Extending Wireless network options

g1ose

Hi All,

Need some help and advice. I have recently done some work on my house and as part of it I have run cat6 ethernet cables to most rooms. The wifi is from Virgin and is fine but due to its location (under the stairs) its reach isn't great.

I want to extend the wireless network to make sure the whole house is covered well as well as the garden if possible.

I originally considered wifi repeaters but as they are repeating a signal they would need to be close to the router to get a good enough signal to repeat.
Then i considered powerline, but as I have the cables I think this seems a limited option unless I spend some good money to get gigabit versions.

Am I best placed adding hardwired repeaters or access points? Also can I do this using the same wifi ssid and password? What ever I end up with needs to be simple and effective, ideally easy to configure and then leave.
What options do I have to make this as efficient (read cheap) and effective as possible? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

kwikbreaks

Unless you live in a mansion you should probably be able to get away with a single additional wired AP provided you give some thought to placement. They are cheap and pretty reliable.

I managed to avoid the need for my TP-Link AP by using a better router and positioning it carefully. When I was using it I used the same SSID and channel although I've seen conflicting advice on that.

Scrounger

If you have an old router (or two) you could configure these as access points to give better coverage.

Use the same wifi name and password on the ap(s) but use different wifi channels and position as high as possible.

Scrounger

g1ose

Thanks for the help

Not a mansion at all but some thick external walls are now internal walls post extension which seem to cause havoc.

I have a few old routers knocking around so may give this a go. I guess they would be limited in transfer speeds but probably not a problem for what I need.

If these are not fast enough, any recommendations on good high speed kit that wont break the bank?

Thanks again.

Scrounger

g1ose wrote: »

I have a few old routers knocking around so may give this a go. I guess they would be limited in transfer speeds but probably not a problem for what I need.

Speed should be OK, especially if you are using n-routers.
[Unlike when using a repeater, using an access point (even cobbled from an old router) doesn't halve your bandwidth. :rotfl:]

g1ose wrote: »

If these are not fast enough, any recommendations on good high speed kit that wont break the bank.

Easy, as you have the data cables installed, use hard-wired. :beer:

Scrounger

g1ose

haha fair answer, can't argue with that!

Thanks for the help once again!