Can I Plug An Ethernet Cable Into A WiFi Extender?

Setting up a network that is reliable, convenient, and fast is not an easy task. You need to be extremely careful about how you are setting up the network and tread on these grounds with caution.

However, there are some cool tricks that can make you achieve your goals on your home or office network without making a mess of cables around your stations.

For most people, cables are a mess and they want to have a clean, minimalistic workstation. But some people want to have an ethernet connection for better performance of the internet on the PC.

Can I Plug An Ethernet Cable Into A WiFi Extender?

Yes, you can connect a Wi-Fi Extender with Ethernet cable for two applications. If you are using or looking to use a Wi-Fi extender and want to look for the compatibility of the extender with an ethernet cable. Here is how it works.

Wi-Fi extender

A Wi-Fi extender is a device that enhances the signal strength from your existing Wi-Fi router. The main difference between a booster and Wi-Fi extender is that a booster only improves the signal strength that would increase the geographical area covered by your Wi-Fi router.

But an extender on the other hand improves the speed and connectivity as well, by creating a Wi-Fi network of its own that is collaborating with your original Wi-Fi router.

It can be connected with your Wi-Fi router through different cables or through Wi-Fi connection itself, but it needs to be plugged into a power outlet. If you are looking to plug an Ethernet cable into a Wi-Fi extender, there are two concepts that you must be aware of.

Connecting the Extender with the router via Ethernet Cable

While the most optimal solution is to connect your Wi-Fi Extender with your original Wi-Fi router through Wi-Fi itself. It has some drawbacks as well that you don’t want to have on your network.

These include the low speed of the internet, occasional signal losses, connectivity errors, and more. Just be mindful that you are plugging the cable in an input port, and not the output port.

So, most of the Wi-Fi extenders have an ethernet port on them that works as an input port. What you need to do is, connect an ethernet cable to one of the output ports on your router and then connect that cable to the input port of your Wi-Fi extender.

This would improve the connection between both and you can enjoy a seamless browsing experience. This would work for you well if there is more difference between the router and extender and you are okay to have some wire laying around.

Connecting a device with Extender via Ethernet cable

If you are looking to improve the speed of connection for your Gaming PC, laptop, Smart TV or gaming console, you can connect it with an Ethernet cable as well.

There are multiple output ports on your extender that you can use for this purpose.

All you need to do is connect an Ethernet cable to one of these output ports on the Wi-Fi extender and connect the other end to your device. It would work totally fine, as these ports are designed for the same purpose.