Extending wifi range / boosting signal

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yvan_c

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Hi all,

I have a D-Link router. What equipment would you guys recommend to boost my wifi range and signal? Do these really work well, or is it a question of trial and error. Also, I have a downstairs tv room (concrete slab seperating the levels) where I want to extend the range to. Would I be able to do that?

Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Regards :)
 
I found wireless to be dodgy in my house - maybe it's because we have thick walls! I have 3 wireless routers linked with cable. In this way I can always get a decent wifi signal in any part of the house. It's a schlep to set up, but saves a lot of hassle. I.e. my suggestion: run a cable from your upstairs to your downstairs and place another wifi router downstairs.
 
I'd say the best way to boost the signal to another floor would be to install another WiFi AP and to link it to the other floor with a network cable, and then also change the WiFi channel so that they don't interfere with each other.

This is what we did on the 3 floors at my office: one on ch11 on ground floor, another on ch6 on 1st floor and the last one on the 2nd floor on ch11.
You can still use the same SSID (WiFi AP name that you connect to), which would mean that as soon as you move between floors, your device would reconnect seamlessly to the other WiFi AP.

Alternatively you could get higher gain antennas or bend/reflect the signal into a certain direction (like Mercurial suggested with the beer can) OR get a WiFi repeater, but none of these things are that effective across multiple floors.
 
Pada's suggestion is the best and most reliable. Not sure of the aesthetics of the beer can solution but if it works it is one to remember should you need it in the future. If you are running cable please try and run them away from the electrical cables in case there is some interference.
 
Buying a wireless repeater or range extender may be quite expensive

Try Matrix or somewhere smaller that won't try rip you off
 
Sorry don't mean to hijack this thread. Is it possible to have a wr-router in another room and to connect to the existing wr-router (wirelessly) and boost that signal or does it need to be via cable? What mode is this called and also what models do you guys recommend. Im posting here cause I think the OP might need some of this info as well.
 
Last edited:
skusku:
What you're talking about just requires a "wireless repeater". So it isn't always necessary to use a LAN cable, but the best way is always wired if it is possible to lay a cable.
 
yvan_c said:
Hi all,

I have a D-Link router. What equipment would you guys recommend to boost my wifi range and signal? Do these really work well, or is it a question of trial and error. Also, I have a downstairs tv room (concrete slab seperating the levels) where I want to extend the range to. Would I be able to do that?

Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Regards :)
Click to expand...

It's not cheap but the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station has excellent range. It can be used as the primary router or as Wifi Extender.
 
ghost311 said:
Buying a wireless repeater or range extender may be quite expensive

Try Matrix or somewhere smaller that won't try rip you off
Click to expand...

I did that. Meh. It sucks for anything bandwidth intensive (such as videos/ high speed internet, etc) (and yes, Netgear even warns you about it).
I got the Netgear Repeater (both run on 802.11n) and my video streaming has to buffer every 2 minutes.
 
I too have ongoing frustrations with wireless signal in all the rooms. While doing research on which option to follow I came across your post. Upon further research I also found this article - 3 Best Kept Secrets on how to extend your wifi signal: http://geewiz.co.za/blogs/3-best-kept-secrets-on-how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-signal.html.

This article refers to 3 options:

1. Wi-Fi Range Extenders (as per your recommendation)
2. HomePlug Extenders ensure Internet in Every Room
3. Portable 3G Wifi Routers

The 1st mentioned above is being sold by Geewiz for R499.

This device must be placed at the edge of your current wifi network and the range extender will pick up your existing wifi network, and repeat the signal (without any cables). It seems far easier than the clunky HomePlug Extenders (2) which seems more difficult to set-up and has cables all over the place. Option 3 just seems to be risky using the 3G modem as an extender which just seems that it could cost so much more. Both option 2 and 3 are more expensive than the first option, which seems perfect for extending my wifi signal.
 
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