How best to extend my wifi

[mike208]

When I had my cable/internet installed I had them put the wireless router in my basement man cave as thats where my desktop is and where, at the time, my main console for gaming was. But we currently have multiple consoles connected wireless around the house, as well as phones and laptops, etc. For the most part it all works, the living room is directly above the basement where the router is and the signal seems good enough. While the other 2 bedrooms aren't much farther away, the wifi signal seems very weak in these areas.

So I was considering drilling a hole in a corner of the living room(bedroom closet may also be a possibility) to run down to the basement and use a a wireless access point/range extender type device to extend the wifi to the bedrooms.

But then I started looking at powerline wifi extender like http://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-wireless-n300-wi-fi-extender-starter-av500-powerline-adapter-kit-white/2080319.p?id=1219528555613&skuId=2080319
Since I figured its probably not that much more expensive than the access point I would need anyway and would mean I would have to waste time drilling holes and running a wire.

My wireless networking knowledge is good, but my knowledge of the hardware and prices isn't as up to date. Thoughts?

 

[boomhower]

MOCA is another option as well. What router do you have now? For wireless you really do need an AP for each floor of the home.

 

[mike208]

I'm using whatever generic router the cable company gave me. I don't need crazy performance. Which is why I am thinking the powerline stuff would be the easiest and cheapest, just wondering if I am missing anything. Although a wired access point would allow me to get the couple of consoles in the living room on the wired network and off the wireless

 

[Brainonska511]

If you don't mind drilling a hole to put a cable through the floor, I'd probably go that route first and simply relocate the router to the main floor. If that doesn't solve the weak signal problem, maybe then look into using extenders.

I had a similar issue: In my parents' house, the computers all used to be in the basement, so that's where the modem and router were set up. Years later, everything is on the main floor and the wireless reception in some parts of the house was poor. Since the coaxial cable from the original installation was long enough (they left a nice bundle in the drop ceiling), I just drilled a hole through the floor big enough for the coaxial cable and fished that through the hole, allowing for the whole setup to be on the main floor, greatly improving wireless connectivity in the house.

 

[sdifox]

Just drill a hole in the closet and relocate router to main floor. Ethernet cable is cheap.

 

[kevnich2]

Depending on the size of your house and what your goals are, have you considered a dedicated Wireless AP in the middle area of your house to solely give better wifi coverage? If your going to run cable anyway, might as well just buy a decent AP and go that route.

My recommendation would be either open-mesh or ubiquiti unifi. Both have decent hardware.

 

[mike208]

I am currently using an Arris DG2470A router provided by my cable internet company. I will look into MOCA, never heard of it before, are the adapters like a passthrough where your main cable runs through that adapter? Does it work with directv?

I don't mind drilling a hole, but I don't have a lot of experience drilling holes in my house, want to make sure I don't drill through something important. And the more I thought about it it is definitely the option that requires the most work. I'm ok with that, but figured if I could get the same or similar performance through another option why not? If I move the router to the main floor what would I use in the basement, just another router?

Another question is, looking at my current router I'm assuming its fairly cheap, and yet still manages to get a signal across the house for the most part, although not a great signal in areas. I wonder if a decent router would be able to project the signal further.

I don't recall the exact square footage of my house, I am thinking 1500-1800, its a 3 bedroom bi level with finished basement. If I run a cable, then yes the plan was to have the router and another wireless access point on the other floor.


I also just remembered I am paying the internet company 10 bucks a month to use their cable modem/router. Maybe my first step should be upgrading that and seeing if that helps and lowering my bill at the same time. The question is, are there any good one available, or should I get a cheap modem and a better router?

 

[Brainonska511]

Another question is, looking at my current router I'm assuming its fairly cheap, and yet still manages to get a signal across the house for the most part, although not a great signal in areas. I wonder if a decent router would be able to project the signal further.

It seems like your problem right now isn't the quality of the router, simply its location in your house. If you change your router, but keep it in the same spot, I have a feeling your problem will still remain.

 

[mike208]

It seems like your problem right now isn't the quality of the router, simply its location in your house. If you change your router, but keep it in the same spot, I have a feeling your problem will still remain.

I figured the same, but wasn't sure if the better routers out there have more power, or if the external antennas help push the signal further or with more power

 

[mike208]

So I decided to get a new modem and router, to get out form under the fee the ISP is charging me to use their modem. I replaced it with a surfboard SB6141. Went with a netgear R6400 AC1750 router http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/R6400.aspx

As expected and as Brainonska511 mentioned, new better router, basically same location equals same problem. While my initial speed test in my bedroom indicated I was reaching my ISP maximum bandwidth, subsequent tests have been all over the map, but most around 3-7Mbps.

I was originally looking at a TPlink archer C7, but liked some of the benefits of the netgear R6400 over it, so I splurged. So now I need to figure out my next step. I am not opposed to returning this router and going with a cheaper option plus something else to make this work better, but I do like it, so now I am wondering if I shouldn't just keep it, probably move it upstairs where the majority of the wireless devices are used and run a cable from it downstairs to a hub/switch/possibly another wireless router to connect my devices downstairs. Mainly my PC, and a video game console or 2 on occasion. I do have access to some older linksys equipment, a BEFSR41 ver 4.3 router, 4 port 10/100 router I think. And a WRTS54GS Wireless G 4 port 10/100 router. Would either of these be sufficient? I don't think I would be doing a ton of file transfers from the desktop to other devices, so I think they should be fine for web access and for the console since they can both outpace my internet speed. I can only find 1 AC Adapter for them unfortunately. Unless there is something amazing about the wired router, I am thinking putting my new router upstairs(will probably attach a external USB hard drive to it for file storage) and then run a wire from it downstairs to the old linksys wireless router to power my desktop, maybe a console and provide wireless for my phone when I am down here.

Just dawned on me the cable modem will have to stay in the basement unless I have the ISP come run another cable to it. With that being the case what is the best way to run this setup? Should I run 2 cables, one from the modem to the new router, then one from the new router to the old router? Or since the modem is the slowest device in the group could I just run a cable from it to the old wireless router in the basement with it and then run a long cable up to the new router upstairs? If I do that can I still have the new router act as the main router and the old one just set up as an AP using the same SSID as the new router?

 

[sdifox]

1 cable up to main floor and main router doing firewall Nat duty. Then run another from main floor to second floor to wap.

 

[Elkycali]

On the outside of your house the tech brought his coax to a point and probably used a splitter before going to the equipment. Find that splitter and add a coax cable to it to the new location you need and leave the original line to the basement in place. When ATT came to install at my house I asked the tech to use a splitter with 6 outputs so that I could run some other stuff from there and it was not a problem. Check with your service provider and ask what the cost is to change out the splitter. You might find that there is no cost as was the case with ATT.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I second the idea of adding an AP. Keep network equipment in a centralized location, basement is a good spot, and just run a cable upstairs to an AP.