wifi extenders

[redneck joe]

do they really work or is it snake oil? I've always been leery of 'boosters/ and 'antenna;s' that claim great things. I work fomr home about half to a third of my life and finally graduating form the kitchen counter to the upstairs where I have made an office but signal keeps dropping/connecting/dropping/connecting/etc. Especially irritating with VPN. I could use air card, but even as crappy as Charter is it is still faster than the aircard especially when I'm hitting the 50+ meg data files.

 

[MTboatguy]

I have used them before and they worked fine, no problems.

 

[Tnstratofam]

How old is your current wifi router? We had to upgrade ours two years ago due to all the devices we run. My old router worked pretty good, but once we had 4 devices vying for signal we started having conection issues.

 

[redneck joe]

typically we only have two laptops, when the boy is here he uses xbox. We have one that is less than 2 years old, 5 ghz (which I cannot even see upstairs, plus the 'normal' whatever that is.

 

[bruceb58]

Yes. They work fine. They aren't boosters. They actually relay the actual data. They login to your current Wifi network and then you login into it. The problem with using them is that they reduce your bandwidth by 50%. For just surfing, that usually isn't a big problem.

Try switching your WiFi to 2.4 Ghz. usually get more range.

Also, download a wifi analyzer program to your laptop or to an android phone and see what channels your neighbors are using. I try to pick a channel that they aren't all on.

What I have also done is hardwire a wireless access point in. This is actually better if you can do it since you don't get a bandwidth hit.

 

[southkogs]

What about another router? I've got a "okay" Netgear router that will toss a pretty decent signal - no issues upstairs or even outside. I'm thinking about going to a Mac Airport for some extra pipeline (too many kids and i-this or i-that's ).

We use the extenders quite often in the exhibits. They definitely help.

 

[thumpar]

I would go for a better router. The extenders do work but like Bruce stated you will loose a lot of speed. I use a quality dual band and have no signal issues. I can even go in the back yard and still get signal. One of my customers has a huge million dollar home (in Spokane that is the top of the market). They were having signal issues so I got them an AC router and they can go anywhere in the house now. They have 4 iphones, 4 laptops and 2 ipads on the network with no issues. At my house I have 3 rokus, 3 iphones, a wii and 2 laptops on the wifi network with no issues.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Yes. They work fine. They aren't boosters. They actually relay the actual data. They login to your current Wifi network and then you login into it. The problem with using them is that they reduce your bandwidth by 50%. For just surfing, that usually isn't a big problem.

Try switching your WiFi to 2.4 Ghz. usually get more range.

Also, download a wifi analyzer program to your laptop or to an android phone and see what channels your neighbors are using. I try to pick a channel that they aren't all on.

What I have also done is hardwire a wireless access point in. This is actually better if you can do it since you don't get a bandwidth hit.

This is what we eventually did. I had an old router/access point that I configured to use as an extender (I think I used DD-WRT to accomplish that) but the hit in bandwidth was substantial and noticeable. I ended up running CAT5e and just installed a second access point to cover the areas where I had gaps. It was worth the effort.

 

[redneck joe]

i just found an old router in the closet, new in bo. an N. is that too old nowadays and how would I add another one - just cat five to the new location?

it is irritating - up here i'm picking up two other neighbors and I never ever see those when downstairs - only ours. My neighbor two acres away uses our for his cell (he sits on back porch) but i just go upstairs and nothing...

 

[MTboatguy]

You might just try moving your current router around a bit and see what you get, I had a problem in my house a while ago and I simply moved the router about 3-4 feet away from where it was and it covered both the house and the garage with no problem.

 

[aspeck]

I have two access points in my house. I had the extenders, but I found them to drop signal and constantly needed to be reconfigured. The wifi signal will travel effortlessly through glass and wood, but drywall and cement tend to really dampen the signal. Keep that in mind as you are setting up your access point. And yes, use cat 5 cable from the one router to where you want to install the other. But you may be able to cure your problem, as MT mentioned, with just a slight movement of the router.

 

[K-2]

I use one of these in my shop:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035H4164/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
40 yards from house where the router is.
Signal went from 2 bars and slow to full bars and fast. It plugs into USB on my laptop.
Only problem is you need to install drivers and change a setting or 2 in the computer. Fairly simple, it works
great for me but it's not for everyone.

 

[bruceb58]

And definitely switch to 2.4 GHz and check the channel that you are using. First thing I do with a router is turn off auto channel selection and make sure I am on a different frequency than my neighbors.

 

[redneck joe]

ok i'll try some of this - but I use company laptop 99.9% of the time and cannot install anything and bruce I am on the lower frequency - cant see the 5 gig upstairs - still drops.
.

 

[bruceb58]

ok i'll try some of this - but I use company laptop 99.9% of the time and cannot install anything and bruce I am on the lower frequency - cant see the 5 gig upstairs - still drops.
.

If you have an Android phone, you can install it or any computer on WiFi if you have another computer. Can be a desktop as long as its on wifi

 

[redneck joe]

actually went down about an hour ago, moved from the floor to a table and have not dropped since and gained a bar. Going to move again closer to the door to the hallway and check again

 

[redneck joe]

7k plus reviews and still 4.5 stars. Thoughts? If moving keep working not gonna blow hundred bucks - unless the kid needs it for the xbox. Then I'll make him detail the truck in trade.



http://www.amazon.com/Securifi-Almo...tender/dp/B0087NZ31S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[rbh]

Although its a pain in the butt, how about drilling a hole in the floor and dropping down a cat 5/6-etc cable and do the hard wire thing.

Lots of places to buy pre connectorized cables.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Looks easy to use. I didn't read all the reviews, but the biggest concern I'd have is the dropoff in throughput. My understanding is that is not something an extender can get away from... it's a function of capturing and rebroadcasting bidirectional signals. Still, it's only (?) a hundred bucks. Cheaper than buying a second access point and running CAT5 from it to your current router.

Personally, I'm trying to get away from wireless in the home as much as possible. So many of my neighbors have wireless, the interference from their wireless routers is killing my connections. I manually select the channels I broadcast on, but so many of them must be on auto-select that I can never find a channel that's open. Drives me nuts.

 

[MTboatguy]

I am so glad, I don't live in a city, it would be terrible, I live remotely, so not much trouble with interference, although, I did have to go to my neighbors house and set his router up so we had no conflicts, since then, no problems anymore. But if you can, you might think about hard wiring an access point into your upstairs, you will be much happier.