Boost Wireless Signal With Ethernet Connection


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Hi

Can someone give me an example of something I would purchase, fairly cheaply, to be able to boost wireless signals upstairs?

I have a wire going from the main router downstairs to my PC upstairs so can use this to connect both routers.

Or could I get a wireless card, put that in my PC and have it act as a sort of gateway for my phone and laptop?

Thanks

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Your best bet if you have a wired that runs to the area you want better coverage would be to buy whatever wireless router you want that is within your budget and just use as an Accesspoint.

nutshell, to setup any wireless router as accesspoint. Set its lan IP to be on your network and not conflict with any other static IPs like your router. So for example if your router is 192.168.1.1, and your dhcp scope is 192.168.1.100 to 150. Set this new router to 192.168.1.2. Turn off its dhcp server, and then connect to your existing network via one of its lan ports. Shazam instant AP.

Set its wireless how you want - if you set to same SSID and security then you can roam between without any issues.

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Set its wireless how you want - if you set to same SSID and security then you can roam between without any issues.

sorry to hijack topic

tried that sometime ago but didn't work as i hoped :s

could it be cause of dhcp was on in both?

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sorry to hijack topic

tried that sometime ago but didn't work as i hoped :s

could it be cause of dhcp was on in both?

The fact you had to ask tells me you already know there should only be 1 DHCP server per network

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I bought one of these, and put DD-WRT on it, and used it as an accesspoint to boost signal. Less than ?20 delivered.

As budman said...

Set this up with a static IP address outside of your DHCP scope.

Turn off DHCP.

Connect it to your current routers LAN port, via one of its own LAN ports (NOT WAN)

Set SSID to same as your current router.

Enjoy extended wireless coverage.

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Thanks :)

Just realised I have an old Netgear 834GT router which might work alright.

If I connect it to my PC, will 192.168.0.1 still work even though it won't be internet connected straight away? Sorry I'm not great at Network things.

Sounds pretty simple though :D

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"If I connect it to my PC, will 192.168.0.1"

Not sure I get the point of this? Do you mean when you connect it to your PC to set it up as an AP?? Does not matter what IP it was or will be. If its dhcp server is off, then sure you would have to set your PC to be static on its network to be able to get to it to set it up.

Does not even matter if its lan IP is even on your existing networks IP range to be honest -- just makes it kind of hard to access to configure the wireless though when its not ;)

"old Netgear 834GT"

Yeah that would work - like I said ANY WIRELESS ROUTER, and when I said ANY - I meant ANY ;) Can be used as just an accesspoint. Wireless router is just that, a AP with routing features added, and switch vs just 1 lan port. So sure you can use just the AP functionality if that is all you need.

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  • 11 months later...

Sorry to bump this but I'm back on the case of getting a better wireless range.

 

I haven't sorted the router to be the best as yet (I think the laptop I have won't see 5Ghz) as I need to check the channels too.

 

My set up is the router/modem is downstairs.  I have a wire connecting the PC upstairs, which I would prefer even though I do have a wireless usb stick.

I'm thinking I could get something like this and use the wire that connects my PC so the router and this extender are connected physically.  The problem would be connecting my PC to it as there is only one cat5 connector.

 

The other alternative is something like this  The reviews seem a bit split and if it doesn't work, I can just send it back.  150m would be by far enough to extend into the garden which is the main driver for all this.  Plus, I can simply turn it off when not in use to save on electric.

 

Still might try the old wireless router but the above plus does seem a lot more simple for my needs.

 

Any thoughts?

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You could try setting up wireless repeaters.  There's a few videos on YouTube that will show you how to set it all up.  The basic premise is that your router sends the signal to another router and that router sends out the signal.

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1 year later!

Read up and look at the product I mentioned.

It has 4 LAN ports, so you can connect the CAT5 cable which is running from your main router, and also connect your PC so it remains wired.

 

Very simple to configure the Access point as has already been mentioned above, but if you give us specifics on your setup, we will run through step by step.

Things we will need:-

IP of your router eg 192.168.1.1

DHCP Scope (ie what addresses are given out by your router) eg 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200

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1 year later!

Read up and look at the product I mentioned.

It has 4 LAN ports, so you can connect the CAT5 cable which is running from your main router, and also connect your PC so it remains wired.

 

Very simple to configure the Access point as has already been mentioned above, but if you give us specifics on your setup, we will run through step by step.

Things we will need:-

IP of your router eg 192.168.1.1

DHCP Scope (ie what addresses are given out by your router) eg 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.200

Sorry, I didn't see it before :(

 

If I set the DHCP outside of the addresses given by the router, will it still be recognised?

 

I'll give it a whirl anyway.  Even if the wireless doesn't work well in the garden, at least upstairs it'll be a lot stronger.  Saying that, I wonder if there is a way I could stick an antenna outside which could act as a boost...

 

Plus, I am sure a friend of mine has a special plug which he plugs cat5 cables into, then has a plug in another room with an ariel on it to boost the signal in there.  I didn't know power cables could be used?

Networking is not my speciality in IT :(

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Thats ok. I was joking about the 1 year later, just made me laugh that its almost 1 year to the day this thread was last replied to.

 

By setting your Access point to outside the dhcp scope it means there is no risk of any other device being issued the same IP address and causing a conflict.

