Hi. At home we have our BB router up in the loft conversion where the wife's office is. It's a Plusnet bog standard wireless router and seems to work fine.

The problem is, now work upgraded my phone from a Nokia to an iPhone, the iPhone has terrible trouble finding the signal downstairs even though the transmitter upstairs is on max. The Nokia had no trouble at all and could get a signal way outside the house too.

Downstairs I have my PC connected to the LAN socket of the Router upstairs by ethernet cable.

Can I add another wireless router downstairs to act as a switch for the 2nd PC and as a wireless access point for my phone and other wireless devices?

Any help/pointers/advice most welcome as I'm a bit of a technonovice.

Thanks

Nick.

You can add a wireless access point but unless your current router is able to extend a network you will need to plug it into the LAN cable.

I'm quite happy to plug the second router into the LAN of the first (original) one so the second router can sit next to the downstairs PC quite happily. Can I then plug the downstairs PC into the LAN of the second router like a switch?

Something like this would work -

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-009-TD&groupid=46&catid=1595&subcat=

You can turn off DHCP and it will act as a wireless switch.

Would it be fairly straightforward to set this up for a novice like me? I can get to grips with most things but network protocols is a bit of a black art to me.

I use one of these

Edited 29 January, 201313 yr by greenstripe

What model Plusnet router is it? If it has removable antennae you may find that upgrading those will solve the iPhone issue.

Could solve the issue, especially if it's a normal sized house. Although I have seen cases where APs needed to be installed, in the case of loft conversions and with older properties and thicker walls.

Simple.

Buy a cheap wireless router type thing, not too cheap mind. Step two plug it into the PC directly and browse to the IP address given usually 192.168.x.x

At this point the PC should be disconnected from the main (existing ) network.

Configure the new router in the follow way: assign a new IP address outside the dhcp range of the existing router and not the same address of the current router. Eg if the current router is 192.168.1.254 and the dhcp range is 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.38 give the new router 192.168.1.253

Apply and change the address in the browser.

Now give make the wireless SSID the same as the existing network.

Then make the WPA2/WEP key the same as the existing network.

Now change the channel to be at least 2 away from the upstairs wireless. If upstairs is channel 6 make downstairs 4 or lower / 8 or higher.

Apply settings.

Turn off dhcp

Reboot

Plug downstairs wifi into upstairs network with the existing lead from upstairs to the PC.

Run a new lead from upstairs to the downstairs PC or from the downstairs wifi to the PC. ( slightly increased lag but unless you do a lot of gaming it won't really make a massive difference and you probably won't notice)

Ideally then power off the router and new ap for 5 minutes then power them both back on. Router first, to allow the routing tables to reconfigure correctly.

Edit: I wouldn't use wifi extenders as it lowers the bandwidth. My plusnet router has no external antenna.

Edited 29 January, 201313 yr by dancingbear84

Dancing bear posted how to do it. Follow his post and it's easy :-)

Thanks for all the excellent advice. Most appreciated. Esp to dancingbear with the clear and concise instructions.

Would one of these be appropriate?

http://uk.insight.com/en-gb/productinfo/wireless-networking/0001491625-00000001

I can get one VAT Free from out IT shop.

It looks like it should be fine from the spec. I've not checked the tplink site to confirm but I'm 99% sure that would be spot on.

Happy to help.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/networking/wirelessnetworking/wirelessextenders/tl-wa730re.html

Even easier, just plug into pc, insert disk, about three clicks later it all set up for you.

http://www.novatech....tl-wa730re.html

Even easier, just plug into pc, insert disk, about three clicks later it all set up for you.

This. The only way I'd do it and done within a few mins.

So the above TL-WA730RE will work as a 'stand alone' repeater without being plugged into a PC once it is set-up? Is this assumption correct?

Edited 30 January, 201313 yr by Golf-Fiend

http://www.novatech....tl-wa730re.html

Even easier, just plug into pc, insert disk, about three clicks later it all set up for you.

What if his original router doesn't support WiFi repeating?

What if his original router doesn't support WiFi repeating?

Not sure. It's a 'Thomson 585v7 Router'

I would stick to the solution that dancingbear and I suggested. I think it will work out better.

Definitely.

Standalone wifi repeating is a bit of a funny thing. I have had mixed results with it when using equipment from the same manufacturer. Mix them up and it may be OK it may not.

If you were hypothetically able to get a repeater to work it would halve your bandwidth so 54Mb would become 27 at best.

Remember Megabit and MegaByte are different.

I work as an IT tech for a national company by the way, so yes you could try repeaters and they may be OK, but I have the following theory "fast, cheap or right. Pick any 2“

Running wireless access points via cable to the main switch is the right way.

In case you are wondering at home I have 4 wireless routers configured in the way I recommended dotted all over the house.

You may have an issue with your phone not connecting to the strongest signal. Eg if you were upstairs and connected to the plusnet wireless point then went downstairs, although the new ap would be a stronger signal you will probably stay connected to the upstairs point. It is irritating and there are ways around it. Just a heads up really.

Edited 30 January, 201313 yr by dancingbear84

i use a sitecom repeater / universal access point (infact i have 2 of them on my network)

You can either use as wireless, or wire them onto your network (extremely stable this way) and use them as an access point.

http://www.sitecom.com/wireless-range-extender-300n/p/714

Works like a charm!

Al.

You have to remember that wireless repeating halves the available bandwidth as already mentioned, since half will go between your iphone and the access point and the other half goes between the repeater and the original router. You could end up with a maximum throughput of 11mpbs or less depending on how far apart all the devices are and the signal strength. If you have BT infinity for example, and use this scenario you will not be able to use the full potential of your BT internet connection.

Much better solution is to either relocate the main router, so its on a different floor between the loft conversion and ground floor or use 2 routers setup with the same SSID and WPA/WPA2 key connected together via a wired connection. If you purchased a Cable router, connect the WAN port of the cable router to any port of the ADSL router. The Cable router will DHCP from the ADSL router, and will also issue its own range of IP addresses. The key is to configure the cable router so it runs on a different subnet, and it will all just work.