Extending Home Network

Kido

We have broadband with Sky and their modem. Unfortunately whilst the internet/network is great upstairs where the modem is, down stairs is pretty touch and go and I'd also like to use it in the new office that used to be the garage. Is there any way of extending the network. A friend suggested I get a home plug but I'm not sure what/how things work and the more I read the more confused I get.

Thanks for any advice.

leseul

Couple of easy options:

Powerline Adapters (plug into your wall sockets and piggyback your data on your electricity circuit)
http://www.ilgs.co.uk/products.asp?partno=TL-PA111%20STARTER%20KIT

Wireless Repeaters (extends the range of an existing wireless network and might be an ideal choice for your garage/office)
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/19137863/TP-Link-TL-WA730RE-150Mbps-Wireless-Lite-N-Range-Extender/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518%7Ccat:19137863%7Cprd:19137863

You can also combine powerline adapters and and old wireless router to extend your wireless range with a bit of handy configuration.

Kido

Thanks for the advice. Do you know which would work better on our network. We have 4 PCs, a NAS drive and a Mac. We'd like to be able to use Skype in the garage too so I would imagine I'd need a reasonably powerful one.

Lucero_2

powerline adapters are pretty good and getting better all the time. However, they are expensive and often can't achieve as high speeds as wireless (wireless n for instance can throughput 150mbs or more, a powerline adapter might struggle to get 80-120mbps). The former ofcourse depends on if your router is 802.11n compatible.

Why is the router upstairs? Routers perform better on the ground floor (contrary to popular belief), as the signals arc out of the antenna. Moving it, and adding a repeater somwhere close to the garage will cover off most of your needs (Skype, etc).

leseul

Good point from Lucero, also your router is often better plugged into the main BT socket if you have one (there's usually a seam for a removable section halfway down the socket itself). That's probably your best choice if your pc's/clients are already wireless capable. Otherwise you'll need to invest in dongles or wireless cards for each client.

The powerline speed disadvantage will be most obvious for your NAS and internal file sharing, for your browsing it'll be your internet connection speed that's the limiter.

Here's a handy video from D-Link marketing thier Powerline range but gives an easy to understand outline on how it works and how to best set up a powerline network.

Kido

Actually not convinced I have a router. I just have 4 Ethernet ports on the back of the Sky modem.

The reason the modem is upstairs is because when my brother set up the home network the spare room at the front of the house was being used and still is used as the main computer room. Both his and my PCs are in there and they're the ones that were being used for online gaming and downloading etc. These were wired via ethernet into the modem. My father's PC is in the "dining room" which is directly under the modem. The old garage is attached to this room and also the kitchen at the back. As I'm laid up on the sofa with a broken ankle using my laptop, I've become a lot more aware of how the network keeps dropping in the lounge which is about the furtherest point from the router. Also my laptop (which is the Mac) won't pick up the network properly in the garage.

Should also point out that I've checked and I don't think we have a router as such. My PC, the Skype phones and the NAS drive are all plugged straight into the Sky modem. There's no ariel anyway.

I do have an old router from before we changed to Sky. Would it be beneficial to plug this in and reconfigure the network through that. If it can be avoided, I don't really want to start re-wiring the main wire that all tacked up.

leseul

Kido wrote: »

Actually not convinced I have a router. I just have 4 Ethernet ports on the back of the Sky modem.

Yep if it connects to your phone line and has 4 ethernet ports, you've got a router - The call em that because they decide where to 'route' internet traffic addressed to your network. A modem has only one connection to go to either a router or direct to a single machine.

Does it look like this:

If so it's a standard sky wireless router, not amazing, but does the job.

Move the router downstairs next to your main BT socket and use a combination of powerlines and wireless to pipe your network to the various computers.

Kido

That's the one.

Due to the way my brother set the network up (and the fact that I'm not very mobile for the next couple of months due to smashing my ankle) moving the router downstairs is sadly not an option. Is there anything I can do to try and improve the downstairs signal in the meantime?

leseul

There are a few things you could try:

1. Have the router in its vertical position (like in the image above) away from obstructions or metal objects.
2. Try changing the wireless channel that the router is using to avoid interference. Your router address is most likely http://192.168.0.1 look for advanced options and then Wireless or WLAN.
3. Upgrade to a Wireless N router (what make/model/year is your mac?) which offers superior speed and range.

When you're back up and about, consider the suggestions above regarding relocating your router and if that doesn't improve things, powerline adapters and/or wireless repeaters.

GunJack

rather than just randomly changing router wifi channels, on the laptop/desktop that's downstairs, run inSSIDer

http://www.metageek.net/get_inssider_today/

It uses the inbuilt wifi card in lappy/pc to show you what channel your and your neighbour's routers are operating on, so you can choose the least congested channel for yours. Doing this alone has helped loads of people such as yourself suffering from poor wifi signal