What to buy, to make room with one network cable in it, wireless

By Elliot B.
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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In our house is the wireless router (which our ISP provided) which is connected to the modem.

 

We get excellent coverage inside the house.

 

We have a room in the garden that has a single network cable in it (it's connected to the wireless router in the house).

 

Until now, we've used the cable to connect to a PC in there, which is connected to the TV.

 

We want to get rid of the PC and use a single Chromecast to the TV, which will do all the things we want to do.

 

The wireless signal from the house doesn't reach the garden room and we can't move the wireless router. We've also tried an extender, it was rubbish.

 

What can I plug into the network cable in the garden room that will give us a wireless signal in there?

 

It doesn't have to have any special features at all. In fact, it doesn't even need a range further than a meter or two in theory :p

 

It's a 76 Mbps (9.5 MB/s) connection and we get around 9 MB/s from it, so if the device will allow us to get that, even better.

 

Here's a basic diagram to help explain...

 

post-645-0-81340500-1418490548.png

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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You want a wireless access point.  Just about any should work.

 

The poster above linked a few that should work.

Ah, ok (Y)

 

The four cheapest (that support 100 Mbps or above) in the Wireless Access Points category of Ebuyer are:

  1. ?17.50 TP-Link TL-WA730RE Wireless-N150 Range Extender (150 Mbps)
  2. ?20.00 Zoom 4403 Wireless N300 Range Extender & Access Point (150 Mbps)
  3. ?22.25 TP-Link N600 Universal Dual Band Wifi Ethernet/ Entertainment Adapter With 4 Ports (300 Mbps)
  4. ?28.00 TP-Link TL-WR843ND Wireless Access Point/Client Router (300 Mbps)

Will any of these do the job?

 

How will I connect? (I mean, I presume they all have an internal admin setup website that I use to configure the Wi-Fi name, password etc.?)

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Grand Master

Seahorsepip Veteran

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Ah, ok (Y)

 

The four cheapest (that support 100 Mbps or above) in the Wireless Access Points category of Ebuyer are:

  •  
  • ?17.50 TP-Link TL-WA730RE Wireless-N150 Range Extender (150 Mbps)
  • ?20.00 Zoom 4403 Wireless N300 Range Extender & Access Point (150 Mbps)
  • ?22.25 TP-Link N600 Universal Dual Band Wifi Ethernet/ Entertainment Adapter With 4 Ports (300 Mbps)
  • ?28.00 TP-Link TL-WR843ND Wireless Access Point/Client Router (300 Mbps)
Will any of these do the job?

 

How will I connect? (I mean, I presume they all have an internal admin setup website that I use to configure the Wi-Fi name, password etc.?)

 

The first 2 are extenders which just extend the range of the current network, they do not need that much setup compared to a router since they do not have their own admin site in most cases. Extenders never actually worked for me and always gave trouble when trying to set them up...

 

The last 2 are actually routers which have their own admin site. I use 2 routers currently, one 2.4ghz router for older devices that are in a longer range and one 5ghz router for newer devices that are in a closer range. Both routers are actually almost stacked on top of each other :p

 

The internal admin setup website will be on a different ip address for a secondary router, 192.168.11.1 instead of 192.168.1.1 in most cases.

So it's just a matter of connecting to a different ip. You can find this ip easily when connected to a wifi network by using the command ipconfig in cmd, Default Gateway is the ip you're looking for.

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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Any wifi router can be used as AP.. So whatever wifi router you want to buy in your price range would work.

Connect it to your network via one of its lan ports (not its wan/internet port). Setup its lan IP to be on your network, turn off its dhcp server = wireless AP!!

The advantage of using a wifi router vs typical cheap AP in your sort of setup is you would still have 3 ports to use for wired devices. And depending if your wifi router firmware or if can run 3rd party firmware you could leverage the WAN port as part of the wifi bridge so you then have 4 ports open for other devices like your PC, or even to run another cable to another location for another AP.

So I would suggest any wifi router that has more than 1 lan port and whatever wifi you want to support N, AC, etc. And now you can still have your PC connected wire, and have great wifi coverage in that area.

Is your PC currently gig? If so then get another wifi router that is gig and your cookin with gas ;)

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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We use the Plusnet Fibre service (I believe it's fibre only to the exchange) and Plusnet provide this via. a BT OpenReach modem in our house.

 

On Ebuyer, in the wireless router category, there is:

  • ADSL
  • Cable
  • Fibre / VDSL

Which would I get in my case?

