Need to boost wifi signal to reach attic. How?

littlerock

Have Virgin Broadband modem, superhub 50mb, router in home office on first floor and desktop pcs connected to it by cable. We use wifi in rest of house for laptops, phones, tablets, etc.

We just converted attic to spare room. No wifi reception up there. Assume too far from router. We cannot move router without major disruption. Can we boost its signal in some way to get wifi signal in attic?

Please use layman's terms as far as possible as I am not technical. If you need to use technical terms can you break it down into simple terms for me please. Thanks

Niv

You could try home plugs.

Cisco001

Wifi extender.

grimsalve

What I've done ... 500mbps powerline into the back of the Virgin Superhub (ground floor hallway), 500mbps powerline/wifi upstairs landing.

This gives me good quality wireless lan access anywhere in the house. I've also added a few powerlines for devices that only have a wired connection.

Before I decided on powerlines I looked into some of those wifi "booster/extender" things but the reviews weren't positive.

littlerock

Sorry to be dim what is a 500mbps powerline, is it a special booster piece of kit?

bod1467

Why not simply search for Powerline or Homeplugs?

They are devices that effectively use your home electrical system as ethernet. If you have one near your router, then another wifi version upstairs, you can create (extend) the wifi network upstairs.

Cisco001

Powerline + wifi is more expensive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Configuration-Smartphone/dp/B00DHB2T44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1413280904&sr=8-2&keywords=powerline+wifi+extender

wifi extender is cheaper.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet%C2%AE-Enhanced-Wireless-N-Repeater-Extender/dp/B00E95C1FE/ref=sr_1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413280951&sr=1-7&keywords=wifi+extender

kwikbreaks

As the main router is on the first floor I'm wondering why the wifi isn't working now. Possibly a repeater on the same floor wouldn't either. If this were me I'd try one from Argos to get the no quibble return.

Homeplug to homeplug WiFi AP in the loft should work but would need testing out too as the loft will be on a different ring for sure although my experience is that they will work across different rings from the same consumer unit at least.

grimsalve

Cisco001 wrote: »

Powerline + wifi is more expensive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Configuration-Smartphone/dp/B00DHB2T44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1413280904&sr=8-2&keywords=powerline+wifi+extender

wifi extender is cheaper.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet%C2%AE-Enhanced-Wireless-N-Repeater-Extender/dp/B00E95C1FE/ref=sr_1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1413280951&sr=1-7&keywords=wifi+extender

I see what you did there - I've never heard of "TeckNet" before :rotfl:

The problem with some wifi boosters is the range. They need to be close enough to the source AP and also close enough to the target for them to work properly - and this might not always be practical.

Some of the more expensive boosters have antennas to help increase the range and therefore the performance - but this pushes the price up. The Gadget Show did a review of boosters a couple of weeks ago and they suggested using tin foil to increase the range on some of the cheaper devices. :cool:

For the OP, possibly try both options - start with the cheapest and if that doesn't give you what you want then go for the more expensive.

esuhl

If you can run a cable from the router to the attic, you could just use a wireless access point (or a spare wireless "router").

If not, I'd try the mains power line adapters.

jamesperrett

One thought - does your router have rotating aerials? If so, you could try moving one so that it is horizontal. The reason is that most Wifi aerials transmit more power/are more sensitive, to the side of the aerial rather than the ends. When the aerials are pointing upwards, most of the wifi signal is transmitted horizontally.