Old House and WiFi

Uncle Mclovin

Hi there

Currently living in a very old house with big concrete walls. The house has 3 floors. Router is on the bottom floor. WiFi doesn't extend beyond ground floor due to width of walls and possibly other interference.

Does anyone have a recommendation on how I could get WiFi to top floor. Was thinking I could wire it up to both floors but how do you then create WiFi network on those floors?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Have fibre broadband with Vodafone. Not sure of that makes a difference.

Thanks.

.red.

Have a Google for a set of home plugs.
They plug into the house sockets and the router is connected to them. They then use the wiring of the house to send the WiFi to where you need it.
They work very well, and are set up in a minute. Argos do them.
https://m.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5585575/Trail/searchtext>Tp+link.htm
That's the set I got, they send the signal from the plug like a router, some need to connected thru a n Ethernet cable. You'd need a set with a second reciever too for a 3 story.

Uncle Mclovin

Thanks for the suggestion but I've tried that already and it turns out that each floor is on a separate board if that makes sense.

So it only works using that on the ground floor. The first and second floor are wired separately.

Very old building so not the most efficieny methods used.

degsie

Check out some mesh WiFi solutions. They are becoming quite popular.

Johnboy1951

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Hi there

Currently living in a very old house with big concrete walls. The house has 3 floors. Router is on the bottom floor. WiFi doesn't extend beyond ground floor due to width of walls and possibly other interference.

Does anyone have a recommendation on how I could get WiFi to top floor. Was thinking I could wire it up to both floors but how do you then create WiFi network on those floors?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Have fibre broadband with Vodafone. Not sure of that makes a difference.

Thanks.

If you can run ethernet cable from your modem to each of the other floors, you can plug in a device on each floor to provide wifi for that floor.
You could even use an old router on each floor to provide the signal.
Alternatively you could probably use Home Plugs for each floor if the wiring is separated (I have not tried this as I do not have separated wiring here).

Best is to get Cat 5e or Cat 6 wiring to each floor from the main router.
After that you have options.

Uncle Mclovin

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Hi there

Currently living in a very old house with big concrete walls. The house has 3 floors. Router is on the bottom floor. WiFi doesn't extend beyond ground floor due to width of walls and possibly other interference.

Does anyone have a recommendation on how I could get WiFi to top floor. Was thinking I could wire it up to both floors but how do you then create WiFi network on those floors?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Have fibre broadband with Vodafone. Not sure of that makes a difference.

Thanks.

If you can run ethernet cable from your modem to each of the other floors, you can plug in a device on each floor to provide wifi for that floor.
You could even use an old router on each floor to provide the signal.
Alternatively you could probably use Home Plugs for each floor if the wiring is separated (I have not tried this as I do not have separated wiring here).

Best is to get Cat 5e or Cat 6 wiring to each floor from the main router.
After that you have options.

Cheers. I might try that as it seems like a cheaper option.

May seem like a stupid question but how do I set up the routers on the two upstairs floors. Do I just feed the CAT 6 in to the router? How do I then set it up so that I can create the WiFi network there. Do I need to log in to router.

Any recommendations on a good router?

The mesh WiFi sounds good but I'm afraid that of if I go ahead and buy that it won't work and given how expenses it is I might try the wired option first.

Johnboy1951

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Cheers. I might try that as it seems like a cheaper option.

May seem like a stupid question but how do I set up the routers on the two upstairs floors. Do I just feed the CAT 6 in to the router? How do I then set it up so that I can create the WiFi network there. Do I need to log in to router.

Any recommendations on a good router?

The mesh WiFi sounds good but I'm afraid that of if I go ahead and buy that it won't work and given how expenses it is I might try the wired option first.

I prefer to keep such areas separated, so I have different IP address range for different routers, and different log in credentials.
For instance the main router might provide IP addresses in the range
192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.200
and the second router might provide IP addresses in the range
192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.200

I am aware that others prefer to keep all the devices meshed so that the roaming from one to another is completely seamless. I never had the need for this. Most devices, if they have the credentials for all routers, will log into the strongest signal.

You plug in the WAN port of the secondary router into one of the output ports of the main router.
You do the rest of the settings in the secondary router ..... DCHP on the WAN connection and specify the LAN IP addresses.
If you want the whole to be seamless then someone more familiar will this will no doubt tell you how best to achieve it.

EDIT: I have used old/replaced routers for the purpose so cost free.

DublinDilbert

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Cheers. I might try that as it seems like a cheaper option.

May seem like a stupid question but how do I set up the routers on the two upstairs floors. Do I just feed the CAT 6 in to the router? How do I then set it up so that I can create the WiFi network there. Do I need to log in to router.

Any recommendations on a good router?

The mesh WiFi sounds good but I'm afraid that of if I go ahead and buy that it won't work and given how expenses it is I might try the wired option first.

You just need a couple of stand alone access points, which get connected down to your main modem over the CAT5/6. There's no need to have different sub-networks or anything like that. The DHCP server on your main modem will give out the IP addresses etc... Each access point will need to be configured with an SSID (network name) and password.

I've installed a couple of these TP link access points and they work quite good for the money:-
https://www.adverts.ie/other-computers/tp-link-tl-wa801nd-wifi/13416264

Uncle Mclovin

Thanks everybody.

Will try that out and may come back if I have any questions.

ED E

The mesh system is a poor idea, tPut would be crap on the remote floors. Cabled APs are the way to go.


On a budget two C20i's are more than enough for most homes.

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I prefer to keep such areas separated, so I have different IP address range for different routers, and different log in credentials.
For instance the main router might provide IP addresses in the range
192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.200
and the second router might provide IP addresses in the range
192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.200

I am aware that others prefer to keep all the devices meshed so that the roaming from one to another is completely seamless. I never had the need for this. Most devices, if they have the credentials for all routers, will log into the strongest signal.

You plug in the WAN port of the secondary router into one of the output ports of the main router.
You do the rest of the settings in the secondary router ..... DCHP on the WAN connection and specify the LAN IP addresses.
If you want the whole to be seamless then someone more familiar will this will no doubt tell you how best to achieve it.

EDIT: I have used old/replaced routers for the purpose so cost free.

Double NAT, aaahh:eek: Easy known you're not a gamer.

degsie

ED E wrote: »

The mesh system is a poor idea.

You really need to keep abreast of developments in this arena as there has been steady improvements to throughput using this technology.

ED E

degsie wrote: »

You really need to keep abreast of developments in this arena as there has been steady improvements to throughput using this technology.

I agree there have been, using backbone and client radios is great (though has its caveats).

My point still holds true for the OPs situation.

Currently living in a very old house with big concrete walls.

Even when the backbone link only has to pass through one wall at a time to hit its peer if that provides 90% attenuation then your AC setup becomes a .11B setup. Throwing more channels at every problem solves some, in very dense/insulated structures you would need a higher tx power which would be illegal or find alternatives such as EoP.

degsie

Some mesh systems allow daisychaining, so appropriately positioned stations might overcome the op's problem.