Wifi Extender or Repeater

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Wifi Extender or Repeater - what to buy?

maxeon

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#112023 23-Nov-2012 10:42

Good morning all ..

Need some advise on what to buy for extending my Wifi signal in my house.

Background:
I had many issues with internet at home, last night I had Fraser from GeekZone installing Master filter and the Upstream and Downstream on my router (Telecom given TG582n) are much better.

Issue:
I now have another issue. If I use my desktop which is connected to modem via LAN cable, the speeds are very nice and I can browse HD videos on Youtube with breeze. However, on Wifi in any room for other devices its slow and interrupted. I tried isolating by powering off devices, phones and changing channels.

Due to Master filter installation - the modem is moved to the front of the house and the Wifi signals are very bad to the other end of the house and very slow even browsing.

Current Situation:
My house is pre-wired with Network Jacks from the place where the modem is to a central location at the back of the house.

I want to buy a Wifi Extender / Repeater / Booster - which ever is the best option to connect it to the LAN interface and get the Wifi signal from it - which feeds from my Main router. Makes my life easier to browse HD videos on Youtube.

Any suggestions on what suites better or compatible with my Telecom given router ?

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Vocus

#721756 23-Nov-2012 10:45

If you have ethernet between the router and wherever you need signal, put an access point on it connected via ethernet and use a different channel. That should give you the best results.

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maxeon

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#721759 23-Nov-2012 10:47

ubergeeknz: If you have ethernet between the router and wherever you need signal, put an access point on it connected via ethernet and use a different channel. That should give you the best results.

Thank you for the reply. Can you suggest a access point that I can buy from PB Tech? How does the Wifi work on devices? Do i use the same SID ? and does it connect to Wifi on access point when I am at the back of the house and connect to the main modem when I am moving down there?

Or do I have to disable Wifi on the main modem to stop interfering ?

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#721770 23-Nov-2012 11:01

vamsee:
ubergeeknz: If you have ethernet between the router and wherever you need signal, put an access point on it connected via ethernet and use a different channel. That should give you the best results.

Thank you for the reply. Can you suggest a access point that I can buy from PB Tech? How does the Wifi work on devices? Do i use the same SID ? and does it connect to Wifi on access point when I am at the back of the house and connect to the main modem when I am moving down there?

Or do I have to disable Wifi on the main modem to stop interfering ?

Use the same SSID and passphrase, and a different channel. The devices should select the one with best signal strength automatically.

There are plenty of threads recommending different AP's, a quick search should tell you or I'm sure people will chip in on this thread with recommendations :)

deadlyllama

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#721771 23-Nov-2012 11:02

vamsee:
ubergeeknz: If you have ethernet between the router and wherever you need signal, put an access point on it connected via ethernet and use a different channel. That should give you the best results.

Thank you for the reply. Can you suggest a access point that I can buy from PB Tech? How does the Wifi work on devices? Do i use the same SID ? and does it connect to Wifi on access point when I am at the back of the house and connect to the main modem when I am moving down there?

Or do I have to disable Wifi on the main modem to stop interfering ?

Set up both the AP and the wireless router to have the same SSID (that's the network name) and the same password (WPA/WPA2 PSK key). Put them on different channels -- then they won't interfere with each other. Use only channels 1, 6 or 11.

You can use any old wireless router as an AP providing that you turn off its DHCP server, assign it a non-conflicting IP, and plug your network into one of its LAN ports (leave the WAN port empty).

maxeon

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#721776 23-Nov-2012 11:06

deadlyllama:
vamsee:
ubergeeknz: If you have ethernet between the router and wherever you need signal, put an access point on it connected via ethernet and use a different channel. That should give you the best results.

Thank you for the reply. Can you suggest a access point that I can buy from PB Tech? How does the Wifi work on devices? Do i use the same SID ? and does it connect to Wifi on access point when I am at the back of the house and connect to the main modem when I am moving down there?

Or do I have to disable Wifi on the main modem to stop interfering ?

Set up both the AP and the wireless router to have the same SSID (that's the network name) and the same password (WPA/WPA2 PSK key). Put them on different channels -- then they won't interfere with each other. Use only channels 1, 6 or 11.

You can use any old wireless router as an AP providing that you turn off its DHCP server, assign it a non-conflicting IP, and plug your network into one of its LAN ports (leave the WAN port empty).