 

So long as you have router 192.168.x.1 and access point 192.168.x.2, with your dhcp scope being 192.168.x.100 > 200 then you should be fine.

Set the SSID to match your router, and same password and security (WEP/WPA/WPA2).

Also you may consider putting them on to different channels, but let's look at that once you are setup with the access point first.

 

There are devices which use the internal power lines of buildings to extend networks. These work in most situations, but personally I would not recommend them when you have CAT5 in place. That said you need the new access point to be in the area of weak signal to get the best effect from it.

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Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but the modem/router I have from my ISP, I use as a router.

 

I have my desktop upstairs, while my HTPC is next to the modem/router in the living room.  I transfer files between the computers, so would need the new router to be an extender only.  Will probably get/buy all this stuff early next week.  I can put the modem/router into "modem only" mode, but then would surely struggle to transfer files to and from the PCs?

 

I've found a speedier version here for only a few pounds more too.

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This thread inspired me to dig out my Sky Netgear V2 DG934G, and set it up as a wireless repeater. Also makes for a nice mini-switch under my desk.

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Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but the modem/router I have from my ISP, I use as a router.

 

I have my desktop upstairs, while my HTPC is next to the modem/router in the living room.  I transfer files between the computers, so would need the new router to be an extender only.  Will probably get/buy all this stuff early next week.  I can put the modem/router into "modem only" mode, but then would surely struggle to transfer files to and from the PCs?

 

I've found a speedier version here for only a few pounds more too.

 

Your exisiting router is going to remain your router. You will not be changing any settings on it.

You can going to setup the new device as an access point, and disable its DHCP, so all requests goto your existing router.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So here's some info:

 

MAIN "Internet" ROUTER:

 

Wireless Channel: Auto

Active Channel: 6

 

SSID: HostController

Security: WPA2-PSK[AES]

WPS: Enabled (push button)

 

LAN IP Address: 192.168.0.1

DHCP - Enabled

IP Address: 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.11

 

 

 

NEW "Wireless" ROUTER:

 

WAN Host Name: Same as SSID.
LAN IP Address 192.168.1.2
 
Wireless Network Name (SSID):  Same as main router.
 
Wireless Security:  WPA/WPA2-Personal
 
DHCP Server:  Disabled
Start IP:  192.168.1.100
End IP:  192.168.1.199
 
Seems to be working for wired internet but wireless won't log on.  Do I need to set the DHCP server addresses the same as the main internet router, even though DHCP is off? No as the router tells me it's a bad IP pool (I guess it doesn't recognise those addresses as this router is on the 192.168.1.xxx range.
 

 

Other Questions:

 

1) Is it wise to have the username and password for the routers the same?  It's highly unlikely anyone would guess them anyway,so I don't see a problem.

2) I've read WPS isn't that great, so can I turn it off?  Visitors have entered the security key anyway.

3) WPA2-PSK... I have an "WPA/WPA2 Enterprise" option.  Is this better or is my current security sufficient?

 

 

 

Thanks

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This is how it should be:-

 

MAIN "Internet" ROUTER:

 

Wireless Channel: Auto

Active Channel: 6

 

SSID: HostController

Security: WPA2-PSK[AES]

WPS: Enabled (push button)

 

LAN IP Address: 192.168.0.1

DHCP - Enabled

IP Address: 192.168.0.100 - 192.168.0.200

 

 

 

NEW "Wireless" ROUTER:

 

WAN Host Name: Same as SSID.
LAN IP Address 192.168.0.2
 
Wireless Network Name (SSID):  Same as main router.
 
Wireless Security:  WPA/WPA2-Personal
 
DHCP Server:  Disabled
Start IP:  192.168.1.100
End IP:  192.168.1.199

Other Questions:

 

1) Is it wise to have the username and password for the routers the same?  It's highly unlikely anyone would guess them anyway,so I don't see a problem.

I do not see any issue in doing this within your home environment

 

2) I've read WPS isn't that great, so can I turn it off?  Visitors have entered the security key anyway.

Disable it

 

3) WPA2-PSK... I have an "WPA/WPA2 Enterprise" option.  Is this better or is my current security sufficient?

Use the highest security option available. Make sure the security is the same on both router and access point to ensure wireless devices can hop between them with ease.

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Hmm, changing the new wireless router to have an IP of 192.168.0.2 renders it disabled so when typing that into the address bar, my PC can't find it.

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Currently my IP is now 192.168.0.104

 

Maybe I couldn't connect to the new wireless router because the DHCP scope wasn't set to the same numbers as the old router?

DHCP is still off though.

 

Should I add a DHCP reservation for the new router on the old router using the MAC address?

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DHCP should only be turned on on the 1st router.

 

Access point needs to have DHCP disabled. Once this is done, the scope does not matter as it is not issuing IP addresses.

 

You do not need to add a reservation for access point, as it is not within the DHCP range being issued out by the router.

Reservation are to ensure the router always gives the same address to a specific device.

 

On the access point ensure the DNS and gateway is set to 192.169.0.1.

 

 

 

If you connect via wireless through the router (stand next to it), do you get internet access?

If you connect via wireless through the access point (stand next to it), do you get internet access?

 

 

What is your access point? Make and model?

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