Wireless booster - not Stag related

[Andrew S]

I am looking for some advice please. We are with Orange and have one of their wireless boxes and all working fine. I really need to boost the WIFI so that it is stronger in all the rooms and I understand there are boosters out there and was wondering f any has done this and had success?

Any advice appreciated as we have a weak or no signal in certain parts of the home

Cheers
Andrew

[Ian Durrant]

Hi Andrew,

A wireless repeater can be placed between the router and the area of weak reception to retransmit the signal and so get around range problems. There are also homeplug versions, which take a network cable from your router into an adaptor that plugs into the mains, the network signal is then transmitted into your mains wiring to the second adaptor plugged into the mains near your area of weak signal which then acts as a wireless access point so you can pretty much rebroadcast the wifi anywhere you like. Most homeplug kits are Ethernet to ethernet though so be careful when buying that you get one that you get one that is Ethernet to wireless access point. Which is best for you is very hard to say without seeing the property but one or the other will certainly help in your situation.

Edimax make the easiest to use range extenders and are great value for money,often re-badged and sold as more expensive makes.

for a straightforward repeater

http://www.ebuyer.com/257251-edimax-ew-7228apn-wireless-n150-range-extender-access-point-with-5-port-switch-ew-7228apn

If you need a lot more range then netgear are one of very few that make the homeplug type and they are much more expensive

http://www.ebuyer.com/237200-netgear-200mbps-powerline-av-wireless-n-extender-kit-xavnb2001-100uks

Hope that helps
Ian

[JesusofCool]

I have used these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-WGXB.../dp/B000ENOR3E for creating a duplicate wireless point. A doddle to set up, no wiring and they just work. Well they have done in two houses, for 7 years so far...

Added benefit; I can unplug it and take it to the garage, plug it in and have the net in peace and quiet at full strength.

[Andrew S]

Thanks Ian thats very helpful and thanks for the recommendation on the amazon one.

I use Ebuyer so they should be good gear.

How do these work? Do they lock onto a wireless signal and then output the same with a boost? How do they know which is your signal and not the neighbours?

It would appear that this is quite a popular thing to do these days then to boost it, so will have a look round.

Thanks guys
Andrew

[Ian Durrant]

How do these work? Do they lock onto a wireless signal and then output the same with a boost? How do they know which is your signal and not the neighbours?

The range extenders (repeaters) require some configuring and can therefore be fiddly to set up. Some of the homeplug ones are easier but it depends so much on even the model as well as the make as to whether these are easy or just as fiddly. we tend to set either type up to use the same wireless name as the router (SSID) which means if you carry say an ipad from one room to another the handover is a bit faster (almost seemless, though a streaming video will usually drop). basically though with the repeater you need to tell it what the name of the network(and the encryption key) is so it knows what it is retransmitting, with the homeplug style you *sometimes* don't have to do any set up.

[Andrew S]

Thanks IanWuill start shopping around then as teh kids have both got android tablets for Christmas and we can get them to bed earlier if they can get a signal there rather than them delaying matters and sitting in the lounge. They have reached the stage now of blaming technology as an excuse for not being ready for bed. I must try that one. One last silly question, if you have more than one aplliance using wifi, does it drain the signal more?CheersAndrew

[V Mad]

How do these work? Do they lock onto a wireless signal and then output the same with a boost? How do they know which is your signal and not the neighbours?

Thanks guys
Andrew

They dont, your computer does the discrimination; it already recieves the neighbours signal, but selects the one you have set up.

PS: I know nothing about computers LOL!!

[Andrew S]

Cheers Chris

[GDPR]

I use a pair of Comtrend powerline adaptors hooked up to an 8 port hub for the CAT5 for PCs and blue ray players and a high power TP-Link access point to cover the wireless upstairs, as the Draytek router downstairs gives black spots due to the amount of RSJs...Due to the amount of iPads, and Galaxy tabs in use having decent wireless was a must.

The comtrends came via savastore.co.uk for £40, and are pre set up, and the access point was £22 from Amazon.... brilliant results...

[Andrew S]

Thanks Russ, much appreciated. Good to have a recommendation

Cheers
Andrew