Extending WiFi signal


Recommended Posts

Hey fellow Neowin readers and participants. I'm moving into a new place but I face a hurdle that I must overcome. I don't have a line of internet service to my place. It's a separate building on a singular lot and I have access to WiFi, but the router is about 50-75 ft away.

I've got my Xbox One and PC that need connectivity (and a strong signal). So I'm looking for suggestions on wireless signal extensions. I've read some reviews online but would appreciate direct suggestions for hardware.

I do have a Linksys EA4500 router that's sitting around, but I don't expect it could meet the range needs if its possible to convert it into a repeater.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

range extenders are de debil... wire in some access points! ubiquity's are cheap 3 packs on amazon for like 300 or less I think. 

 

As for me I use:

 

My Network hardware: Cisco Meraki Z1 router, 2 x Aruba RAP 109 APs, 1 Cisco Meraki MR12 AP, Cisco Meraki MS220-8p Poe Switch. D-Link DGS-1210-10P PoE managed switch.And I just got an Xclaim Xi3 802.11ac AP. 

 

I also got a spare netgear ac1900, a spare luxul ac1750 router, a spare netgear N900 router, a spare d-link AP, a spare luxul N900 AP, and some other POS routers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

range extenders are de debil... wire in some access points! ubiquity's are cheap 3 packs on amazon for like 300 or less I think. 

 

As for me I use:

 

you really didn't read at all what they said did you. xD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did and they are talking about extending wifi signal and I told them to stay away from range extenders.... -_-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best you can do is maybe an AP connected by 50' of CAT5 or something like that -

repeaters (range extenders) will give you a connection, but you wont like it on anything but basic browsing.

Regardless, you are going to have to spend some $$ (not much though)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So is there no way to run a cable, or get the internet moved to your actual location?  Repeating wifi is automatic /2 to the bandwidth.. Would really suggest you run a wire..  But then again depending on the internet speed a /2 in the wifi bandwidth might be moot anyway?

 

If your on say a 100/50 connection going to really suck getting /2 on your wifi.. If your internet connection is slow then who cares if your only getting 25mbps wifi if your internet is 5 for example.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey fellow Neowin readers and participants. I'm moving into a new place but I face a hurdle that I must overcome. I don't have a line of internet service to my place. It's a separate building on a singular lot and I have access to WiFi, but the router is about 50-75 ft away.

I've got my Xbox One and PC that need connectivity (and a strong signal). So I'm looking for suggestions on wireless signal extensions. I've read some reviews online but would appreciate direct suggestions for hardware.

I do have a Linksys EA4500 router that's sitting around, but I don't expect it could meet the range needs if its possible to convert it into a repeater.

Before spending anything, you could try setting that up as a repeater, if in built software doesn't allow it, DDWRT openWRT and Tomato do.

 

 

Edit: something I considered, but never did :laugh:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WokFi

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my experience, commercial range  extenders work well, if there aren't any thick walls/metal structures/tiles/roofs etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-RE6700/;jsessionid=3B7E39C05E29A582EC82D4A6BC90283C/

 

I wonder if these types of things can be piggybacked? Good luck and hope it all works out.

I used something similar and piggy backed  over three  linksys 54G router...   slow, but I managed to get slow internet to over 4 houses without spending a dime.

 

 

On topic, OP, is using UTP cable that hard?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your best bet might be to get an access point you can run in client mode, and then connect your devices via cable and a switch, that way you're not cutting potential bandwidth in half like you would by running a repeater

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a similar issue in my household, so what I did was buy a second router and flash OpenWRT on both, then set them to operate in a WDS configuration. This allows me to take the second router and move it wherever I want, and I don't have to see more than one network in my network list. 

 

Total cost was about $45 for both routers (one was $35, the other was $10). I could have spent as little as $20 but I wanted one router to be a little more powerful (so it could handle at least ~20 mbit of AES-256-CBC encryption and decryption). The only real catch to doing it is to make sure both routers have the same brand of SoC (i.e whether they're Qualcomm or Broadcom) otherwise you'd have some issues in making them play together.

 

Your other option is to buy a powerline adapter, some of which have gigabit throughput and very little latency, and cost as little as ~$30 on special.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is also a /2 setup.. 

 

What is the internet speed?  Using wireless as the backhaul would be the best wireless method without a /2 to your speed.  Be it you used wired clients in the 2nd location or run another AP there.  But powerline would be a better option then wifi more than likely..  But I really don't see how running a cable is not an option.  A hour or so of your time and run a cable..  You can rent a small trencher/ditch witch for sure less than $100 a day.  Cost of cable and you time your looking at at most 200 bucks to have a wire that you can get gig with...  Run a couple of wires while your at it..  You can buy direct bury cable and simple trencher makes it a easy project.

 

The direct bury cable does not need to be 18"  Just needs to be out of the way, something as simple as say this would work

 

But you can also rent a 18 to 24 inch ditch witch for really cheap if you can not just get the cable company to do it.  Pretty sure you can call them and say hey I need internet in this building install fee should be less than 200 for sure..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

burrowing like a dog to increase wifi to cheeta speeds

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Notice the /2 in speeds unless your using the other band as backhaul.  This is wireless uplink feature of normally enterprise grade AP to use radio 1 as clients wifi, and the other radio band as uplink to other network.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget if you decide to go BudMan's way to have them come out and check for any thing that is already buried does not get damaged. This I believe a free service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of good ideas here - my complications are that it's not MY house, I rent a separate building on the same lot as the owner and getting them to do something like burying a cable to run into another building is a bit... difficult.

 

That being said, I've taken a couple days to try different approaches to pushing WiFi signal from the base station to my building and it seems to be possible with a more powerful router.  I am using a cascading setup from the Xfinity router with my own router.  This could end up being the easiest thing to do, and is worth it to me if I'm getting better signal quality, throughput speeds, etc. without having to drastically cut DL/UL speeds.  I'm using my Linksys EA4500 right now and it's only offering me mediocre speed and connectivity via WiFi at about 50 ft. away.  It's basically worthless for gaming and HD streaming but is good enough to push media-lite pages or email.  I could use some suggestions for what's a solid upgrade without spending $150+ for a replacement.  I'm comfortable spending $70-$120 (new/refurb/used, doesn't matter as long as it's working), I just need a more stable connection for my devices and I'll be good to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And again what is the internet speeds?

 

So is this there internet that is part of your rent to use their wifi?  Or do you pay for this internet?  If so have the isp run the line to your dwelling.

 

How is your ea4500 getting its internet?  Are you plugging into the main house internet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.