 

I'm presuming it doesn't matter since I'm only using it to provide wireless from an already-existing wireless router, simply connected via. a cable.

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Grand Master

T3X4S

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Going cheap (buying junk) is often not cheaper as opposed to buying quality.  Sure you aren't needing something heavy duty, but looking for the cheapest thing you can find can cost you more in the long run, not just in terms of money.

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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Going cheap (buying junk) is often not cheaper as opposed to buying quality.  Sure you aren't needing something heavy duty, but looking for the cheapest thing you can find can cost you more in the long run, not just in terms of money.

I agree but the one above is 300 Mbps (even if it's crap, I'm sure it'll still hit our max speed of 76 Mbps) and range-wise, it only needs to be 2-3 meters at most.

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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So that is 10/100 on its ports -- so clearly you can never see over 100mbps.. more like 90 to 95ish So how do they think anyone is going to buy their 300mbps marketing? ;) So we all know that 300 number is BS for real world, but you should be able to get at least .4 of that or 120 -- but your on 100 connection which is really only 90ish, so where is that even 120? ;)

Never heard of that brand, is your current wired connection gig? I would of gotten at min one with gig interfaces..

Keep in mind your sharing that uplink to your router with your pc and wireless. So you have 100 uplink to your router and any other wired devices.. Really would of gotten gig, I don't know why anyone would buy anything that is only connected at 10/100 that provides access to more than 1 client. If it was a printer ok it sure doesn't need gig ;)

If your main router is only 10/100 guess it doesn't matter - but gig is what you should be running really, soon 10ge will be home speeds.. Its a bit pricey for the home currently - you can pick up nics cheap enough. But the switches -- ouch ;)

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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So that is 10/100 on its ports -- so clearly you can never see over 100mbps.. more like 90 to 95ish So how do they think anyone is going to buy their 300mbps marketing? ;)

Never heard of that brand, is your current wired connection gig? I would of gotten at min one with gig interfaces..

No idea what you mean.

 

Besides, 100 Mbps is fine, we have a 76 Mbps connection.

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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You have a 76mbps internet ok, but what about device to device communication between your devices?

If all your devices only talk to internet then agreed its not an issue, but if you say stream movies from box A to box B on your network, for for example to that pc in the far room where you want to add the AP. Say that is using 40mbps to stream a movie from storage you have in the main house through your router to the new one. They are only connected via 100 (real world more like 90) so 90-50 = 50, so your your less than your internet speed then.

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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You have a 76mbps internet ok, but what about device to device communication between your devices?

If all your devices only talk to internet then agreed its not an issue, but if you say stream movies from box A to box B on your network, for for example to that pc in the far room where you want to add the AP. Say that is using 40mbps to stream a movie from storage you have in the main house through your router to the new one. They are only connected via 100 (real world more like 90) so 90-50 = 50, so your your less than your internet speed then.

The cheapest 1 Gbps router appears to be ?76 on Ebuyer (I searched for "Gbps").

 

The 300 Mbps (100 Mbps or 90 Mbps via. the cable) one I got for ?10 will most-likely be fine.

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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This one looks like it has gig, ?39

http://www.ebuyer.com/428127-tp-link-300mbps-wireless-n-gigabit-adsl2-modem-router-td-w8970

And has 2 usb ports for sharing printer/files/etc..

Oh, I was looking for the word "Gigabit"? I only saw the "300 Mbps" part.

 

To be fair, it's 4x the cost of the one I went for.

 

If I struggle to stream movies from the other room (they're only ripped 4 GB 720p MKVs) with the one I'm getting, I'll get something like you posted (y)

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Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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other options

n300

http://www.ebuyer.com/259806-tp-link-wireless-n300-gigabit-router-w-usb-port-tl-wr1043nd

 

n600

http://www.ebuyer.com/632812-trendnet-tew-752dru-n600-dual-band-wireless-router-tew-752dru

http://www.ebuyer.com/391143-tp-link-tl-wdr3600-dual-band-n600-concurrent-wireless-gigabit-router-tl-wdr3600

 

ac

http://www.ebuyer.com/641945-tp-link-archer-c2-ac750-4-port-dual-band-wireless-gigabit-router-archer-c2

http://www.ebuyer.com/668919-trendnet-tew-813dru-ac1200-dual-band-wireless-router-tew-813dru

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Grand Master

remixedcat

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So that is 10/100 on its ports -- so clearly you can never see over 100mbps.. more like 90 to 95ish So how do they think anyone is going to buy their 300mbps marketing? ;) So we all know that 300 number is BS for real world, but you should be able to get at least .4 of that or 120 -- but your on 100 connection which is really only 90ish, so where is that even 120? ;)

Never heard of that brand, is your current wired connection gig? I would of gotten at min one with gig interfaces..

