best way to extend wireless signal?

OnePound

Hi

I have a sky wireless router which is pretty rubbish. Whats the best way to improve its strength?

Should I buy a new stronger router or should I get a second one/repeater to put somewhere else in the house?

Also, will any brand work or do i need sone compatible with sky?

Bizarrely Sky dont seem interested in helping with this as a pp in their forum got the response:

"Unfortunately we can't advise you on which signal boosters would be compatible with the Sky router, as this isn't something we deal with.
The wider community may be able to offer you some information regarding this."

Unbelievable!

LincolnshireYokel

Theres an easy way to do it using an old satellite dish.............

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-make-satellite-dish-wi-fi-antenna-for-free-internet-291730/

I tested this using a 3 foot diameter dish from a microwave relay station, i coudl log onto my home network from 3/4 mile in line of sight across the fields with an iPhone3G.........

robmar0se

As esul says you can use another router, or you can use a range extender, access point, or power plugs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006BBYXPA/ref=asc_df_B006BBYXPA8099078?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&!!!!!googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B006BBYXPA

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002YETVXC/ref=asc_df_B002YETVXC8099078?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&!!!!!googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002YETVXC

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B002XL6IUU/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

The first two have to be in wireless contact with the router, the last one gets you right to the point you need to be via the internal electrical wiring circuits. You can also add accesspoint to this option to perhaps reach odd spots, or where you have, lets say, thick walls or other construction difficulties (eg foill backed plasterboard all over the place).

You can google these options to understand them better, then choose.

esuhl

Or see if you can directionally extend the range with a home-made aerial reflector (card and tinfoil) for your router:

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html

Jammyb

You can't buy stronger routers. They are governed to a certain limit but are affected by their antenna, be it an aerial on top or a slither of metal internally.

DON'T wirelessly extend your wifi range with a second router or AP/access point. This halves your throughput/speed for not only anything that is connected to the Second router/AP but also halves the throughput/speed to devices connected to the main router.

You need WIRED!

If you wont run cat5e around the house then You need to purchase a pair of homeplugs (£33). You can then either use a spare router you may have already, purchase an old router off eBay (£10-15) and then link between the 2 and as said above set the 2 routers up to broadcast 2 wifi bubbles that you can freely roam between without loss of connection or speed.

If you don't wish to use a router. You can buy an AP.

A good guide to using 2 routers together - avforums.com/forums/networking-nas/1554662-faq-using-two-routers-together.html

Homeplugs - amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/cr/B003L78F6U/ref=aw_d_cr_computers

AP - m.ebuyer.com/263562

LincolnshireYokel

Jammyb wrote: »

You need WIRED!

Couldnt agree more, but ive stopped trying to educate people [text removed by MSE Forum Team] that wifi is for a Home PC.

When Google Streetcar went past my house, it didnt steal any emails or passwords or listen in, thats cos i have a wired only network. Not only is it more secure, it runs faster than any wifi network will run

Jammyb

Wifi is great for phones and netbooks and laptops.

For media streaming and file transfer. Forget it.

Schlong as your devices are MAC registered to your router. You could turn the security off on your wifi and not have a code!

But people don't know about this, or use openDNS addresses (or googles) and people still get hit!

garynuman

Jammyb wrote: »

Wifi is great for phones and netbooks and laptops.

For media streaming and file transfer. Forget it.

Schlong as your devices are MAC registered to your router. You could turn the security off on your wifi and not have a code!

But people don't know about this, or use openDNS addresses (or googles) and people still get hit!

From my undertstanding, it isn't difficult to spoof MAC addresses so you are in effect an OPEN network with no security.

If using wireless, set a 128bit (non-WEP) security key, associate all device IDs with your router, hide your SSID, etc. etc.

OR

Get Wired!!! And save yourself the hassle!

Gaz

esuhl

johnmc wrote: »

Personally I would advocate esuhl's method around the house, unless you always access the internet in your shed and can mount the dish permanently, in which case I would use BOTH methods.

I couldn't agree more! (Assuming I had a spare satellite dish to use, of course. Otherwise it might work out cheaper to find some other solution like a high-gain aerial designed specifically for wi-fi networks...)

garynuman wrote: »

From my undertstanding, it isn't difficult to spoof MAC addresses so you are in effect an OPEN network with no security.

MAC addresses are easily spoofed, and restricting access by MAC address won't prevent a hacker from gaining access easily...

But if a hacker had a choice between accessing a network with MAC-filtering and one without, I imagine he'd chose the latter, so (all other things being equal) perhaps it does make you a less attractive target, even though it's trivial to work round... I don't bother with it, though!

Jammyb

garynuman wrote: »

From my undertstanding, it isn't difficult to spoof MAC addresses so you are in effect an OPEN network with no security.

If using wireless, set a 128bit (non-WEP) security key, associate all device IDs with your router, hide your SSID, etc. etc.

OR

Get Wired!!! And save yourself the hassle!

Gaz

You're right. Mac spoofing is not meant to be difficult. But as you say. Not broadcasting an SSID is the key. But I still use a key (only because I know it off by heart )

Netbooks/laptops/smartphones/tablets are all wireless. Everything else should be wired and as you said about being mac paired to the router. You'll get your IP address dished out a bit quicker too if you set that up!

esuhl

Jammyb wrote: »

Not broadcasting an SSID is the key.

The SSID is broadcast by the network anyway, even if you tell the access point to "hide" it. As with MAC-filtering, it's trivially easy to identify the SSID of a hidden network, so it doesn't really improve security much (if at all).