Cool, this sounds like a good idea. I have a old Dynalink modem lying somewhere which was dropping the ADSL line and I had to replace it because of that. I will probably try using that as a Access point. So I just connect the Internet feed to one of the LAN ports using a normal Cat 5 cable? or do I have to use a Cross over ?

I will disable the DHCP and will assign a new IP for the device.

I was thinking in the lines of buying a D-Link DIR-505

michaelmurfy

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#721777 23-Nov-2012 11:06

If you have the same SSID / security settings on both routers and on different channels this will work, but it has to be a exact clone in settings - Most devices will "roam" to each AP, but depending on what you get it might be of interest to disable wifi on the TG582n (for example if you got a 802.11N 300mbit router)

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deadlyllama

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#721784 23-Nov-2012 11:28

vamsee:
deadlyllama:
vamsee:
ubergeeknz: If you have ethernet between the router and wherever you need signal, put an access point on it connected via ethernet and use a different channel. That should give you the best results.

Thank you for the reply. Can you suggest a access point that I can buy from PB Tech? How does the Wifi work on devices? Do i use the same SID ? and does it connect to Wifi on access point when I am at the back of the house and connect to the main modem when I am moving down there?

Or do I have to disable Wifi on the main modem to stop interfering ?

Set up both the AP and the wireless router to have the same SSID (that's the network name) and the same password (WPA/WPA2 PSK key). Put them on different channels -- then they won't interfere with each other. Use only channels 1, 6 or 11.

You can use any old wireless router as an AP providing that you turn off its DHCP server, assign it a non-conflicting IP, and plug your network into one of its LAN ports (leave the WAN port empty).

Cool, this sounds like a good idea. I have a old Dynalink modem lying somewhere which was dropping the ADSL line and I had to replace it because of that. I will probably try using that as a Access point. So I just connect the Internet feed to one of the LAN ports using a normal Cat 5 cable? or do I have to use a Cross over ?

I will disable the DHCP and will assign a new IP for the device.

I was thinking in the lines of buying a D-Link DIR-505

Get something decent -- I wouldn't buy any wireless gear these days that didn't support 300Mbps 11n unless I really didn't care about reception or speed. The speeds quotes on wireless gear are way higher than what you will actually get out of it. That DIR-505 is only 802.11g, which is the old standard -- quoted as "54Mbps" but really you only get about 20Mbps out of it, even in perfect conditions. 802.11n gear that says it only does 150Mbps doesn't have MIMO -- and MIMO doesn't just give you better speed, it also gives you better reception.

Almost all gear these days does auto-crossover so you should be able to use a normal Cat5 ethernet cable.

I'm happy with my TP-Link TL-WR1043ND. They're only $100 now!

maxeon

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#721790 23-Nov-2012 11:42

Get something decent -- I wouldn't buy any wireless gear these days that didn't support 300Mbps 11n unless I really didn't care about reception or speed. The speeds quotes on wireless gear are way higher than what you will actually get out of it. That DIR-505 is only 802.11g, which is the old standard -- quoted as "54Mbps" but really you only get about 20Mbps out of it, even in perfect conditions. 802.11n gear that says it only does 150Mbps doesn't have MIMO -- and MIMO doesn't just give you better speed, it also gives you better reception.

Almost all gear these days does auto-crossover so you should be able to use a normal Cat5 ethernet cable.

I'm happy with my TP-Link TL-WR1043ND. They're only $100 now!

Thank you. The TP-Link WR1043ND is very tempting and I am now inclined to replace my Telecom router with it if I can get good signals with it. I will give it a try this weekend, its 91 inc dollars from PB Tech.

DrStrangelove

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#722022 23-Nov-2012 19:37

True re: WR1043ND

And then you could use the TG582n** as an Ethernet bridge by enabling the Ethernet with the DHCP disabled and the WiFi on the same channel and name. Just give the Ethernet an IP address of 192.168.1.253 [assuming default IP addressing]. It'll work just fine even with the small bit of conflict with channel congestion. You'll still get excellent coverage and maintain ISP access speed and you can still smile and say hi to your neighbours without being a WiFi channel hog.

