Expanding UPC Cisco EPC2425 Range

antodeco

Hi All,
I need to extend the range of the wifi in my house to reach a cabin in the back. I figured I could put a repeater in the kitchen to push the signal further. Has anyone used one successfully with the modem? I havent bought anything yet, so I am open to purchases/suggestions. I am currently using home plugs for an xbox. If I move the xbox to the cabin and use the homeplugs to the cabin, what can I use to "split" the signal once its in the cabin? Im assuming I can use a bridge and just run it that way? I havent gotten the cabin wired up yet, so I will make sure it is on the same circuit so the homeplugs will work.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

bnt

If the homeplug works in the cabin, then you can plug in any device that gives you more ports e.g. a hub or wireless router. Question: do you have to have wireless in the cabin? The XBox doesn't need it, it has a standard Ethernet socket, and that's faster than wireless. If you have other computers in there, could they also work without wireless? In that case, you could get a simple "hub" or "switch", and they are really inexpensive these days.

If you must have wireless in the cabin, any standard wireless router ought to work when plugged in to it. It would give you a separate wireless network with its own IDs etc, but one that is joined to the existing home network by the homeplug. The router will have a socket marked "Internet", and you'd have a choice of whether tou use it or not:
- if you use that, that would probably be the simplest option for you. You'd be creating a "sub" network inside the house network. Internet performance would not be as good as in the house
- if you plug the homeplug in to one of the other LAN sockets on the router, any devices in the cabin (wired or wireless) would be connecting directly to the rest of the house. In that case you would need to change some settings on the cabin router, such as DHCP.

Either way - find a friend who knows something about this stuff to help you - someone who knows how to troubleshoot problems, who doesn't give up and run away when things don't work perfectly first time. :cool:
- if

antodeco

Thanks for that! Im able to work with wifi networks no problem, Ive just never bridged a cable modem before. I would need wifi in the cabin, as there will be multiple devices in there needing access. Basically what you are saying is I can use my spare 3Com router to piggyback over the Cisco network? Plug the xbox via ethernet, and have multiple devices running wifi?

bnt

antodeco wrote: »

Thanks for that! Im able to work with wifi networks no problem, Ive just never bridged a cable modem before. I would need wifi in the cabin, as there will be multiple devices in there needing access. Basically what you are saying is I can use my spare 3Com router to piggyback over the Cisco network? Plug the xbox via ethernet, and have multiple devices running wifi?

Yes, though it's not "bridging" in a strict networking sense. I suggest you try the first method and see how it goes.

Do you know how NAT (Network Address Translation) works? I'm assuming your home network already uses NAT, and if you piggyback another router on that, using its Internet / WLAN socket, you'll have another layer of NAT in the cabin on top of the existing NAT. That usually works, but performance might take a hit - you can try it and see. I was just pointing out that there are other ways of doing it that might get better results, but you have to know what you're doing in the general networking sense - not just WiFi, which isn't the real problem here. :cool:

antodeco

Thanks for the response! I was originally going to bridge the 3Com router via wifi, but I thought that if I can use the homeplugs to get a physical connection, it would be better. Ill give your suggestion a try when I have the place wired up. Thanks again