My home office is pretty much the only room in the house with bad WiFi.
Router is about 50 ft away with a couple rooms/walls between us. Internet itself is good and WiFi works fine everywhere closer to the router, but in the office the signal drops hard. Teams calls sometimes freeze and webpages randomly take forever to load.
Moving the router isn’t really an option because that’s where the fiber comes into the house.
What are my realistic options here? Extender? Mesh? Second AP?
If you can run Ethernet to the office, do that. Put a small switch there, wire the work PC, and add an access point if you still want good WiFi for the laptop/phone. That’s the boring answer because it’s also the answer that works.
@here.now Ethernet is possible, just annoying. I’d probably have to go through the attic. Was hoping there was a less painful option, but I’m not completely against it.
Before buying anything, I’d figure out where the signal actually falls apart. I use NetSpot for stuff like this. Do a quick survey from the router toward the office instead of just checking the WiFi bars at your desk. You might find that the office itself isn’t the problem — sometimes there’s one wall or section of the hallway where the signal just gets murdered. That also gives you a much better idea where a second AP or mesh node should go. And if you’re deciding between an AP and mesh, NetSpot’s Planning Mode can help too. You can sketch out the floor plan, test a few possible device locations, and get a rough idea of how coverage might change before buying hardware or running cable.
If you don’t want to run Ethernet, I’d go with a decent mesh system. The TP-Link Deco X55 is a solid option for a typical house. Put the second node halfway between the router and office — not in the dead zone.