Is there such a thing as a wi fi booster?

Pee

We have wi fi in the house and there is an study / office area above the garage with fairly thick stone walls. We have had internet in the study through a wire (intranet cable?) but the connection on my lap top has given up the ghost.

I would like to have wifi in the study anyway and someone suggested that we could have another wi fi box there from the same supply with same password etc. However the only person I know who knows anything about this was not aware they existed - although he said he thought it would be possible.

Any idea what I want and where I could get it from?

googler

I think you're looking for a WiFi Repeater.

Computer stores, Amazon, etc

I'm not clear on whether or not you want a repeater that broadcasts from the Ethernet cable that you have in the study, or if you want to pick up the wireless signal from elsewhere to use your laptop in the study, etc....

espresso

If you already have an Ethernet cable to the office, then simply add an access point e.g. here

mcfisco

I just used a £2 ex Virgin [Belkin] wireless router I picked up at a boot sale as a wireless access point
It had a setting in the set up to configure it

Loads of online tutorials to pretty much use any old wireless router

e.g. http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1575/using_an_old_router_as_a_diy_wireless_access_point/index.html

toffifee

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread but I think I have a similar issue to the OPs and have been meaning to post a question.

I have a router (NOT wireless) in the office and use homeplugs to get the internet to the living room. (We had a wireless router once but the signal in other rooms was useless).

I want to have WiFi in the living room sometimes. Would the 'TP-Link TL-WA701ND 150Mbps Wireless Lite N Access Point' posted by espresso do the trick? (I'm not too worried about configuring it - my brother is visiting for Christmas and if I haven't done it by then he'll enjoy trying to sort it out.)

I was going to get a wireless homeplug for the living room but they are expensive and I wasn't sure whether they could create a wireless signal based on the office router that is not wireless. The lady in Comet said no, but then maybe she just wanted me to buy a wireless router as well as the homeplug.

I hope I don't sound completely thick! I'm not... I don't think.

espresso

toffifee wrote: »

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread but I think I have a similar issue to the OPs and have been meaning to post a question.

I have a router (NOT wireless) in the office and use homeplugs to get the internet to the living room. (We had a wireless router once but the signal in other rooms was useless).

I want to have WiFi in the living room sometimes. Would the 'TP-Link TL-WA701ND 150Mbps Wireless Lite N Access Point' posted by espresso do the trick? (I'm not too worried about configuring it - my brother is visiting for Christmas and if I haven't done it by then he'll enjoy trying to sort it out.)

I was going to get a wireless homeplug for the living room but they are expensive and I wasn't sure whether they could create a wireless signal based on the office router that is not wireless. The lady in Comet said no, but then maybe she just wanted me to buy a wireless router as well as the homeplug.

I hope I don't sound completely thick! I'm not... I don't think.

Yes that would work fine, simply connect the access point to your homeplug and job done.

toffifee

Brilliant - thanks espresso!! Will get that ordered now. :beer:

Scarab

Peter Cochrane, formerly the Chief Technology Officer at BT, was on a boat on the Norfolk Broads but unable to get online. By improvising, he could boost a flagging, useless signal to something much more effective.

Writing on his blog at Silicon.com, Cochrane said that “My mobile phone is showing one bar of 2.5G and one bar of wi-fi. My laptop isn't doing any better, and a data connection is proving impossible. There are some buildings behind the trees on the other side of the river, and my scanner is showing a number of open access wi-fi opportunities. But all I have is what I carry, and that does not include a high-gain antenna.”

The solution was not, however, to stop and visit a nearby community on land. Cochrane instead used an old baking tray to focus the reception.

“Time to improvise,” he wrote. “A visit to the galley turns up a much-used baking tray. A few simple experiments later and I'm able to locate the direction of the 2.5G base station and the strongest wifi signal. So I now have three bars of wifi and 2.5G by way of the unlikely combination of a baking tray and some judicious positioning.”

He concluded: “No matter how well prepared you are, there are times when you don't quite have to hand all the technology you really need. All the other options would have been far more expensive and far less convenient.”

Source: Daily Telegraph 6/11/11

mcfisco

Good story Scarab and it just shows what you can do if you understand the physics
A couple of years ago we played around with a DIY cantenna and was able to extend wifi signals quite a distance

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html

Absolutely of no use to the OP though

esuhl

A wireless repeater will pick up a wireless signal and re-transmit it. I imagine that this delays the signal slightly, increasing latency (ping times).

If you can, I would plug a wireless access point into the wired network.

I had a similar problem and set up a spare "router" as a wireless access point - might be something to consider if you have a spare one (a lot of ISPs seem to give them away to new subscribers, so maybe someone you know has a spare).

More links for aerial modifications to boost your signal strength:
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/

Pee

Thank you very much. I am very useless when it comes to anything to do with computers anbd your help is very much appreciated.