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Boosting wifi signal (yes again...)

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  • 13-03-2013 12:32pm
    #1
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭


    Has anyone any experience with one of these type of all-in-one wifi repeaters? I know they are supposed to halve your wifi speed, but half is better than zero...
    I understand I need to set it up to access my current (sh1te) router, and give it its own WPA password. Are they generally pretty good on receiving weak wifi signals from the router in the first place to re-broadcast? You'd think that'd be a given for a wifi repeater?
    Cheers!


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    #2
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    Anyway, I just bought it! I'll let you all know how I get on.


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    #3
    crazygeryy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,065 ✭✭✭crazygeryy


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    Anyway, I just bought it! I'll let you all know how I get on.

    i would love to know how you get on.im looking to do the same thing.

    thanks


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    #4
    jozi
    Registered Users Posts: 5,391 ✭✭✭jozi


    How did you get on with them? I'm looking to extend the wireless in out house to the garage and other side of the house


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    #5
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    I'm not currently at the delivery address unfortunately so I won't get it until Monday. I'll let ye all know if it's any good (or if I can even get it to work!) ASAP.


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    #6
    CrinkElite
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 890 ✭✭✭CrinkElite


    Watching this also.


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    #7
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    You do realise they half the wireless speed of the existing wireless, it's not just the repeated wifi that slows, the original wireless network slows also. It's probably ok for browsing, I'm interested to hear how you get on.


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    #8
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    You do realise they half the wireless speed of the existing wireless, it's not just the repeated wifi that slows, the original wireless network slows also. It's probably ok for browsing, I'm interested to hear how you get on.
    It should be in my hands shortly, but web says some people have a hell of a time with setup. No doubt it will halve your home network speed, but I'm not sure if that matters when your WiFi is still many multiples of the speed of the UPC connection arriving to your house!


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    #9
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    It should be in my hands shortly, but web says some people have a hell of a time with setup. No doubt it will halve your home network speed, but I'm not sure if that matters when your WiFi is still many multiples of the speed of the UPC connection arriving to your house!

    Eh, it's most likely not, you're believing the marketing BS. Quoted wireless speeds are completely optimistic, only achievable in a lab (once), in a faraday cage, with the devices beside each other and no interference. Wireless "g" tops off at about 28mbit actual throughput with transfer to a single device, "n" goes higher (probably double this, definitely not triple). Wireless "g" is barely good enough to stream 1080p HD. This is why people are upgrading to wireless "n" as more and more devices in their houses now connect to wifi

    .....and you want to half it :P

    Also, something you may not realise, wireless is half duplex, unlike a cable it can not send and transmit at the same time, it can only do one or the other. A cable has separate pairs of cables for transmit and receive, wireless must use the same frequency, therefore it must stop sending to receive. Now nearly all data transfer is too way traffic, packets are sent in batches and must be acknowledged before more are sent, which makes data transfer on wireless much less efficient. Add a few devices to your network and you'll find wireless isn't at all efficient. It needs to be managed to get decent performance, therefore everything static should be cabled leaving wireless for mobility only.


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    #10
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    Since the fastest I've ever seen on BitTorrent is 1Mbit/sec, I'm guessing I won't get even close to 1/2 or 1/4 of the 28Mbit/sec maximum.
    Besides, 1 bit/hour is better than the current zero, yes?:D


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    #11
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    Since the fastest I've ever seen on BitTorrent is 1Mbit/sec, I'm guessing I won't get even close to 1/2 or 1/4 of the 28Mbit/sec maximum.
    Besides, 1 bit/hour is better than the current zero, yes?:D

    I think you don't fully understand. Don't you mean 1MegaByte per second, not 1megabit? I'm sure the lowest package UPC do is 25mbit.


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    #12
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    I think you don't fully understand. Don't you mean 1MegaByte per second, not 1megabit? I'm sure the lowest package UPC do is 25mbit.
    Yip, the uTorrent UI gives speeds in kB/s and MB/s, so I guess that's kilobytes and megabytes. Still, 1 MB/s is a rarity, and that's 8 megabits per second.
    Any speed is faster than zero though, which I what I'm currently getting when I try to access my router from a lot of places in my house!


