Most of the wireless range of Eufy security cameras, like the Eufy Cam 2 Pro, have a ‘central processing unit’ called a base station or in Eufyspeak, a HomeBase.
This HomeBase has many purposes; however, chief amongst its ‘functions’ is that it is marketed as a WiFi repeater, capable of making certain that WiFi signals reach the cameras where they are mounted in the most efficient manner possible.
However, it’s not that simple, neither it is straightforward: the process is quite complicated and you’ll be pardoned for not getting it straight on.
However, explained properly, it remains one of the simplest concepts to grasp and immediately understand.
This is what will be taking my time today. Let’s go, take a look.
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What Is A WiFi Repeater/Extender?
The WiFi protocol is quite an amazing thing: more efficient than Bluetooth and all the other older short wave protocols before it, it remains a truly amazing advance in short-range communication between devices that are WiFi enabled.
However, nothing is perfect and the WiFi protocol isn’t any exception. In a bid to prove this statement true, the protocol does not function in an awesome manner when there are barriers such as buildings or walls between the two or more devices that are expected to be in communication.
This often means a less than ideal scenario where two or more devices (connected by WiFi) that should be communicating with themselves effortlessly have challenges initiating or maintaining this ‘all-important communication with one another.
This is where you need a WiFi repeater or extender. Designed to come between your client devices and your home or office router, the WiFi extender picks up the WiFi signals from the router, ‘repeats’ or ‘extends’ same in a bid to properly serve areas or devices in ‘dead zones’ prior to the amplification.
The result, often, is a solid connection across buildings, walls, and other places separated from the physical router by means of a barrier or plain old distance.
Is The Eufy Base Station A True WiFi Repeater? Clue: NO!
The Eufy HomeBase 2 has been marketed on Amazon and the official Eufy website as a WiFi range extender: a device that amplifies your existing home WiFi signals in a manner consistent with a traditional WiFi repeater as explained immediately above here.
While this is satisfying in theory and exciting to have in practice, it is not the correct state of things, at least as relates to the base station and its WiFi extension capabilities.
What, from my use, is the case is that the Eufy base station creates a new network upon successfully connecting to your WiFi. This new network as created serves only the Eufy cameras or other Eufy-made products that rely on the base station for their normal day-to-day functioning.
This sort of reality is very different from the one traditional WiFi repeaters/extenders offer in that, while the HomeBase creates a completely new WiFi network that naturally is closer to the cameras and other Eufy products that need it, a traditional WiFi repeater, on the other hand, actually boosts your existing WiFi network to reach all devices that traditionally, rely on it, not selectively choosing which to serve by means of the creation of an entirely new network.
This is a big difference, worthy of careful note and consideration, especially if you’re considering buying the base station on the strength of its alleged WiFi extension abilities.
If The Eufy HomeBase Isn’t A True WiFi Extender, What Then Is It?
We’ve seen above that the base station offered by Eufy isn’t a true WiFi extender in the strict sense of the word. However, if you’re as curious as I am, you’ll certainly be bothered about what it is or more aptly, the features it has that made the manufacturer call it a WiFi extender in the first place.
The answer is quite simple and straight to the point: the Eufy HomeBase is a WiFi repeater for ONLY connected cameras and other Eufy branded products that rely on it for its operation, no more, no less.
This is achieved by creating a completely new network from the existing one and because it is normally placed between the cameras/Eufy products and the WiFi router, it naturally achieves this WiFi extender look-alike job seamlessly.
This is all there is to the base, as far as WiFi amplification is concerned.
Can A Traditional WiFi Repeater Be Used With The Eufy Camera Security System To Improve Things?
Things aren’t always as easy as they appear or read in the theoretical world when it comes to the real, hard, practical world. In the real world, theories are tested and most of the time, such theories may not meet up to the strict realities expected.
For instance, assuming the base station and the WiFi router need to be some distance apart from the cameras/other Eufy base station dependent gadgets, with some physical barriers like walls and selves in between; how practical will such a connection be? Will using a traditional WiFi repeater help things up, especially as relates to the connection between the router and the Eufy HomeBase?
The simple answer is yes, at least, on a plain, theoretical basis.
However, in the real world of usage, this will largely be dependent on the overall WiFi signal available to the base, which itself is hugely dependent on the quality of the repeater, the overall distance to be served, settings, and a plethora of other factors.
If, for instance, the quality of the WiFi signal or its overall strength when it reaches the base station from the home router is weak, you’ll be staring at an Eufy HomeBase with the dreaded red status light for more than is customary or even necessary for that matter.
Wrap Up
The base station of the Eufy security camera system has been advertised variously both online and off as being a WiFi repeater; the argument and selling point being that, it extends existing WiFi signals by way of repeating them to ‘blindspots’ in your home or office.
As clearly seen above, this isn’t the case. Rather, the base station creates its own unique WiFi setup and it is this new setup that the connected cameras or other Eufy products benefit from and use. This is why, even in the rather sad event of an internet blackout from the router, the cameras still record their footage and keep up their surveillance duties without a hitch.
However, since most of the time, the base is between the cameras and the home WiFi router, one may be forgiven for believing the obvious misinformation.
At least, until one connects any other (read: non-Eufy) WiFi-enabled device at spots where the cameras are mounted and such devices work perfectly, the understanding being that prior to the Eufy base station set up, the connection was flimsy at best, at those spots, for such devices.