Increasing wifi range

wafmoo

Posting on behalf of parents:

They have their router in the 'office' upstairs, as my father does alot of work there, and he has to connect via ethernet cable as work notebook is not wireless.

My mother uses the home laptop, and will either use it in the office, or sometimes will use it in their kitchen. This is when problems arise, as the wifi signal is very weak in the kitchen due to distance from office upstairs.

What is the easiest way for my mother to connect to internet in their kitchen - either increasing wifi range or other methods...

BillTrac

I had a similar problem where the signal was weak in certain parts of the house.

I went to Maplins and bought an wireless
extender.

Works great.

jaydeeuk1

Tin foil over cardboard jobby worked for me.

Wifi extender as suggested above, or homeplugs powerline adapter to the kitchen is possibility

esuhl

Here's the method to create a reflector (our of cardboard and tin foil), which you can attach to your router's aerial to increase the directionality and range of the signal: http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/

Alternatively you could use a wireless extender (although I think that would increase the latency of the connection -- not a problem for normal surfing, but it would be for gaming, for example).

If you have a spare router that you can connect to your main router via CAT5 cable, you could disable the routing component and use it as a wireless access point. I've done that, so I have one "router" upstairs and one downstairs. By using the same SSID, password and encryption type on the two "routers", clients will automatically connect to whichever "router" provides the strongest signal.

peter_the_piper

It could be down to the router, by BT one goes from our kitchen to my MIL's house next door through a large aluminium/steel greenhouse and still gives 3 bars. Could they move it nearer to the master socket (assuming not in office)?

robmar0se

esuhl wrote: »

Here's the method to create a reflector (our of cardboard and tin foil), which you can attach to your router's aerial to increase the directionality and range of the signal: http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/

Problem these days is that routers supplied my most ISPs the aerial is internal, so this idea while great and cost effective, is useless in these cases.

The simplest is to use a pair of homeplugs - http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-pl-85pe-mk2.htm

other companies also similar plugs, plus there are wireless versions too.

Marginally more complex (ie you have to configure) is a range extender/access point, an example: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WA730RE-150MBPS-Wireless-Extender/dp/B003UZFSDG

note that you normally need to locate a point where the unit can "see" the router, so that it can relay the wireless signal.

newbi

Hi,

I have just done this for my brother at his house and my sister at hers.

I used the TP Link Wireless Range Extender TL-WA830RE 300mps, @ approx £28 (there is the 150mps @ £20) available at Amazon etc

Instructions are easy to follow.

Connect the range extender to your wireless router to set it up. Then the range extender can be plugged into any standard plug socket and as long as it can pick up a signal from the router (even 1 bar) it will reboost that signal. Got my sisters desktop from 1 bar to 5 bars.
You can switch it off when its not in use.

HTH

R

esuhl

You might also want to download InSSIDer to make sure you're using a suitable channel to avoid interference from your neighbours' wi-fi signals.