Using iPhone 13 and range extender

Range extenders have never been very good. If you have a large home with difficult to reach areas, a mesh network is what you’re after.

As for using the hotspot on your phone, be very very careful about that. Many unlimited plans are NOT actually unlimited… There is almost always a cap on hotspot data usage. The hotspot on the phone was never intended to provide you a way to get whole home internet service 24/7.

If you are in the US you should check out some of the new cellular 5G broadband routers, such as T-Mobile Home Internet or Verizon Home Internet. The provide a router that gets its signal from the carrier’s 5G network, so it does not require any wiring; you just put it in a window and turn it on and it provides a reliable connection. I have a T-Mobile, and their local network has millimeter band (“uc”) available, so I get 500 mbps on average, and it’s unlimited. It’s $50/month ($30 if your mobile carrier is T-Mobile). Verizon has a similar product; AT&T does not.

I have Verizon FiOS, but for $30 a month I also have and use the T-Mobile as backup.

And it DOES work with range extenders, or you can connect a mesh network off of it through its 2 Ethernet ports.

Extender.....IF....it even works, will very likely be problematic.

Remember that a hotspot signal is not true Wi-Fi, like a regular Wi-Fi router would produce. That's why you don't see an actual Wi-Fi connection icon when your Mac connects to the hotspot. Instead, you see that weird looking icon since the actual signal is Bluetooth.

As a quick test, I used a spare AirPort Express that I have here and tried to set it up to join the hotspot network and extend the "Wi-Fi". No go. Could not get the AirPort Express to recognize the hotspot signal....likely because the hotspot is not really Wi-Fi.

Would another brand of extender work? Don't know, but since I was using an Apple iPhone and an Apple Wi-Fi device, that was probably the best chance at compatibility.

Since you cannot get broadband, your only real option would be one of the satellite providers, who will furnish you with a regular Wi-Fi router. That is going to broadcast a far stronger signal at much higher speeds than an iPhone using a tiny antenna buried inside the phone.

https://www.satelliteinternet.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=1560471491&utm_content=62969946641&utm_term=kwd-19452501&kbid=122973&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsa2896OT_QIVRRXUAR3oIQ3jEAAYBCAAEgKChPD_BwE

I can’t recommend that at all. Check with some of the cellular home internet providers to see what’s available to you.