Wifi Extender issues

gallygirl

Help - am tearing my hair out!
I'm in Spain, old house, thick walls but with fibre optic.
Am trying to get decent wifi downstairs - mainly so I can use the app to alter timings on cat flap and monitor his comings and goings.
No wifi signal reaches downstairs.
I bought a wifi extender which did initially work weakly but now saying too far away from router.
Cat flap supplier recommended an ethernet over mains adaptor - but downstairs is on a different circuit so that won't work.
Are there any other alternatives? Is another router for downstairs the answer?
Thanks.

[Deleted User]

If you move the extender closer to the router so it picks up the signal, can the extender then be picked up downstairs?  

It may just be a question of positioning.

Browntoa

Some suppliers routers can have poor coverage , possibly swap for a high gain one of your own or look at WiFi extender discs like the BT ones that mesh together to extend the signals 

[Deleted User]

The best solution would be to run an ethernet cable from your router to the downstairs area and install a Wi-Fi access point.
Other alternatives include:
1. Make sure the main router is in an open space and central to the house as possible
2. Consider upgrading your main router, ISP provided ones are often not the best.
3. A mesh wifi system with multiple access points

Carrot007

gallygirl said:

Cat flap supplier recommended an ethernet over mains adaptor - but downstairs is on a different circuit so that won't work.

It would work. They all converge at teh consumer unit anyway. I do this. Yes it can reduce speed (go for a 1000 one at tleast), but it works. I get no loss of speed but one of the sockets is 20 cm away from the consumer unit!

As for wifi, use a mesh system. you need another extender halfway beetween the one that is too far away. I recently got the amazon eero 3 pack and finally have decent wifi in the house. It's always best to keep the wifi and the modem seperate anyway as the combined units are always a bodge for quality unless you pay lots (and even then a seprate solution will be cheaper and better).

gallygirl

Thanks all, lots to think about!
I have found one socket in the house which is just getting enough wifi signal and the signal can also reach downstairs to the cat flap so hopefully resolved.
Running an ethernet cable down is not a solution as it would have to be around 17m and go across several doorways with solid tile floors - doorways are an odd arrangement as well. Here´s hoping it´s solved.

sweetgirl2015

Is there anyway you can plug the router in downstairs? Sounds silly but we had a simular problem, so put the router downstairs via new wiring and now we have wifi upstairs and downstairs but the other way round it didnt work. Its as if wifi travels up better than down. Not sure why that is.