Extending my wireless network range

[Axel]

I'm using a buffalo nfiniti router running ddwrt 2.4ghz. There's an area at the other end of my house which receives no signal. Is the following appropriate for this task?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046YXSZU/ref=cm_sw_em_r_am_it_ws_gb?ie=UTF8

Are there alternatives?

Does this essentially repeat the signal without broadcasting an additional ssid and without me needing to hook it up to the router using Ethernet cables?

Many thanks.

[Axel]

Anyone?

[mint0]

Seems like a suitable device, if you have 40 quid spare :)

edit: from the reviews on amazon it would seem that it is indeed a repeater so you wouldn't need to run a cable.

[TEX4S]

I dont know how you have your wifi setup, but you might be messing things up by throwing in an access point. (especially if you cant bridge it to your existing network)

You need to ask some of the network gurus in here - but snagging an older Linksys AP w/ DD-WRT or Tomato and "bridging" it will do what you need.

But dont buy Buffalo, you made that mistake once, dont do it again. AND please please please dont say "well Ive had it for xxx years and its been great"

Always get the good stuff (Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, even ASUS) goin cheap is never a good idea when it comes to hardware.

[remixedcat]

Duct tape and pringles cans

[spike21]

I went the cheap route to start, http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Antenna-Router-Signal-Booster/dp/B002FRFB5U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1333346051&sr=8-5

[Axel]

Thanks guys - are there any other solutions that may do the job?

[Axel]

I dont know how you have your wifi setup, but you might be messing things up by throwing in an access point. (especially if you cant bridge it to your existing network)

You need to ask some of the network gurus in here - but snagging an older Linksys AP w/ DD-WRT or Tomato and "bridging" it will do what you need.

But dont buy Buffalo, you made that mistake once, dont do it again. AND please please please dont say "well Ive had it for xxx years and its been great"

Always get the good stuff (Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, even ASUS) goin cheap is never a good idea when it comes to hardware.

sup with buffalo? I bought it because it natively supported dd-wrt.

[shockz]

I dont know how you have your wifi setup, but you might be messing things up by throwing in an access point. (especially if you cant bridge it to your existing network)

You need to ask some of the network gurus in here - but snagging an older Linksys AP w/ DD-WRT or Tomato and "bridging" it will do what you need.

But dont buy Buffalo, you made that mistake once, dont do it again. AND please please please dont say "well Ive had it for xxx years and its been great"

Always get the good stuff (Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, even ASUS) goin cheap is never a good idea when it comes to hardware.

Netgear and good stuff don't belong in the same sentence. I speak from experience.

[sava700]

Run you a length of Cat5 from you're router to a certain location closer to where you are and setup a access point.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=2948&Tid=17195&name=Range-Extenders-Repeaters

[Sarm]

Does it have to be wireless at that end of the house?

Mains Lan would be a better option, that's what I use for my NAT and PC in the far corners of the house, faster & more secure than wireless of course.

[n_K]

Netgear and good stuff don't belong in the same sentence. I speak from experience.

Netgear is good for what it's designed for; cheap stuff for the general mass market.

If you want something that's got a lot of power, very high reliability, or other specialist features then by all means get a different brand and spend 3 times the price for what isn't needed on all LANs.

[drtweak]

Linksys better than Buffalo..... right. I have used every brand of routers over the years with many different set ups for many different clients and Buffalo are excellent routers, it's what I always use. For your problem, high gain antennaes are what you need. That is what I do when I need an extended range, always works.

:)

[remixedcat]

Ddwrt,duct tape and pringles cans

[sc302 Veteran]

many new routers support a wireless extender mode which would do what you want, but you first need to find out where the wireless starts becoming weak. Personally I would just run a wire to the location where you want wireless to be strong and add a WAP or router with disabled dhcp and put a piece of tape over the internet port so retards don't use that port.

[TEX4S]

Duct tape and pringles cans

FTW !!

Also, there is a DIY website that shows you how to make directional antennae for next to nothing (using household items) - I saw where these el cheapo directionals w/ DD-WRT made an old $30 AP have features similar to a $300 ....

[remixedcat]

hell yeah!!!!!!

[TEX4S]

Linksys better than Buffalo..... right. I have used every brand of routers over the years with many different set ups for many different clients and Buffalo are excellent routers, it's what I always use. For your problem, high gain antennaes are what you need. That is what I do when I need an extended range, always works.

