Alternative to Range Extender

Esmondo

Hi all

I've spent ages trawling through all the wonderful and helpful threads but haven't found anything that specifically answers my question in simple enough terms for a non-techie person such as me......

I work from home and use an internet connection to my work server, so a good connection is vital. I found that my signal was very weak in my living room, as my router is in the upstairs bedroom and can't be moved, so a friend suggested a range extender and I have a Netgear WN2000RPT located in the living room. Now, when it is co-operating the signal is fantastic - nearly always all the little green bars showing. The problems I have, however are: (1) It somehow loses connection infuriatingly while I am working at least 10-15 times during the day; in most cases it reconnects itself within minutes and occasionally I have to reboot everything, but when you are in the middle of an important document or online action this is still very inconvenient! and (2) where it needs to be located is not near a wall socket so I have an extension lead draping across the living room, which whilst trivial and aesthetic only, is still not ideal.

Anyway, I read on some of the threads that there is something called a Powerline and my tiny grasp of this suggests it could be a way of doing away with the extension lead and dodgy connection issues? Can anyone please tell me if this is the case, or if I'm barking up the wrong tree? Is it a simple system to install? Where would I buy it?

Thank you lovelies! x

JJ_Egan

http://www.box.co.uk/TP-Link_AV200_Mini_Powerline_Adapter_Kit_1065636.html

Thast what i used ,
Plug in to power socket one near router one near equipment downstairs . Ethernet connection router to power line Ethernet connection downstairs to equipment .
Press button on powerline one followed by powerline two . All done .

Works well i use to stream Video and for TV internet .

jje

Esmondo

Wow, that looks really easy! So no wires at all? I literally plug one in near my wifi router and one downstairs near my laptop and I'm done?

buglawton

this is simple & so cheap it's worth a punt - the corner model gets the best reviews:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/compact-high-gain-directional-corner-antenna-for-wireless-networks-38205?c=froogle&u=38205&t=module

Also, use inSSider to check you are not sharing a WiFi channel with a near neighbour
http://download.cnet.com/inSSIDer/3000-2085_4-10848357.html

Esmondo

Thank you Buglawton, this is looking like much less of a problem than I thought! Re. the inSSIDer software, it says it's for XP and Vista and I have Windows 7 so not sure if I can download that - also, I wouldn't really know what to do if I was sharing a channel!

espresso

Esmondo wrote: »

Thank you Buglawton, this is looking like much less of a problem than I thought! Re. the inSSIDer software, it says it's for XP and Vista and I have Windows 7 so not sure if I can download that - also, I wouldn't really know what to do if I was sharing a channel!

You have said that "nearly always all the little green bars showing" so you first need to establish if you are actually losing your wireless connection to the router or the connection from your router to your ISP.

There is no point buying anything until you know what the problem is. inSSIDER works fine with Win 7 so you can see what wireless channel you are using and what other channels are in use locally. If you do change the channel, it needs to be as far away from any other channels in use, as they overlap.

You could try using the internet while connected via an Ethernet cable, just for one day and see if your internet connection is still lost i.e. it may not be a wireless problem.

Esmondo

I think the router is definitely not losing connection, because when we use laptops upstairs where the router is located an connect via that router rather than the range extender, the connection is never lost - it is only downstairs using the extender that I have problems while I am working. When you say change the cahnnel, it that an easy process? Will it involve re-setting anything else?

Thank you!

AmongTheLiving

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Thast what i used ,
Plug in to power socket one near router one near equipment downstairs . Ethernet connection router to power line Ethernet connection downstairs to equipment .
Press button on powerline one followed by powerline two . All done .

Works well i use to stream Video and for TV internet .

jje

Seconded. My girlfriend has always had problems with Wi-Fi on her laptop and this did the trick. Simple as Plug & Forget.

espresso

Esmondo wrote: »

I think the router is definitely not losing connection, because when we use laptops upstairs where the router is located an connect via that router rather than the range extender, the connection is never lost - it is only downstairs using the extender that I have problems while I am working. When you say change the cahnnel, it that an easy process? Will it involve re-setting anything else?

Thank you!

Yes changing the wireless channel is very easy but you need to use inSSIDER first, to see what channels are actually in use locally.

buglawton

Yup, after using InSSider and discovering I was sharing a powerful channel with the neighbours, I changed it and the range extended from inside the house only to as far as the back of the garden.