, Newfie said:

A lot depends on the extender. I use the NG EX8000 extenders, these offer extender and Access point modes.

In Access mode you will need a wired connection between the extender and your X500. It’s triband in this mode and anything connected to it will show as wired on the XR500 device manager side and is the best way to go.

In extender mode you need the router to use a higher 5Ghz channel so you my have to use DFS. This will mean a backhaul channel of 1733mbps is used to link the extender to the XR500  and the extender will act like a dual band with the 5Ghz giving a max 866mbps rate.  This is the correct way to set it up. However in this mode it can be messy when dealing with Duma as it sees the extender as a device and struggles to control what is connected to the extender. This is a not a fault of Duma it’s just is not designed to work this way.

now the tricky part, no doubt you want to use it as roaming (same SSID name/names) but if the router and extender are fairly close roaming will not work so well as it’s dependant on the device.that’s not to say it’s an issue but positioning is important. Both offer transmit power so you can adjust a little but it’s pretty basic. 
 

personally Access mode is the best way to go with Duma for the best method of controlling devices.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply.

I would prefer a wired connection anyway so I might just get the extender and wire it like you said, I though it resulted in a "bad" access point for some reason but apparently not.

Considering I only have an ADSL connection (20/2), which one should I get between the EX7000, EX7700 and EX8000? The price difference is not that much.

Do you know if it makes any difference wiring my console to the AP or directly to the router in this case?
Will every device appear on the same QoS whether connected to the router or to the AP?

[Newfie]

All devices connected to the extender in AP mode should show up as if they are wired to the router. Any device connected to the access point which is acting like a switch will be as good as wiring into the router it’s self. 
 

I don’t know the other extenders or how they perform sadly but I’ve had no issues with the EX8000. 
 

is it that the WiFi from the XR500 is struggling to cover your property?

[Mirco29]

46 minutes ago, Newfie said:

All devices connected to the extender in AP mode should show up as if they are wired to the router.

That's great to know, thanks for the info.

Haven't received the XR500 yet, but I doubt it would work considering I need to cover the second portion of the house which is separated by thick walls.
I currently have a Fritzbox 7430 (modem-router) which is a bit outdated but the signal gets weak in the other portion so I'm using an old Netgear Extender to have full coverage.
Don't know if routers like the XR500 are more "powerful" in that sense?

[Newfie]

You might find the XR500 has better coverage. You could try moving the router to a central position for better coverage. 

[Mirco29]

6 minutes ago, Newfie said:

You might find the XR500 has better coverage. You could try moving the router to a central position for better coverage. 

Alright, I'll try this before eventually getting an extender/AP.
What if I need to run LAN cables on the other side of the wall, should I just use a simple switch maintaining all the QoS settings?

[Newfie]

7 minutes ago, Mirco29 said:

Alright, I'll try this before eventually getting an extender/AP.
What if I need to run LAN cables on the other side of the wall, should I just use a simple switch maintaining all the QoS settings?

Yes a simple switch as Duma will control the QoS on any connected devices so you need an unmanaged switch if that’s what you are after.

[Mirco29]

14 minutes ago, Newfie said:

Yes a simple switch as Duma will control the QoS on any connected devices so you need an unmanaged switch if that’s what you are after.

Perfect, I will test all of this as soon as it arrives. Thank you for being so helpful.