Best wifi repeater for our tello?

iWiFly · Jan 25, 2019

Also support MI extender. The install is quick(1 minute for me), if you are afraid of China, just use one old phone for setup: dowload the app, and connect to tello, setup, then delete the app forever, no need to use it anymore. If you are not a genius to make it happen, then a tello does not send anything to 'the internet'. If the extender is not connected to any net, how can he send informations? After setting up it works just between the tello and your phone/tablet - not with the phone you did your setup on - he does not know what is the MI home app at all - just in case your fear still stands.

The best was the Xiaomi youth edition, I wonder if I'd have a chance to find one of this somewhere.. (nobody sells it) Untill that the MI works, in pure nature much more than 100 meters - did not measure, just I know the distance of our garden. Easy, quick, cheap, still avaiable on amazon, ebay, fits into your pocket, so you can even run with it

Did not try the other ones(Meross MRE 220 already sold out), but I feel no need to do so. I do not see any issue with the MI. Recommend.

ihf · Jan 25, 2019

Different model: https://www.amazon.com/meross-Extender-Wireless-Repeater-Supporting/dp/B079DP33R8
Couldn't find the 220

iWiFly · Jan 25, 2019

ihf said:
Different model: https://www.amazon.com/meross-Extender-Wireless-Repeater-Supporting/dp/B079DP33R8
Couldn't find the 220

That's why I wrote sold out (last week friday on ebay, amazon sold the last even earlier)

Walleye · Mar 19, 2019

sfs-archery said:
I have the Meross MRE 220. Very easy to install. No App needed.

First initial start:
Connect the MRE 220 with the powerbank
Connect the smartphone with the WIFI of the MRE220.
Start the tello wifi,
open meross.net in your Smartphone-browser
Select the Tello WIFI (the SSID you would like to "repeat") at meross.net and wait until the MRE220 finished the configuration
Connect Smartphone to the tello wifi-SSID
Done
***********

Procedure when you would like to fly

Start the tello
Connect the MRE 220 with the powerbank and wait till the LED Shows connection
Connect the Smartphone to the wifi-Tello SSID (if not done auomatically)
Start the tello app and have fun.

***********

Video Quality is improved (less frame dropping) and also the range is extended. But i do not have made any range experiments yet.
I am very happy with this solution.
The Xiaomi repeater was no choice because one app is needed and the app send my personal data from the smartphone home to China. (no protection of data privacy )

Regards
sfs-archery

Hello sfs,
I was able to find a Meross and following your excellent instruction have been able to connect. Unfortunately, after about 10-12 seconds, it disconnects, led turns solid red so I have no wifi through the Meross. I have tried resetting Meross several times, get a confirming solid green, then after connecting to the Tello app, it disconnects every time. I’m using a newer Android phone, Gsalaxy S9. Power bank is fully charged so I’m not sure why the connection keeps dropping. Any ideas? Thank you much!

Multipla Studios · Mar 19, 2019

The Mi Repeater is very good, the setup is easy, you just have to set the region to global, not to your own, otherwise you won't find the device in the app.

rookie · Mar 19, 2019

Walleye said:
Hello sfs,
I was able to find a Meross and following your excellent instruction have been able to connect. Unfortunately, after about 10-12 seconds, it disconnects, led turns solid red so I have no wifi through the Meross. I have tried resetting Meross several times, get a confirming solid green, then after connecting to the Tello app, it disconnects every time. I’m using a newer Android phone, Gsalaxy S9. Power bank is fully charged so I’m not sure why the connection keeps dropping. Any ideas? Thank you much!

I have the same problem. Not only with the Meross, but with the xiaomi as well.
I really like the Tello, but I get aggravated with the frame skip. I am on the lookout for a quadcopter, at a reasonable price point, that does not have that problem (without the use of a wifi range extender.) The Microdrone 4.0 sounds promising, but I am leery that the hype is nowhere the reality.
If Ryze/DJI would fix the frame jump, I would be happy where I am. I wouldn't even care about extending the range.

Ned Yeow · Mar 21, 2019

I use xiaomi wifi+ it's easy to setup. I just got confused when trying to add it but it showed up on my wifi list with a _plus on the wifi name of my Tello.

BlowMyTello · Feb 6, 2022

I got the TP-Link TL-WA820RE from suggestions on this forum and did a range test. I've not yet had the chance to do a control test (run a flight test without the extender at the same location). I placed it on the ground a meter or two away from me.