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    #13
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    Yip, the uTorrent UI gives speeds in kB/s and MB/s, so I guess that's kilobytes and megabytes. Still, 1 MB/s is a rarity, and that's 8 megabits per second.
    Any speed is faster than zero though, which I what I'm currently getting when I try to access my router from a lot of places in my house!

    Don't measure your speed with Utorrent, here: http://www.speedtest.net/
    Now divide your answer by two, cos that's what you're doing.

    Repeaters are never a good option, ever. There are plenty of other options that do work, running a cable to the uncovered area and adding a second wireless AP on a different frequency is the first choice as it does not affect the speed of your existing network, but failing that homeplugs can do the job too.
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-DHP-W307AV-PowerLine-Homeplug-Wireless/dp/B004KPLKO6/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1365424604&sr=1-1&keywords=dlink+homeplug+ap


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    #14
    jozi
    Registered Users Posts: 5,391 ✭✭✭jozi


    I've found a old router that I setup to run with the existing network. Only thing I noticed is that my mobile/tablet will disconnect from the weaker signal and connect to the stronger one. Not sure it's meant to be like that but at least I've made my network a little bigger.


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    #15
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    Don't measure your speed with Utorrent, here: http://www.speedtest.net/
    Now divide your answer by two, cos that's what you're doing.
    I'm halving the speed of my house's incoming internet connection by halving the speed of my wireless network?:eek:


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    #16
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    I'm halving the speed of my house's incoming internet connection by halving the speed of my wireless network?:eek:

    I didn't say that, you're halving the speed of your wireless throughput to all of your wireless devices. UPC switched people on faster connections over to wireless "n" routers to enable more throughput. Here you are adding a device that has the opposite effect. Home networks have many more uses than just accessing the internet, centralised backup, file transfer, media streaming, IP Cameras etc.


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    #17
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    It took about 5 minutes to set up, and most of that was because I forgot my own password and it takes 30 seconds to reboot... yawn!
    Anyway, I now just connect to "repeater" with the same password as the router, and I get full signal bars all over the place. Speed you say?

    http://www.speedtest.net/
    Router: Ping 20ms, Download Speed 10.65Mbps, Upload Speed 3.25Mbps
    Repeater: Ping 28ms, Download Speed 3.08Mbps, Upload Speed 2.49Mbps

    So on that test it was 33% of the original. TBH I've noticed no difference whatsoever as only my big laptops ever need that kind of speed for streaming or downloads, and they connect just fine to the router anyway.
    Totally does the job I want for €18.59 total price.
    Score.


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    #18
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    It took about 5 minutes to set up, and most of that was because I forgot my own password and it takes 30 seconds to reboot... yawn!
    Anyway, I now just connect to "repeater" with the same password as the router, and I get full signal bars all over the place. Speed you say?

    http://www.speedtest.net/
    Router: Ping 20ms, Download Speed 10.65Mbps, Upload Speed 3.25Mbps
    Repeater: Ping 28ms, Download Speed 3.08Mbps, Upload Speed 2.49Mbps

    So on that test it was 33% of the original. TBH I've noticed no difference whatsoever as only my big laptops ever need that kind of speed for streaming or downloads, and they connect just fine to the router anyway.
    Totally does the job I want for €18.59 total price.
    Score.

    Now plug in by cable to the original router and see what speed you get. Like i said before, it will be ok for general browsing, nothing more.


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    #19
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    Now plug in by cable to the original router and see what speed you get. Like i said before, it will be ok for general browsing, nothing more.
    It also means I can now actually use my MK802 HDMI dongle, which was previously out of range too. HD Youtube seems to work great, but I haven't tried to stream a movie or football or anything else yet.
    I don't know why reviews on Amazon etc say it's supposedly a nightmare to set up. Just use the LAN cable supplied and follow the instructions. The screengrabs on the leaflet are impossible to read mind you.
    If anyone needs help on it I think I can remember the procedure.