Keep in mind your sharing that uplink to your router with your pc and wireless. So you have 100 uplink to your router and any other wired devices.. Really would of gotten gig, I don't know why anyone would buy anything that is only connected at 10/100 that provides access to more than 1 client. If it was a printer ok it sure doesn't need gig ;)

If your main router is only 10/100 guess it doesn't matter - but gig is what you should be running really, soon 10ge will be home speeds.. Its a bit pricey for the home currently - you can pick up nics cheap enough. But the switches -- ouch ;)

 

OnNetworks is a netgeat brand. Aimed at lower cost.

 

Thing is it might not be able to have 3rd party firmware tho

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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They're all way too expensive since I just need the room to have enough speed to stream 4 GB video files from the building next door :)

 

 

 
 

 

 

OnNetworks is a netgeat brand. Aimed at lower cost.

 

Thing is it might not be able to have 3rd party firmware tho

 

That's fine, won't really need it :)

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+BudMan MVC

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While sure its 4x the ?10 one - on the other hand your talking less than ?40, not 400 ;) And it has way more features than that other one.. And you get gig ports. What is your main router - is it gig? Is your PC in the far room gig interface?

Its your money, and your network - I just don't see why in 2014 anyone would be running only a 100mbps connection - unless it was like a printer.. Moving anything over 100 is like watching paint dry.. The best you can hope for is about 11MBps over 100, on gig I see 50 to 100MBps without problems..

Here just did quick test, I am remoted into the machine, and pulling file from storage box, which for all I know is being streamed from currently since my wife is watching grand daughter and she likes to watch videos I have on that box.

post-14624-0-23282200-1418831354.png

Why would anyone want to run 100 and watch paint dry trying to move files? ;)

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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While sure its 4x the ?10 one - on the other hand your talking less than ?40, not 400 ;) And it has way more features than that other one.. And you get gig ports. What is your main router - is it gig? Is your PC in the far room gig interface?

Its your money, and your network - I just don't see why in 2014 anyone would be running only a 100mbps connection - unless it was like a printer.. Moving anything over 100 is like watching paint dry.. The best you can hope for is about 11MBps over 100, on gig I see 50 to 100MBps without problems..

Here just did quick test, I am remoted into the machine, and pulling file from storage box, which for all I know is being streamed from currently since my wife is watching grand daughter and she likes to watch videos I have on that box.

attachicon.gifspeedtest.png

Why would anyone want to run 100 and watch paint dry trying to move files? ;)

All I need is 76 Mbps and I'll be able to use my Internet connection to the max. if it doesn't reach that amount, it's fine, I won't be downloading anything in there (maybe just a little Netflix streaming).

I'm not sure how many Mbps a ripped 4 GB 720p MKV requires to stream.

 

Regarding my PC (which the movies are on), I connect it to the router (a Technicolor TG582n that my ISP provided) via. the built-in LAN port on my Asus Maximus V Extreme motherboard.

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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Well that router is only 100, so your out of luck moving to gig unless you add a gig switch and or replace that, your PC has gig "1 x Intel Gigabit LAN Controller"

As to what your video bit rate is, you would need to look at the file with mediainfo or something to see its bitrate, but 30mbps normally should be able to stream 720p with a pretty good bitdepth/rate.

You should be ok, it just I don't get anyone being happy with 100 which was fine 10 years ago or so ;) But with current tech, its just so freaking slow ;) Comes down to what you do on your network, I move large files all the time - that video file I used for test was 2.7GB.. Copies over from my storage to my PC in like 30 seconds. If I was on 100, that would take like 5 minutes.. Argghhh ;)

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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Well that router is only 100, so your out of luck moving to gig unless you add a gig switch and or replace that, your PC has gig "1 x Intel Gigabit LAN Controller"

As to what your video bit rate is, you would need to look at the file with mediainfo or something to see its bitrate, but 30mbps normally should be able to stream 720p with a pretty good bitdepth/rate.

You should be ok, it just I don't get anyone being happy with 100 which was fine 10 years ago or so ;) But with current tech, its just so freaking slow ;)

... but it's fine for what I need.

 

And since the router is 100 Mbps, the second 100 Mbps router I just bought should be fine.

 

I just checked out two of my 720p MKV movies, they are (audio and video combined) 6123 Kbps and 7107 Kbps and the quality is excellent, so I'll be fine :)

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