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Connecting a google wifi to another google wifi extender

Neubie_YYC
Community Member

Hi, I have a google wifi connected to my router. The router is at one end of the home that's on a fairly large property. The first extender is maybe 30 feet away and has good connectivity. The second extender is about another 30 feet away from the first extender (so 60 feet away from the router and first point). I have very poor connectivity there. I thought that the second extender would connect to the first extender, but now I believe they actually work by all connecting to the router/first point. I understand that there may be a way for the second extender to connect to the first extender, not the router/first point, but I can't seem to find a solution to help me set it up that way. Any help would be so very much appreciated! thx!

1 Recommended Answer

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @Neubie_YYC 

It's a little more complex than that. The mesh secondary units (what you are calling "extenders") will connect directly if they can at all – even if that connection isn't particularly strong. So, your distant secondary is connecting directly to the primary because it is managing to get through, albeit slowly. If it went through the other secondary as an intermediary, though, all of that traffic would have to be sent over the same channel twice, which would reduce performance as well. So, it wouldn't necessarily be faster. There are more complex reasons they don't do that, but the short version is that for optimal performance, follow the placement advice: primary as close to the center of the home as possible with secondaries no more than one or two rooms away from there. They will provide connectivity to more distant clients from those positions. In your case, if you just can't find a way to move the primary to the middle (by running an Ethernet cable), you might actually get better performance by removing the distant secondary so clients in that area connect to the middle secondary. 

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5 REPLIES 5

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @Neubie_YYC 

It's a little more complex than that. The mesh secondary units (what you are calling "extenders") will connect directly if they can at all – even if that connection isn't particularly strong. So, your distant secondary is connecting directly to the primary because it is managing to get through, albeit slowly. If it went through the other secondary as an intermediary, though, all of that traffic would have to be sent over the same channel twice, which would reduce performance as well. So, it wouldn't necessarily be faster. There are more complex reasons they don't do that, but the short version is that for optimal performance, follow the placement advice: primary as close to the center of the home as possible with secondaries no more than one or two rooms away from there. They will provide connectivity to more distant clients from those positions. In your case, if you just can't find a way to move the primary to the middle (by running an Ethernet cable), you might actually get better performance by removing the distant secondary so clients in that area connect to the middle secondary. 

ok thanks a lot for the quick response. I can't move the router closer to the middle of the home so I'll try and remove the furthest secondary point and see if that helps! Thanks again!

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, Neubie_YYC.

I just wanted to check in to see if you were able to try moving that point and to see if it had any impact for you. Hopefully things worked out, but if not, please let us know so we can keep helping.

Thanks!

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, everyone.
Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.
Thanks.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, everyone.
As we haven't had any activity here recently I'm going to go ahead and close the thread. If you have more to add, feel free to start a new discussion.
Thanks