Mesh Wifi?

FaceHead

Hi

I have a small terraced house, but the wifi where I work is no good my 'office' is a post-war extension on the old house, and a thick originally external wall is right between me and the router. 

Fortunately I had the foresight to run an ethernet cable under the floor to the office, so my laptop is plugged in. However, that doesn't help my phone, so having poor wifi and poor phone signal at the desk is extremely frustrating. Indeed poor signal is even more frustrating than none at all. 

Ideally I'd plug a second router or similar into the ethernet outlet, cable my laptop to that, and it would dish out wifi for my phone. Can anyone recommend a product for this, and ideally some instructions on how to configure it to work with my virgin hub 3? Ideally the wifi the new device dishes out would be the same SSID as the rest of the house, so there isn't messing about changing networks. 

Thanks,

JenB79

If its just your office where you're having wifi issues, then something like this would work a treat:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Extender-Broadband-UK-RE450/dp/B013SYHHI2/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_i=B013SYHHI2&psc=1

You would plug this into any spare socket in the office and connect an ethernet cable from the router to the extender. You will then get pretty much full wifi coverage in the office - during setup you use the same SSID(s) as your existing Virgin router. Setup on this is a doddle, I'm using an older TP Link RE360 (though for a slightly different purpose) and it works well.

FaceHead

Thanks. Looks like an option, and the sort of price range I had in mind. Ideally I'd get one with two ethernet ports - one for internet in, and one to cable my laptop to it. However, not a deal-breaker, as at point blank range I expect I'd get good wifi to it. 

Keen to see if anyone else has any alternatives 

[Deleted User]

For free, create a Wifi hotspot on your laptop for you phone to use and it will bridge your ethernet connection to the Wifi adaptor.

You can create the same SSID as your main network as well to make it easy.

JenB79

FaceHead said:

 Ideally I'd get one with two ethernet ports - one for internet in, and one to cable my laptop to it. 

In that case probably worth getting a full blown router and using it in 'access point' mode. Pretty much every third party router supports AP mode. Something like this would do the job 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Archer-C1200-Wireless-Supports-Parental/dp/B0743HB9H2

<only recommending TP Link kit as it tends to be good value for money>

FaceHead

[Deleted User] said:

For free, create a Wifi hotspot on your laptop for you phone to use and it will bridge your ethernet connection to the Wifi adaptor.

You can create the same SSID as your main network as well to make it easy.

That is good. I will certainly give this ago before being separated from cash. 

Can you share any info on how to do this in windows 10 please? I take it it is separate from mobile hotspot, which is greyed out. 

Cheers

[Deleted User]

FaceHead said:

[Deleted User] said:

For free, create a Wifi hotspot on your laptop for you phone to use and it will bridge your ethernet connection to the Wifi adaptor.

You can create the same SSID as your main network as well to make it easy.

That is good. I will certainly give this ago before being separated from cash. 

Can you share any info on how to do this in windows 10 please? I take it it is separate from mobile hotspot, which is greyed out. 

Cheers

Yes, it is the mobile hotspot option.

Have you disabled Wifi on the laptop?

If so you need to re-enable it so it won't be greyed out. Also select "Ethernet" from in the "Share my internet connection from" selection and then the "Edit" button below to set the name and password.

jamesd

Instructions are here or here.

You might find the Wavlink AC1200 for £35.99 a better option than those mentioned so far because it has two gigabit ethernet ports so you can keep your computer wired.

Grumpy_chap

For MESH WI-FI, I have the Google WiFi as per this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Google-Wifi-System-works-coverage/dp/B096KW3MBK/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=google+wifi&qid=1630574316&s=computers&sr=1-3

There is a later version now, which I cannot comment on.

The version I have is absolutely brilliant.  I went for over-kill so have 8 Wi-Fi points (partly because they were being sold of cheap at Maplin) but get absolutely uninterrupted coverage all through the house (1920's 3-storey), garden (100'), outhouse and the park opposite so I can really choose where to work.  It is a very reliable solution and simple to set up (even for a techno-phobe like me).

CoastingHatbox

Mesh WiFi uses WiFi as back haul.
So do the boosters mentioned already.

If the WiFi reception is already pants in the extension, then relying on WiFi for back haul is possibly not the best idea for a reliable connection.

I would get a "WiFi router"* instead that has a Wireless Access Point (WAP) mode. You plug that into your ethernet cable and configure it to work as an Access Point. The ethernet cable will be used as back haul instead of WiFi.

You should also be able to plug your laptop into one of the switch ports on the router, as well as any other Ethernet enabled devices. Ideally get a router that has Gigabit ports on it.

*Obviously you are not using it as a router

jamesd

Grumpy_chap, mesh can be useful sometimes but when there is a poor service issue in just one room that already has a wired ethernet connection it's going to be cheaper and faster performing to use that and an access point like the Wavlink I linked to or those that others have mentioned.

Hopefully in this case it'll turn out that the wired laptop used as an access point will solve the problem at no cost, even better.