2 Cables or 1 Cable With A Switch

[zero_cool]

I have limited experience in home networking and wanted to the most efficient way to solve my connection needs.

I have placed the router along with the fiber optic box in the living room but my workstation (laptop and monitors) as well as gaming desktop is in the bedroom. Since the range from the main setup wasn't strong and inconsistent, I created an access point in room by running a cable from the router but now, I had to reevaluate my connection setup as the download speeds and latency on the desktop aren't the best.

To counter it, I have two options; First, run a second cable parallel to the first one and plug it in my desktop and leave the other one in the access point as it is now. Second, plug the existing cable in a gigabit switch and branch two cables, one to the access point and other to the desktop.

The latter is more convenient but I want to know what are the downsides to such a setup apart from the extra hardware? Will I get the same speed and latency as I would've directly connect to the router or will there be a drop in speeds if I use both the access point for WIFI data consumption and the desktop as well? My internet speed is 300 MBPS, I will use at CAT 6 cable for a length of 25 meters.

 

[gwrench2000]

It would help to know what gear you are using.
How fast is ur net connection 100Mbs+?
Are both the routers gigabit ?
Are you using wire or wireless on laptop?

Assuming you have both identical routers and good quality CAT6 wire which has been crimped properly and is away from sources of electro magnetic inteference, like electrical wires, a/c, microwave etc... and the run of wire is less than 90meters, then there is no reason you should get slower speed on the second router in the bedroom.

Have you checked the wire with a proper line tester and does the pc show a 1Gbps link speed? Poor wiring **will** deliver poor performance even if you have a the best router, so i would check the wire closely.

 

[zero_cool]

It would help to know what gear you are using.
How fast is ur net connection 100Mbs+?
Are both the routers gigabit ?
Are you using wire or wireless on laptop?

Assuming you have both identical routers and good quality CAT6 wire which has been crimped properly and is away from sources of electro magnetic inteference, like electrical wires, a/c, microwave etc... and the run of wire is less than 90meters, then there is no reason you should get slower speed on the second router in the bedroom.

Have you checked the wire with a proper line tester and does the pc show a 1Gbps link speed? Poor wiring **will** deliver poor performance even if you have a the best router, so i would check the wire closely.

My internet speed is 300 MBPS. My router is TP Link Archer C9 and the access point is TP-Link RE450 which I've connected with a cord. To ensure no downsides, I used the wire as crimped from the manufacturer. On 5Ghz, I get 180 MBPS on the Access Point which is just 10% lower than the router speed and with cable, I get a good 300 MBPS. These tests are on the laptop but the concern here is my desktop.

 

[gwrench2000]

Is the desktop on wifi too? Please run the test on both routers using the same equipment..,. Wireless performance depends on both the transmitter and the receiver, i.e. your router as well as your wifi receiver in ur laptop, so if one is not up-to-the mark the performance will be slow. The TP-Link RE450 is primarly designed as a wireless repeater. While you have connected it with wire, please ensure it actually set to ap mode and is not in repeater mode.... Repeater mode will lessen ur speed.

 

[greenhorn]

Are you computers connecting using 5ghz? Default is 2.4, and while that's more reliable for low signals, but speeds will be low

 

[zero_cool]

Is the desktop on wifi too? Please run the test on both routers using the same equipment..,. Wireless performance depends on both the transmitter and the receiver, i.e. your router as well as your wifi receiver in ur laptop, so if one is not up-to-the mark the performance will be slow. The TP-Link RE450 is primarly designed as a wireless repeater. While you have connected it with wire, please ensure it actually set to ap mode and is not in repeater mode.... Repeater mode will lessen ur speed.

This comment got me thinking while I have set up RE540 in Access Point mode, I was wondering why I saw a drop of 100 MBPS in my speed on WiFi. I ran a speed test on my work laptop and surprisingly, the results were on par with the wired connection. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I ran tests on my phone and the desktop with its build-in WiFi receiver and the speed was really good. This implied the WiFi card in my 2019 laptop was outdated and the connection via AP is good enough. I will not be bothering with a switch for now.

@greenhorn and @gwrench2000
Thanks for your responses.

 

[greenhorn]

What is the wifi card on your laptop? Usually they are upgradeable. Have done that in all my laptops

 

[zero_cool]

What is the wifi card on your laptop? Usually they are upgradeable. Have done that in all my laptops

My current card is a Realtek RTL8821CE and upgrading the card is not an option for me. This card has a single antenna cable unlike an Intel card so, I might get WiFi by swapping this, I will need to rely on a Bluetooth adapter to connect any devices. I would rather deal with inferior speeds than block already limited ports of my laptop. I guess, the only takeaway here is to not purchase any HP laptops and go with Dell or Lenovo which use Intel cards that are upgradable.