** You can set the TG582n to 20/40Mhz and it'll give a connection speed of 270Mbits/s but it's use is dubious as there is no channel bind to be seen. :-) But it does look impressive to the neighbours and gives the impression is something big not to be messed with :-)

tdgeek

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#722026 23-Nov-2012 20:06

DrStrangelove: True re: WR1043ND

And then you could use the TG582n** as an Ethernet bridge by enabling the Ethernet with the DHCP disabled and the WiFi on the same channel and name. Just give the Ethernet an IP address of 192.168.1.253 [assuming default IP addressing]. It'll work just fine even with the small bit of conflict with channel congestion. You'll still get excellent coverage and maintain ISP access speed and you can still smile and say hi to your neighbours without being a WiFi channel hog.

** You can set the TG582n to 20/40Mhz and it'll give a connection speed of 270Mbits/s but it's use is dubious as there is no channel bind to be seen. :-) But it does look impressive to the neighbours and gives the impression is something big not to be messed with :-)

Interesting. My TPLink TD-W8960N shows a connection of 130 mbit. It was on 40Mhz but was flaky, at 20Mhz its fine. Just chn aged back to 40Mhz and 300 mbit, plus added N Only, will se ehow it goes. There are no distance issues here

DrStrangelove

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#722044 23-Nov-2012 21:22

Connection speed is just a licked finger put into the air. It's just an indicator at best, looks good on a box, but means nothing.
Besides, WiFi is half duplex and on 300Mbits router/modem with two streams+ and 40MHz bound channel, you'd still be lucky to get much over 130Mbits throughput. And that's on a really good day.

WiFi's connection rate indicator normally indicates the lowest rated device it's currently seeing, but your bandwidth may be higher than that on a higher spec'd device at the time. It all depends on the environment.

maxeon

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#722104 24-Nov-2012 00:53

DrStrangelove: True re: WR1043ND

And then you could use the TG582n** as an Ethernet bridge by enabling the Ethernet with the DHCP disabled and the WiFi on the same channel and name. Just give the Ethernet an IP address of 192.168.1.253 [assuming default IP addressing]. It'll work just fine even with the small bit of conflict with channel congestion. You'll still get excellent coverage and maintain ISP access speed and you can still smile and say hi to your neighbours without being a WiFi channel hog.

** You can set the TG582n to 20/40Mhz and it'll give a connection speed of 270Mbits/s but it's use is dubious as there is no channel bind to be seen. :-) But it does look impressive to the neighbours and gives the impression is something big not to be messed with :-)

Thank you, I am going to buy the WR1043ND and will update on the outcome here.

maxeon

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#722321 24-Nov-2012 15:50

vamsee:
DrStrangelove: True re: WR1043ND

And then you could use the TG582n** as an Ethernet bridge by enabling the Ethernet with the DHCP disabled and the WiFi on the same channel and name. Just give the Ethernet an IP address of 192.168.1.253 [assuming default IP addressing]. It'll work just fine even with the small bit of conflict with channel congestion. You'll still get excellent coverage and maintain ISP access speed and you can still smile and say hi to your neighbours without being a WiFi channel hog.

** You can set the TG582n to 20/40Mhz and it'll give a connection speed of 270Mbits/s but it's use is dubious as there is no channel bind to be seen. :-) But it does look impressive to the neighbours and gives the impression is something big not to be messed with :-)

Thank you, I am going to buy the WR1043ND and will update on the outcome here.

Went and bought ASUS dsl-n55u for 198 from PB Tech, the sales person convinced me I dont need another repeater and would probably make this work for the whole house because its Dual Band and has both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

Setting up now

tdgeek

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#722338 24-Nov-2012 16:39

Looking forward to results . I changed my TPLINK W8960D back to 40 MHz and no flaky issues as before, odd. I have no idea what a typical transfer rate is though . On TG585 v7 it was 800KB/sec. TPLINK 20 MHz and 130mbit connect rate it was 1.8 MB/sec. At 40 MHz and 300 mbit it starts at 5.8 MB/sec and settles at 2.8 to 3.2.

Is that typical, low or ok?

I only file transfer using Win Explorer from an N laptop to a WDTV Live that has a DLINK Nano 300 mbit single aerial USB stick.

richms

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#722347 24-Nov-2012 17:18

vamsee:

Went and bought ASUS dsl-n55u for 198 from PB Tech, the sales person convinced me I dont need another repeater and would probably make this work for the whole house because its Dual Band and has both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

Setting up now

sales person said that to get a sale.

5GHz is useless between rooms, and the 2.4Ghz may or may not be better than what you have. With the antennas it will probably be a bit better but I doubt you will see decent speeds at the other end of the house.

Richard rich.ms

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