We have more and more connected devices at home and most of them work through a Wi-Fi network. The range and strength of the wireless signal are not the same in all parts of the home or office.

The solution is to install a Wi-Fi repeater, like the FRITZ!Repeater that we will see in this tutorial. A Wi-Fi repeater connects to the router and amplifies the wireless signal so that it reaches more places with adequate connection quality.

If you also configure both devices in a mesh network (or Mesh), the router and the repeater will work as if they were a single access point, to easily connect what you want.

How to connect a Wi-fi repeater to your home router

The first of all will be to properly connect the Wi-Fi repeater to the electrical current and correctly link it with the router. These are the steps you must follow to achieve it:

First connect the Wi-Fi repeater to a socket that is close to the router. Then wait approximately 1min until the repeater has been turned on and the power and Wi-Fi stay lit.

Then press the button Connect/WPS of the repeater for about 1 s and release it again. When you do the latter, you will see that the WLAN LED will start to blink.

Within 2 min keep the button pressed Connect of the router, until the corresponding LED lights up.

After one of the signal strength LEDs on the repeater stay on, it means the repeater is properly connected to the router.

You can then unplug the repeater and take it anywhere in your home or office where you need to extend your wireless coverage.

Plugging it back into an outlet will restore the previously configured connection to the router. On the other hand, please note that you can also make the configuration by connecting the repeater to the router using a LAN cable (bridge mode).

Check the quality of the wireless connection

If you are using a router from the FRITZ!Box range with a repeater from the range FRITZ!Repeater, You can check the quality of the wireless connection using the LEDs or an app.

In the case of LEDs, you must first check what color the connection intensity LED is on the repeater. Thus, if the LED lights up green, the quality of the Wi-Fi connection is good; If the LED lights up orange, it means that the quality of the Wi-Fi connection is low. In the latter case, place the repeater elsewhere.

If you choose to use the app FRITZ!App Wi-Fi for verification, start this on your mobile device (it’s free for FRITZ! equipment). Then tap on the button my repeaters from the same FRITZ!App WLAN application and continue with Evaluate router/repeater position. The FRITZ!App WLAN will then display the quality of the connection.

If it suggests that you move the repeater, after doing so, go back to the FRITZ!App WLAN and from there press the refresh symbol to evaluate the connection again.

Configuration of the router and the repeater in a mesh network

If you use two products that support the Mesh network standard, such as a FRITZ!Box router and a FRITZ!Repeater, when you install using the steps above, both devices will automatically be linked in Mesh mode. This means that the router and repeater use the same protocols and passwords, despite being different access points.

In practice, this means that you can connect to any of them as if it were the same network, and browse with maximum speed, quality and minimum latency, throughout your home or office.

To make sure that the Mesh configuration is correct, access the FRITZ!Box user interface, look for the connected devices (router and repeater) and make sure that an icon with the Mesh symbol appears next to both of them. This means that they are well configured.

If not, you will need to configure the device manually. To do this, from the user interface of the FRITZ!Box router, access the menu Local network and click net mesh.

Next, from the tab mesh network setupactivate the option FRITZ!Box as mesh base. Finally, to save the changes in the configuration, click on Apply.

Now you must pair both devices (router and repeater) in Mesh mode. That is, you will have to carry out everything explained in the section ‘How to connect a Wi-Fi repeater to your home router’.