How to extend wifi coverage in a medium home?

R

revv

Weaksauce
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I bought a Netgear WNDR4300 ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L1EHCN2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) and it works pretty well.

However, it is located in the ground floor of my house. The top floor doesn't get coverage that is good enough.

How can I extend the range on the upper floor to get a full signal? I checked out some extenders, but they seem to be expensive.

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy another WNDR4300 and use that to extend the range from the first one? They're 60 bucks refurb...
 
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This requires me to somehow get an ethernet cable between it and the router, correct? Not sure if it will be possible :S
 
yep requires an ethernet cable. It has PoE so no power is required near the unit, power is fed through the ethernet cable.
If you had 2 of them, one downstairs hooked to your router, the one in the attic or upstairs would just need power as it will bounce the signal between the devices, and you can add more to widen your coverage.
 
Are these plug extenders any good? Does it require an Ethernet cable to it?

I've been thinking about these, but I'm concerned about the quality of the signal and the bandwidth available. Will it suffer in any way if I use these to extend?

Thanks for your help!!
 
Zepher said:
yep requires an ethernet cable. It has PoE so no power is required near the unit, power is fed through the ethernet cable.
If you had 2 of them, one downstairs hooked to your router, the one in the attic or upstairs would just need power as it will bounce the signal between the devices, and you can add more to widen your coverage.
Click to expand...


The unit in the attic in this senerio could be used as a repeater. You would still need to power it but would not need the data cable.

I've got 4 of these in my house, they just work.
 
What I did in my house (it's big) until I get around to running cable.

I just used 3 WNDR3700's as WAPs, using the same SSID/password, connected via powerline adapters. If you have an outlet in your attic, you could use that as your ethernet for the ubiquity stuff (the lower end ones comes with an injector IIRC). I would have done the same, but I got the WNDRs for free.

The powerline stuff is good enough for basic browsing or even streaming 720p, generally speaking.
 
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revv said:
Are these plug extenders any good? Does it require an Ethernet cable to it?

I've been thinking about these, but I'm concerned about the quality of the signal and the bandwidth available. Will it suffer in any way if I use these to extend?

Thanks for your help!!
Click to expand...

Range Extenders or Repeaters are junk. They will trash your wireless network.

For every Extender/Repeater you add you half the available bandwidth.

Get powerline networking to put an AP upstairs or suck it up and run an ethernet cable.
 
klank said:
Range Extenders or Repeaters are junk. They will trash your wireless network.

For every Extender/Repeater you add you half the available bandwidth.

Get powerline networking to put an AP upstairs or suck it up and run an ethernet cable.
Click to expand...

This x 100.
 
I myself have 2 routers, one upstairs and one downstairs with an ethernet cable ran from upstairs where all the main stuff is to the family room where there are 2 computers, WDTV live, and a smart TV, also gives me strong wifi in the garage where I spend most of the day and evening on my laptop.
 
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