Extending wireless range in the home?

Victor_Delta

The wifi signal strength received by some of the members of my family is inadequate but relocating the router is impossible.

I have heard that there are gizmos which enable one to have a remote wireless device linked back to the router via the mains wiring.

Can anyone recommend such a device from personal experience please?

I suppose the best alternative is network extenders via mains wiring but these would reduce flexibility etc.

Further suggestions welcome!

Thanks,

V

albertross_2

what is between the router and the poor reception area, in terms of floors/walls/distance? Which router?

A_Nice_Englishman

The very best alternative is network cabling everywhere but I guess that is out of the question!

I would suggest getting another wireless router and using it in 'repeater mode' . This article describes the setup

richyrichuk

yeah u can use a repeater. depends what model and make your router is. or u could get ur self a a signal booster.

something like this....
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416829416&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=2941645678B06

for your aerial booster. but depends on what router u got.

and this for a repeater
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1148435315453&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=1545339789B10

lee634

or you could try a high gain aerial like this

espresso

Victor_Delta wrote: »

The wifi signal strength received by some of the members of my family is inadequate but relocating the router is impossible.

Where are these members of the family?

How far away?

Why is it "impossible" to relocate the router to a better position?

unrich

I got BT in and they moved the master socket. It cost money but my wifi router now sits out of sight upstairs under a cupboard and gives excellent service all over the house.

Consider this as the cost may be comparable to investing in a bunch of extra un-proven technology.

A_Nice_Englishman

unrich wrote: »

I got BT in and they moved the master socket. It cost money but my wifi router now sits out of sight upstairs under a cupboard and gives excellent service all over the house.

Consider this as the cost may be comparable to investing in a bunch of extra un-proven technology.

Why did you get BT to move the master socket rather than fitting an extension yourself (or getting a tradesman to do it)? If the wiring was done properly I can't see it making any difference to performance.

itm2

I had the same problem with a Netgear wireless router - the signal would be very weak upstairs, and non-existent in the garden. I looked into extenders, aerials, etc, then decided to upgrade to a high-power Buffalo model and the difference in coverage is phenomenal - all3 floors of my house now receive a good signal, as well as the whole garden. The router is situated on the ground floor.

The best news is that these things are now less than £40:
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=236425&sourceid=2019

unrich

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

Why did you get BT to move the master socket rather than fitting an extension yourself (or getting a tradesman to do it)? If the wiring was done properly I can't see it making any difference to performance.

Master socket cable snaked round the house about 20m downstairs to a point where there was no power sockets and poor reception in the rest of the house. To add another 15m extension to take it back upstairs to where I wanted was a pain, excessive and did give a performance reduction. Also I was under the impression that BT were the only people who can resite the master socket since its theirs. The wiring was perfect for 1960s but naff all use for installing a wifi adsl router.

A_Nice_Englishman

unrich wrote: »

Master socket cable snaked round the house about 20m downstairs to a point where there was no power sockets and poor reception in the rest of the house. To add another 15m extension to take it back upstairs to where I wanted was a pain, excessive and did give a performance reduction. Also I was under the impression that BT were the only people who can resite the master socket since its theirs. The wiring was perfect for 1960s but naff all use for installing a wifi adsl router.

Ah OK. Probably worth the expense in that case.

Yes, BT are the only people who can move a master socket. You can do extensions yourself, of course.