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+--- Thread: wireless range extender (/showthread.php?tid=14192)
wireless range extender - Negate - 03-04-2015
My parents have been complaining that the wireless has been dropping out on the far side of the house. The router is in the basement and that is where it will be staying. I am thinking of either getting a router to extend the range or getting a more purpose built device to extend the range. What do you think a good choice would be for this situation.
Re: wireless range extender - Mission Difficult - 03-04-2015
(03-04-2015, 04:43 PM)negate link Wrote: My parents have been complaining that the wireless has been dropping out on the far side of the house. The router is in the basement and that is where it will be staying. I am thinking of either getting a router to extend the range or getting a more purpose built device to extend the range. What do you think a good choice would be for this situation.
My parents have a similar issue. Router is at one end of the house, so the opposite end has weak signal. They had a Hawking wireless extender (300n I think?) which worked okay for a week and then started dropping all the time. They now have a Netgear dual band extender that seems to work better, but far from perfect. I was thinking a good idea for a household that doesn't want to run a cable to another access point would be using powerline adapters. Plug one in near the router, another one in a central location and then hook an access point up to it.
Re: wireless range extender - FlyingMongoose - 03-04-2015
(03-04-2015, 06:55 PM)Mission Difficult link Wrote: [quote author=negate link=topic=7485.msg283832#msg283832 date=1425505381]
My parents have been complaining that the wireless has been dropping out on the far side of the house. The router is in the basement and that is where it will be staying. I am thinking of either getting a router to extend the range or getting a more purpose built device to extend the range. What do you think a good choice would be for this situation.
My parents have a similar issue. Router is at one end of the house, so the opposite end has weak signal. They had a Hawking wireless extender (300n I think?) which worked okay for a week and then started dropping all the time. They now have a Netgear dual band extender that seems to work better, but far from perfect. I was thinking a good idea for a household that doesn't want to run a cable to another access point would be using powerline adapters. Plug one in near the router, another one in a central location and then hook an access point up to it.
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I have done this, it works so long as your original router and home's power wiring doesn't suck (if you can somehow ensure they're on the same circuit it's even better).
Re: wireless range extender - HeK - 03-05-2015
Radio in the basement is less then ideal. If you are unwilling to move the router, you could buy a decent and inexpensive wireless router (I am a fan of TPLink) disable the DHCP and set it up somewhere central within the household. Make sure you get one with external antennas so that you can correctly orientate them (as vertical as possible). I'd disable the wifi on the existing router if possible, otherwise name both SSIDs the same (but on different channels) and move the new accesspoint to the opposite end of the house. You can use a tool like inSSIDer to conduct a site survey; walk around the house and monitor signal levels, looking for dead zones and channel overlap with neighbours.
I'd personally interconnect the new AP with twisted pair and not powerline. Range extenders and repeaters will cost the same to implement as a second AP and will always be slower. A lot of newer wifi routers are coming with an 'AP-only' mode which can be selected during setup, simplifying configuration. Asus has featured this on many of their newer models.
Re: wireless range extender - CaffeinePowered - 03-05-2015
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-a-wifi-antenna-out-of-a-pringles-can-nb/
Re: wireless range extender - Negate - 03-05-2015
Some good ideas in here going to show my Dad some of these options and see what he's willing to go for.
Thanks for all the suggestions all.