Signal drops to about 40dB at 80 meters. I pulled back my tello at 40dB wifi reading to not lose control.

I feel like that's the range I would be getting without the extender too. How about the rest who got the same USB extender? How far did it go?

Anyways, on another test with the range extender in front of my house flying down the street I got about 50 meters out and at about 7 meters altitude before experiencing wifi interference and video began breaking up. Frankly so far the results have been somewhat disappointing, considering others got much further out.

volate!lo · Feb 7, 2022

Not all wifi repeaters are made equal. Some are give vast improvements, others seem to be not much better than a phone with a good internal antenna layout.

My S7 was 100m before wifi signal dropped to risky levels. My Pixel does ~60m in the same location.

BlowMyTello · Feb 9, 2022

.

It’s now 2022 and 4 years passed since the tello came into the market. Last firmware update I noticed was 2 years ago.

I didn’t really like the idea of getting the xiaomi and the wifi +S wasn’t available in my local online store. The Pix-Link didn’t really inspire confidence in me, another similar looking one was the comfast but I didn’t notice much good impressions of it here. Wifi repeaters with power plugs flooded my search results in my online store searches, I guess USB repeaters are now overshadowed by those now.

So now I’m waiting for my second repeater to arrive, a Toushin USB wifi extender also that has been mentioned previously as inexpensive and provide good range.

Once that’s around and the opportunities align I’ll test it out and make a comparison video.

BlowMyTello · Feb 11, 2022

So the Toushi wifi repeater but I've only had the chance to briefly test it at my home.

First impressions tests first, more will come as I do more tests. I mounted it on my tripod with straight antenna orientation to get better signal. Below is the TL-WA820RE but I also did the same to the Toushi wifi repeater as I tried it out.

I flew for about 3 batteries worth of flights, signal appears stable within range and perhaps better wifi interference tolerance ...... but I experienced loss of video feed after flying for some time, I opened a separate topic about it here. I'm not sure if it was the repeater or some other thing. I turned off and on my wifi on my iphone, and it didn't help.

Then I connected directly to the Tello. It seems to be ok after that.

So from these observations, I think it's almost as if video traffic is being blocked or not forwarded by the repeater from my iphone to the Tello. Let me know what you guys think.

So as far as the comparison goes, it's somewhat inconclusive for now, unless someone else has ideas. I turned on airplane mode on my fitness watch, turned on airplane mode on my iphone. I run iOS 15.3 on iphone 11 along with the Gamesir T1s.

Taking a closer look at the Toushi and comparing with the TL-WA820RE, you can see the TP-Link appears to have more markings that show it has complied to the EC standards, ROHS and such, while the Toushi basically has nothing of the sort, QR code opens a browser to the private IP management page.

If there's loss of video feed, then it's definitely a dealbreaker. We'll have to see.

#Update 2022.02.12

Flew more today and I’ve come to the conclusion that wifi interference couldn’t be overcome with wifi extenders.

I got approximately same range and performance with the Toushi versus the TP-Link TL-WA820RE. There’s likely nothing I would push the tello more in this environment with either usb wifi repeaters.

30 meters radius . That’s what I can confidently fly in an area with lots of wifi interference. I think there’s at least 6-7 WIFI SSIDs that I can detect at my area, and that’s not even moving around which what the tello would experience as it goes down the street.

Here’s the flight video for reference. Comments?

I would say this is already a hard place to fly, flying over the trees and repeating rooftop patterns would confuse the VPS. The multiple wifi APs would hurt our signal if we're drifting, add high winds to the mix and we could so easily lose our tello on the rooftop.

Also, the RTH feature of the app seems to get not only get its horizontal distance off if vps became inactive for a second or two, but also the vertical distance from the ground.

I set my RTH minimum height to 13 meters to clear the trees before takeoff, it lost VPS for a second (before the video) then I noticed when initiating RTH it already should have been at 8 meters from looking at how high it was already up, but the vertical distance only showed a reading of 5 meters!

I was also pretty lucky in this flight, my home point also got thrown off way out when the VPS got confused but it thankfully was in the safe direction. If it decided that its home point is now 20 meters further out then it could just fly confidently out of my coverage.

So we’ve really got to be careful when flying. It’s not easy, but that’s where the fun lies.

So Tello 2 wishlist ! :
1. GPS
2. SD Card slot
3. Better wind resistance