:)

well I guess you know something the market, other manufacturers - even Buffalo doesnt know - congrats !

Guess they are just the abused overachiever who never gets attention, huh ? LOL

I dont base comments solely from what I have owned. Right now I have a WNDR3700 - its OK, had a WNDR4500 (no better), and the horrible E4200 Linksys - a joke - I hear E4200V2 is better.

There have been some issues of very recent with Linksys stuff - but they have held a huge market share of the consumer stuff for a long long time - and you think its because the other companies just think Linksys are nice - so they get the #1 spot ???

oh sarcasm - LOL

Cisco stuff is alot better. For enterprise stuff we have some Netgear managed switches - no problems from them- not as nice as the Cisco ones though.

For the last 3 years the netgear WNDR3700 has been the #1 router on consumer market - I think the WNDR4500 is considered the top dog...

[TEX4S]

sup with buffalo? I bought it because it natively supported dd-wrt.

Being tweaked might turn them into a beast - I dunno bout that -

I was commenting on the off-the-shelf stuff as far as reliability/compt./features, etc...

[sc302 Veteran]

I have had a bad taste in my mouth from buffalo tech since the nas pro 1tb. last time I ever tried one of their products and the last time I will ever use one of their products.

Buffalo Tech: hello, how can I help you today?

Me: I have this terrastation pro that is getting very little bandwidth out of it, it is rated 1Gb but I am not even getting 1Mb trasfers out of it. I am connecting to a gigabit switch, cat 6 cables, short runs, direct connection. It is setup in raid 5 and it is running slow as crap, it will take forever for me to copy anything to this machine.

Buffalo Tech: Raid 5 is very slow in these boxes, please either use Raid 0 or 1.

Me: ok fine but there goes my redundancy, but I really need speed so I will do it.

Me: ok done, but now I am only getting 3Mb/s

Buffalo Tech: That is about right, what do you expect out of a low end NAS (this nas at the time was about 1000)

ME: :angry:...WTF, I went off on the tech.

I will never ever while the sky is blue and the grass is green recommend a buffalo product. I dont care if they are made of gold, and they crap out gold nuggets, I will never recommend one of their products.

[Axel]

Does it have to be wireless at that end of the house?

Mains Lan would be a better option, that's what I use for my NAT and PC in the far corners of the house, faster & more secure than wireless of course.

Well my static computers are hooked up via Cat5 but I think you'll find that devices such as iphone/ipads and the like don't have RJ45 ports!

Right so either a high gain antenna or run another length of CAT5 for an AP or use WDS on another router? Any consensus on the best (and most seamless) solution?

[remixedcat]

Have you tried my solutions???

[wmoley2k]

For what it's worth, I vote for the high gain antennae. Had the same problem in my house. I was on the second floor, wireless router on the ground floor. I had almost zero reception, and whatever connection I did get depending on where I sat on my floor was flakey and horribly slow. Bought some antennae off ebay (about ?3 each) to go on the router and it has been almost perfect ever since, with almost full 30Mb/s speeds.

[helpifIcan]

Best solution but not the cheapest powerline set from main router to location on other side of house connect an AP to it.

If you need wired ports on the other end all you have to do is add a switch to the powerline, plugin the AP to it and what ever wired device you want.

The advantage is that a repeater cuts your speed in half where as this solution give you what ever speed the main router and the ethernet powerline and AP support.

[sc302 Veteran]

Best solution but not the cheapest powerline set from main router to location on other side of house connect an AP to it.

If you need wired ports on the other end all you have to do is add a switch to the powerline, plugin the AP to it and what ever wired device you want.

The advantage is that a repeater cuts your speed in half where as this solution give you what ever speed the main router and the ethernet powerline and AP support.

the best solution is to hard wire the device directly with cat 5. the next best is to hard wire a router or access point with cat 5. the next best would be to use power line. followed by a wireless repeater. followed by high gain antennas. but the best solution is not a powerline adapter.

The reason high gain antennas are so low is that they cannot guarantee proper coverage, although a very viable solution in most cases. Signal has an issue going through a few feet of concrete walls, we do not know what is in the walls or why signal is dropping. We only know signal is dropping or not getting there. High gain may not work and it would be a low cost try.