Q: How much slower is a roaming network than a standard one? Is it worth it for me to set up a roaming network?
I am considering buying an Airport Express or two to strengthen my wifi network, but I don't know if it will do more harm than good. I read that adding extensions to networks creates additional load and can slow things down. I have 1gb fiber optic hardwired into my house, and my Airport Extreme is located on the middle floor of my 3 story house. On the middle level, I get speeds of 200mb/s through wifi which is great, but on the top level i only get 50mb/s and on the bottom level it drops to 20mb/s. I have full house in-floor radiant heating with metal fins throughout the floors, and I think that might be responsible for the speed differences.
Should I add an Airport Express to the top and bottom level? There are ethernet connections so I can hardwire them to the Airport Extreme and create a roaming network. I wonder if I will get the full 200mb/s on the top and bottom level however, or if it will slow down the entire wifi network more than it is worth. Any advice from experts out there on what kind of overall performance drop I could expect going from a standard wifi setup (with only the Airport Extreme) to a roaming network?
Posted on Nov 19, 2015 12:30 PM
How much slower is a roaming network than a standard one?
Unfortunately, the way that your question is phrased, it incorrectly assumes that a roaming network is slower than another type of network, when in fact a roaming network is always the best choice in terms of network performance
I am considering buying an Airport Express or two to strengthen my wifi network, but I don't know if it will do more harm than good. I read that adding extensions to networks creates additional load and can slow things down.
Assuming that the AirPorts connect using wireless, (some folks would call this a standard network) the speed will slow by about 40-50% on average, and will likely be more than that depending on the location of the extending devices and obstructions in the signal paths.
Should I add an Airport Express to the top and bottom level? There are ethernet connections so I can hardwire them to the Airport Extreme and create a roaming network. I wonder if I will get the full 200mb/s on the top and bottom level
You should add AirPort Extremes.....not AirPort Express devices. As you know, the Express has only a 100 Mbps Ethernet port, so the top speed that it can ever achieve on a wireless or wired connection is 100 Mbps. The AirPort Extremes use 1,000 Mbps Ethernet ports......10 times faster.
Perhaps Apple says it best in their support document on extending a network.
Extending the range of your Wi-Fi network by connecting Wi-Fi base stations together using Ethernet is always the best option, and will provide the best throughput.
In the case of a wirelessly extended network, throughput may be reduced to less than 60 percent of that of a single device.
Posted on Nov 19, 2015 2:13 PM