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    #20
    Inspector Dhar
    Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭Inspector Dhar


    I don't understand kilobytes or uTorrents or any of that stuff. I have a Ripplecom broadband service, with a little white box with green lights on it at one end of the house. I can't get a broadband signal in the other end of the house. In plain English, can somebody tell me what I should do? Many thanks.


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    #21
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    So Dan, you still haven't posted a speedtest over cable to original router. I've just checked the UPC website and it shows 50Mbit as the lowest package they provide. If it is, it's pretty drastic to only have 3mbit and shows just how poor an option a repeater really is. There isn't much hope for one to be any good on DSL, even for light browsing where youtube needs 3-4Mbit for HD. It also allows no future proofing as our bandwidth needs are exploding.


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    #22
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    So Dan, you still haven't posted a speedtest over cable to original router. I've just checked the UPC website and it shows 50Mbit as the lowest package they provide. If it is, it's pretty drastic to only have 3mbit and shows just how poor an option a repeater really is. There isn't much hope for one to be any good on DSL, even for light browsing where youtube needs 3-4Mbit for HD. It also allows no future proofing as our bandwidth needs are exploding.
    And you still haven't told me another way to get decent WiFi signal anywhere in my house for under 20 quid. Connecting by Wifi straight to the supplied router is 10Mb/s anyway, not 50, so it doesn't really matter what UPC have on their webpage.
    Besides, my own "speedtest" shows I can watch coolsports just fine connected to the repeater. Job done.

    EDIT:
    Provides up to 300Mbps transmission rates.
    Maybe the repeater does mean 1/3 of the original WiFi speeds, but when I have a 1000Mbps internet connection I'll worry about future proofing...


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    #23
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    The repeater is already connecting to the original router at the maximum data rate the signal allows for. You could have ran a cable, a cat5 cable does gigabit (1000 mbit).


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    #24
    ironclaw
    Registered Users Posts: 8,004 ✭✭✭ironclaw


    With respect, I'd be cautious of that device. Its €20 of China gear. Does it have a CE or FCC mark? Please check as there has been numerous examples of cheap China gear catching fire.

    I have a repeater in my house and I will be getting rid of it soon in favor of what I should have done in the first place, a new AP. Fine for browsing but when you start to download, your network begins to get tied in knots. Also issues with equipment hopping between each unit and general chaos unfolding.


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    #25
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    ironclaw wrote: »
    With respect, I'd be cautious of that device. Its €20 of China gear. Does it have a CE or FCC mark? Please check as there has been numerous examples of cheap China gear catching fire.
    I will check for these marks, though I know they are often faked. I have lots of Shenzen dime a dozen things myself and never had a safety issue.
    ironclaw wrote: »
    I have a repeater in my house and I will be getting rid of it soon in favor of what I should have done in the first place, a new AP. Fine for browsing but when you start to download, your network begins to get tied in knots. Also issues with equipment hopping between each unit and general chaos unfolding.
    Torrent speeds appear to be identical to my main laptop connecting by WiFi directly to the router. No such problems experienced here.
    I do see this repeater claims to also function as an AP, so I could try forwarding the signal from my router to the repeater by cable instead. I read on boards.ie that this shouldn't affect the phone line port on the modem/router.


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    #26
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Dan_Solo wrote: »
    It do see this repeater claims to also function as an AP, so I could try forwarding the signal from my router to the repeater by cable instead. I read on boards.ie that this shouldn't affect the phone line port on the modem/router.

    If you do this make sure you select a channel well away from the original. Take them both off auto and set one to channel 1, the other to 11.


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    #27
    Dan_Solo
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭✭Dan_Solo


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    If you do this make sure you select a channel well away from the original. Take them both off auto and set one to channel 1, the other to 11.
    Thanks, will do. If it works well as an AP (the antenna on it does appear to be very powerful) then maybe bridging the router is a better way to do it.


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