Wifi Help

[Nimz]

Hi Guys

I need some advice on purchasing an item.

I have my Router placed in my study upstairs and I can’t reposition it because there is no phone line boxes available elsewhere.

The problem I am having is that my Wi-Fi range is too small. It only covers the top floor of my house. (using normal Telkom Mega 105WR Router with 12dbi antenna)

What do you suggest I purchase in order for the signal to penetrate through a concrete slab and cover my entire house (About 700 square meters).Running Ethernet cables is not an option


I called Uniterm and they advised me to buy 2 of these Link


Extending range so that i can stream media and for PS3 connectivity

What do you guys suggest?

Thanks

 

[Ancalagon]

Try 2 DD WRT routers. They can connect to each other using WDS.

2 x Linksys E1000 or E2000 would work I would think. 2 x E2000 probably your best bet.

You might be able to get by using one E2000, I dont know. The E2000 has better range and throughput than the E1000.

EDIT: Just to note, DD WRT is a third party firmware available for a lot of routers that enables advanced features such as WDS, which refers to connecting two or more routers together. It does not work on any ADSL router.

 

[ITCynic]

I would suggest a ethernet over power device which will give you a Ethernet port downstairs through your house electrical wiring and couple onto that an access point such as a D-Link DAP-1360.

That will give you an access point and the nice thing about it it can be moved to wherever the best signal is for downstairs by using your mains plug points.

Check out this post http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/237093-Ethernet-over-power

and this post http://techjunkie.co.za/2009/09/14/better-than-wifi-ethernet-over-power/

 

[Nimz]

Got this reply from Uniterm now looks like the best option

Good afternoon NimZ,

Using wireless devices to connect multi-floor levels together is not recommended. The reason for this is that the wireless signal emitted from devices such as routers are spread horizontally (think of the wireless signal being doughnut shaped), and not vertically. As such, it is always recommended to run cabling to connect floors, and if this is not possible, I would highly recommend making use of our Ethernet over Powerline adapters (TL-PA211).

You can simply plug one unit in to a power outlet on the bottom floor, and one on the top floor. You can then connect your router to the TL-PA211 (on the top floor for example), and an access point such as the TL-WR743ND to the unit at the bottom floor.

If you are experiencing weak wireless coverage on some parts of the same floor level, I can recommend that you make use of the TL-WA730RE, which is very easy to set up, and is designed specifically to extend the wireless coverage of an existing wireless device.

The below diagram would illustrate the best solution that I can offer you:

 

[McGuywer]

+1 on the EoP option.