Extending Wifi Range
- Thread starter seanie
- Start date
Pzemico on here does networking
send him a pm hell tell you best way I'd say
send him a pm hell tell you best way I'd say
Keadeen
Well-known member
Have the issue in my house too... I have underfloor heating and the insulation for that has metal backing and very good at blocking signals lol.
Anyway...
1) I am lucky and have cat5e network cabling (if only it was cat6a) pre-installed so can used that to plug in another wifi point on the other floor (if I ever get round to terminating the ends in the distribution panel). This is probably the most reliable way to do it. Long term this is the best solution.
2) You can buy (wifi range) / network extenders that plug into your electric sockets... they send the network signal through the electric cables and convert it back to RJ45 or wifi signal. They tend to work quite ok and again reliable enough due to physical connection. Faster and more reliable connection than you expect from all but the top of the range newest wireless networking equipment. More over, it is very quick and very easy to set up (buy, plug in, it works... and just as quick and easy to move etc). You do not "lose" the sockets as works as a "pass through" so you can still plug a normal plug into it.
3) Another way is to get a router that you load with DD WRT... that opens up a load of functionality that doesn't normally ship in soho products... this than gives you the ability to create a "wireless bridge" in case you do not have physical cabling you can use as per 1 and 2 above... or want to do something temporary. The draw back is that you have to be quite IT minded to set it up... it was easy for me as I have a background in that, but I could imagine that for many it might prove difficult. I used this and it works well and reliably and gets good speed.
4) There are actual wifi repeaters you can buy that receive the wifi signal and then amplify it and repeat it onwards to expand the geographical range... however, they are really not great or reliable. I can give a big tech explanation, but the short version is that it is slow, simplex (one way communication and not duplex multi direction traffic), and it uses the same frequencies so it sort of interferes / jams itself etc. A long time ago this was the way it was done, but much better solutions out there now.
Anyway...
1) I am lucky and have cat5e network cabling (if only it was cat6a) pre-installed so can used that to plug in another wifi point on the other floor (if I ever get round to terminating the ends in the distribution panel). This is probably the most reliable way to do it. Long term this is the best solution.
2) You can buy (wifi range) / network extenders that plug into your electric sockets... they send the network signal through the electric cables and convert it back to RJ45 or wifi signal. They tend to work quite ok and again reliable enough due to physical connection. Faster and more reliable connection than you expect from all but the top of the range newest wireless networking equipment. More over, it is very quick and very easy to set up (buy, plug in, it works... and just as quick and easy to move etc). You do not "lose" the sockets as works as a "pass through" so you can still plug a normal plug into it.
3) Another way is to get a router that you load with DD WRT... that opens up a load of functionality that doesn't normally ship in soho products... this than gives you the ability to create a "wireless bridge" in case you do not have physical cabling you can use as per 1 and 2 above... or want to do something temporary. The draw back is that you have to be quite IT minded to set it up... it was easy for me as I have a background in that, but I could imagine that for many it might prove difficult. I used this and it works well and reliably and gets good speed.
4) There are actual wifi repeaters you can buy that receive the wifi signal and then amplify it and repeat it onwards to expand the geographical range... however, they are really not great or reliable. I can give a big tech explanation, but the short version is that it is slow, simplex (one way communication and not duplex multi direction traffic), and it uses the same frequencies so it sort of interferes / jams itself etc. A long time ago this was the way it was done, but much better solutions out there now.
keith dublin
Member Number 161Full ISDC Members 2015
I use the home plugs