Increasing the coverage for a home wireless network

zagmund

I have had two friends (you work in IT, don't you . . .) ask me about increasing the coverage of their wireless network in their houses. While I do work in IT, it's been a very long time since I did anything technical related to wireless stuff, so I'm a bit out of touch.

My first theory was to increase the signal strength from the router (or AP as we used to call them back in the day), but it looks like this isn't a configurable option on the devices I've looked at.

My next one was to move the router to somewhere more central in the house, to increase the useful range. This hasn't been done yet as it will involve drilling holes, re-running phone cable, etc . . . . and basically opening up the possibility that I will get a call from them in 9 months time when their phone stops working.

The other theory is to use a second router (or AP) located at the other side of the house to provide better coverage overall and bridge (wirelessly) between the two. My current problem is that I'm so far out of the picture these days that I don't know what these are called, how much I should expect to pay for one, etc . . .

Can anyone point me to either a specific device or a general range of devices I can get in Dublin which would achieve what I'm looking to do ?

Thanks,

z

PogMoThoin

Wireless repeaters half throughput of the network and are very laggy.

Another AP the other side of the house is the only option, cable to it from the original router. Make sure it's on a channel well away from the existing router. Give it the same SSID and encryption key as the existing router and the laptops and phones should roam from one to the other (not completely seamless because of different physical layer MAC addresses, but works fine)

Wcool

zagmund wrote: »

...
My first theory was to increase the signal strength from the router (or AP as we used to call them back in the day), but it looks like this isn't a configurable option on the devices I've looked at.
...
z

Have a look #1 in the FAQ of OpenWrt, increasing the TX power is of no use:

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=3474

karltimber

Hi,
I'm in the same boat. Have a touchpad but it has probs connecting to my wireless when I'm in my leaba - again a good distance away.
Tablets in general probably have less range compared to laptops ?? true/false.

So, get a wireless access point and connect to router at other end of house and that should work ?

point taken from above about mac address' too.

any price points for a cheap version - euro50 ??

Thx

K

Snazzy_Chazzy

What about these devices that send your signal through your house electrical wiring? It used your houses own electrical cabling somehow. Not used one though!

Graham

That exactly what I use Snazzy, two ethernet over power (powerline) adapters.

One connected to the router in the office, the other connected to an Airport express in bridge mode in the bedroom.

Works a treat, in our last house even had a third Airport Express connected the same way to provide wireless coverage in the basement.