Extending Wi-Fi coverage

[tonyeezy]

Don't know too much about networking so I'm wondering what the best solutions are for my issue. Currently I have my router downstairs on the left side of the house and for example, on the opposite end up stairs there is barely any WiFi signal/none at all. Curious to know which options I have to get better WiFi on the other end of the house. I've done some poking around before and  saw a couple wired solutions that could extend the connection but I'm not entirely sure I can get a Ethernet cable from my downstairs to upstairs above me. Do wireless solutions exist where I could place maybe directly above the router upstairs where the connection is top notch and have that be able to hit the whole upstairs? Also how do those products work with the WiFi network? Does it just route traffic through? When would it use that and when would it directly just use the router?

[babadoctor]

Higher up= better
Or cut open a sodacan and see how the coverage extends

[W-L]

Don't know too much about networking so I'm wondering what the best solutions are for my issue. Currently I have my router downstairs on the left side of the house and for example, on the opposite end up stairs there is barely any WiFi signal/none at all. Curious to know which options I have to get better WiFi on the other end of the house. I've done some poking around before and  saw a couple wired solutions that could extend the connection but I'm not entirely sure I can get a Ethernet cable from my downstairs to upstairs above me. Do wireless solutions exist where I could place maybe directly above the router upstairs where the connection is top notch and have that be able to hit the whole upstairs? Also how do those products work with the WiFi network? Does it just route traffic through? When would it use that and when would it directly just use the router?

 

I would suggest to not get a wifi extender but to add another wireless access point upstairs where you need wifi since extenders/repeaters always seem to fall short by not being able to provide full speed when repeated.

[tonyeezy]

Higher up= better

Or cut open a sodacan and see how the coverage extends

 

Yeah I have always heard that but it's either upstairs and my main PC in my room gets WiFi or I can get the router in here with a direct connection (I am the only power-user in my house haha).

 

I would suggest to not get a wifi extender but to add another wireless access point upstairs where you need wifi since extenders/repeaters always seem to fall short by not being able to provide full speed when repeated.

 

Ah okay so what kind of product would I be looking for? Looking at WPA on Amazon they all just say WiFi extenders lol.

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-Extender-Essentials-EX2700/dp/B00L0YLRUW/ref=lp_1194486_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1449198752&sr=1-1

I glanced at that one quickly a while back and saw the Ethernet port and figured it had to be coming from the router when really it is an output which is kind of cool. I'm guessing the idea with those is grab the connection slightly far away and then extend the coverage even further?

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

Yeah those somewhat work, like I said they don't usually give full speed, and partially extend the wifi since they need to be within a good signal strength still. 

 

Depending what you have on hand, if you have a decent router laying around you can set it up in bridge mode with an ethernet connection to it in the upstairs room from the main router to be a new access point or get a dedicated access point which does the same thing. The quickest and easiest is probably the powerline/wifi units which make a new access point where you plug them in, as long as the wiring in the home isn't ancient you would be good.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-ADVANCED-Powerline-Extender/dp/B00HSQAIQU/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1449199661&sr=1-1

[Enderman]

[asiancorruption]

I got a powerline extender from dlink on blackfriday. it's hooked up to an old cisco router in my room and It's a pretty dope solution. I can play cs go on it cause my ping is very useable most of the time. I get no bandwidth loss when the thing is at it's best. but ping spikes and network slowdowns do happen, but they go away in a minute. if you're interested, quote me. i'll answer any questions you may have.

[tonyeezy]

Yeah those somewhat work, like I said they don't usually give full speed, and partially extend the wifi since they need to be within a good signal strength still. 

 

Depending what you have on hand, if you have a decent router laying around you can set it up in bridge mode with an ethernet connection to it in the upstairs room from the main router to be a new access point or get a dedicated access point which does the same thing. The quickest and easiest is probably the powerline/wifi units which make a new access point where you plug them in, as long as the wiring in the home isn't ancient you would be good.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-ADVANCED-Powerline-Extender/dp/B00HSQAIQU/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1449199661&sr=1-1

The powerline extenders seem pretty interesting. I actually had power stripes years ago with Ethernet, the speed I got on my PC was about half of my down speed but I'm sure they weren't the best. I'm curious though how a device would act when you use those to extend a WiFi signal, how do phones, etc go about choosing which WPA to use?

So it seems like I should be using a powerline extender and plugging it in on the opposite end of the house upstairs from where the router is or roughly in the middle of the house OR plugging in a wireless extender maybe above the router which should hopefully cover my upstairs.

I may have an older router laying around actually to use as a WPA, however I'd need to run an Ethernet from the main router up to that one correct? May not be able to do that would sure like to see if that is a possibility. If that is the case I could either use a router or extender.

 

I'll be rewatching that Linus video again a bit later.

 

 

I got a powerline extender from dlink on blackfriday. it's hooked up to an old cisco router in my room and It's a pretty dope solution. I can play cs go on it cause my ping is very useable most of the time. I get no bandwidth loss when the thing is at it's best. but ping spikes and network slowdowns do happen, but they go away in a minute. if you're interested, quote me. i'll answer any questions you may have.

 

These do sound like a great option I am leaning towards it so far!

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

With the powerline adapters that have wifi you can setup the unit in two ways mainly, where it's the same as your SSID from the main router and your devices choose which signal to be on automatically, or to have them as separate SSID where you manually select which one you want for optimum usage.

 

The benefit of things like quality access points is they tend to let go and switch over to the better signal strength more easily, theses are some of the points the Ubiquiti or commercial units tend to do much better than regular run of the mill stuff.