Wifi Range extender....

kizatt

we've had lots of wifi issues (virgin superhub, hopefully need to say no more!) and now that *at last* we have a stable wifi connection our range is rubbish. our equipment is as follows:

virgin superhub in modem mode (with latest update - r37 i believe)
d-link DIR-615 router (supplied by virgin to make up for rubbish superhub wifi....)
tp-link TL-WA830RE 300Mbps wireless N range extender

the problem is that the tp-link range extender will not connect to the d-link router. it connected without problem to the superhub before we had the d-link and we had decent wifi signals in all rooms. now, without the extender, the range is worse than it was with the superhub alone. the d-link router doesn't have a wps button on it, but we've tried the virtual wps button and the tp-link just won't pick it up.

is there any way to get the two to connect that i've missed? i only bought the range extender a few months ago so i'm not keen to buy another one just cos virgin made me wait months for their latest update to fix all the superhub problems just for it not to work and them to provide a different router with a crap range.....

assuming i can get the range extender connected, the next issue is that my wireless printer doesn't like it - hp photosmart b110a. it gets confused by there being two wifi signals with the same name and refuses to connect. the only workaround is to switch off the range extender, connect the printer to the router & then switch the range extender back on. but every time the printer is switched off it disconnects itself when switched back on again. not keen to leave it on permanent standby & haven't figured out a way of renaming the signal from the range extender so that each wifi signal has a different name.

wires are easier! if only they weren't such a faff

and if we can get past those relatively wee things, my 15yo will be back to ask all sorts of complicated questions about port forwarding that mean nothing to me but seem to consume him!

any help from you techie wonders would be most appreciated

buglawton

The last WiFi extender I set up (to get a signal to the back of the garden) involved:

- Plugging it into a laptop with a LAN cable first
- Going through some setup steps - 'see' the router, click on it, enter the same router password as per other devices that connect to that router.
- Disconnect cable and plug the extender in where it was needed.

My Canon printer also 'sees' 2 networks, but I found that if I connect to the correct one once, it sticks to it ever after and the extender does not disturb it.

Can you explain exactly the steps you do when you try to set up your extender against the new router? With screen shots if possible. Then, I think someone will be along to advise possible solutions.