Sat Oct 30, 2021 12:29 pm
Wifi is bidirectional (it's not like radio broadcast), and the weakest transmitter will define the range.
Battery powered devices have a much lower TX power than an AP. It can be 10 fold lower (10 dBm) , what in free field makes the range 2.5 times smaller.
It is complex, and general equations mostly don't explain the range. Obstructions, absorption and reflections define the radiation pattern. Reception is further disturbed by noise and interference.
The AP placement is very important for that pattern. wAP and cAP probably are against the wall or ceiling. A corner is like a very thick wall.
If you already have a MT device, do read all the information in the "registration table" when connected (signal strength, SINR, noise level, CCQ, interface rates (speed/chains/guard), throughput, ....).
Check for interference with Scan, Snooper and Freq-Usage.
Try to find the root cause of your range issues.
Antenna gain on the AP will help receivie a weak device signal, and will extend the range in free-field. What that will do indoors through wall and ceilings is difficult to predict.
The TX Power of an AP with higher gain antenna will be reduced by regulation requirements. (e.g. an 8 dBi antenna will reduce the TX power to 12 dBm, for 20dBm allowed EIRP level)
This reduction is compensated in the high gain direction of the antenna, but the signal is reduced in any other direction, and indoors you don't know what the (multi-)path is.