DIY wirelessly extending network

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hio77

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#2561314 9-Sep-2020 20:31

you have already confirmed that the wifi range isn't flash to your office.

I'd look at if you cant find a good option for running a cable.

as others have said, in rentals, running it along the floor under a mat works great. I've had some rentals i just had an ethernet nicely cleartaped down to my office.

in my current place, the previous tenant had left a hole in the wall, Siliconed up with a TV antenna cable sticking through.. Landlord was quite happy with me going along and terminating it all in a nice jackpoint, and throwing in an cat5 between the ends to futureproof the place.

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Arachan

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#2562023 11-Sep-2020 08:43

hio77:

you have already confirmed that the wifi range isn't flash to your office.

I'd look at if you cant find a good option for running a cable.

as others have said, in rentals, running it along the floor under a mat works great. I've had some rentals i just had an ethernet nicely cleartaped down to my office.

in my current place, the previous tenant had left a hole in the wall, Siliconed up with a TV antenna cable sticking through.. Landlord was quite happy with me going along and terminating it all in a nice jackpoint, and throwing in an cat5 between the ends to futureproof the place.

Hi thanks for your reply. Yes the WiFi is poor atm but it's off a cheap isp router. Do you think the linked parts would solve this problem?

nztim

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#2562033 11-Sep-2020 09:10

Arachan:

Some people have recommended Ubiquiti but the white aesthetic and lack of visible aerials don't do it for me. Surely external aerials > none?

Built in Antennas are fine - just remember with the Unifi devices you need a controller to make them run

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sbiddle

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#2562101 11-Sep-2020 11:13

Arachan:

H

Some people have recommended Ubiquiti but the white aesthetic and lack of visible aerials don't do it for me. Surely external aerials > none?

99% of access points don't have external aerials.

It's because an access point serves a totally different purpose to an all in one router which typically has external aerials with an omnidirectional radiation pattern meaning it radiates signals out like a donut - that's why you won't get coverage below (or above) with an omnidirectional antenna, the signal is only spread across outwards.

An access point on the other hand will have a radiation pattern specific to the model, whether this be a sectorised design covering a narrow (or wide) area, or in the case of something like a typical round UniFi AP being a downward facing pattern that is similar to a lightbulb with a lampshade on top that focusses the signal downwards and outwards.

cyril7

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#2562203 11-Sep-2020 11:32

As Steve says, even though you cannot see the internal antennas they are often way more complex and capable of greater gain and more appropriate coverage pattern than a simple dipole as is most external antenna's.

So using external antennas as a selection criteria is a fail.

Cyril

Arachan

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#2669749 7-Mar-2021 22:42

A quick update as way of closure. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

I ended up getting a pci 5ghz wifi card for my desktop. This itself was a very poor experience due to pc being tucked away under a desk.

I bought this antenna from jaycar and mounted it on my desk and hey presto...got my max speed on my desktop.

Cheers all!

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