Can I use a TP-LINK RE 550 1900 wifi extender with my Smart Hub?

[Bowkes]

I recently git the 1Gbp full fibre and had to relocate my router which means I have poor WiFi signal in my upstairs rooms.  EE unfortunately didn't offer me their Smart wifi as part of my signup and now I am kind of stuck on how to boost my wifi signal. So 2 questions really, 1) does the Smart Hub support OneMesh? And 2) does the Smart Hub work with the TP-LINK RE550 (which is currently on less than half price on Amazon)?

[Mustrum]

Putting them closer so they do work has to be better than leaving them where they are and not working - surely?

[JimM11]

@NatalieBark I have copied a link bottom of the page for you to have a look at regarding mesh, and as @Mustrum has pointed out to you, then let me say this and it's the same, the Tp-Link range extender will not be able to connect the smartwifi devices to the router, they have to connect to the router by themselves, think the app has the ability to show if they are in a good place but not sure, then the tp-link can be outside this range and possibly connect to one of them for further extension, but that would need to be tested. Have a read at the link when you get time.

https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/how-to-set-up-mesh-network#:~:text=You%E2%80%99ll%20only....

[NatalieBark]

All I can say is after 2 days walking around my house with the discs I found them really not able to cover for eg across the floor diagonally, although they need to see each other from 25 m.... Yes there are walls and staircase but if this is such an interference then what are they for? And I found that RE550 which I moved to the top floor is giving better signal then the disc which is on the same floor where I was testing the connection... Now thinking towards completely replacing those useless Smart discs with TP extenders... And RE550 is twice cheaper as EE gives only 3 discs and then they want 100£ for the disc... 

[JimM11]

@NatalieBark £ for £ the RE ext will possibly be cheaper, and they are also not a true mesh system, you do need to way up your options, and the EE Smartwifi mesh may have reduced power, did you read the mesh link? Tp-Link do make good products and you may only need 1 or 2 devices as they work completely different to a mesh. Test with one device see what it covers, then take to area were no coverage and see also what you get, then work out what you need....

Would be £240 over 24 months for upto 3 disk's supplied, plus anything additional at extra cost. And discount if you can manage to do any negotiation regarding same!

[Mustrum]

@NatalieBark   is this a new property, or have you had another supplier that was able to get WiFi in all the rooms you need it?

If it is a particularily large property then you would be better off starting again with suitable equipment. This may even need ethernet points in each floor with a proper Mest system to distribute WiFi signal where you need it.

[NatalieBark]

I had BT Whole Home with 4 discs - worked fine.

[NatalieBark]

so, if it will help anybody: I have reset the discs and one which was particularly "bad orange guy" now is aqua blue guy. So I forgave him. But also what you say here about TP working only from the hub... Sorry, not true. I had also bought a RE220. So what I did to activate was I WPNed it with one of the discs and it fount itself in the system and connected without me connecting it to the hub, so in another words, it did picked up the signal from the disc and not the hub. Secondly, via the Tether app I went ahead (I also did absolutely the same for the RE550) and renamed the network to my network removing those EXT and put the same password as for the main network. And it works there as if it's the same parent network without any problem!!! So, it behaves as a mesh item.

One thing I also would like to do is to find out what are the IP addresses for my discs - just to figure out what is now connected with what via the hub manager. However, in the hub manager there are no devices called Disc but I see some weird letter number names of 3 devices... Checked the EE app - you can see there the IP addresses of all except the discs. Any idea how to find this out?

[JimM11]

@NatalieBark Did you own the whole home wi-fi? If so why are you not using them, they work with the new EE smarthub+ router. And you need to read the reply, it was said that the EE smartwifi need to connect to the hub, not the tp-link. If you have the BT Whole Home disk set, they work with any compatible router! Edit below, link to BT you need.

BT Whole Home Wi-Fi | BT Help

[NatalieBark]

Yep, I do! Bought it some time ago. But read that they are not compatible with EE Hub… Haven’t tried, do they work?

[NatalieBark]

Ah and forgot one detail about the orange guy turning into aqua guy - I moved this guy all around the house and he was really bad orange even when was looking straight at his brother aqua. Then when resetting it I reset it AT THE LOCATION where I wanted it to be and paired there too. It took ages and the system was giving error messages that it can’t pair so had to do twice but after that it is now stable aqua. So I recon it’s important to pair it at the location and not next to the hub. But may be it’s just the effect of reset…