Extending wifi signal to computer out of range?

[mattievrs]

My folks have BTInfinity but there is a computer that isnt picking up a wifi signal due to the distance away from the router. Hardwiring isnt an option, so how could i boost the signal?

[Bian]

What settings are you using on the router, also you might be able to hard wire with a plug like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-200Mbps-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B007JD6LBS/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url. 

[MattH]

I've seen things that plug into wall sockets and use household wiring, don't know if they would be any good?

[GentleGiant]

Bigger antenna can help - if the router or wifi card can take them - and the problem isnt being caused by interference. Another option is a directional antenna - higher gain that can be aimed at the router and hopefully avoid any interference. As mentioned above, a PowerLine set up might work, it really depends on how your house is wired, if the ring the affected PC is on is not the same as the routers', there can be problems.

[4wheel]

Aldi are selling a Wi Fi extender this week for £19.99. You plug it in an electrical socket in a suitable location and follow the instructions. 3 year warranty.

[the mad monk]

buy homeplugs with wifi, its what i use

make sure you buy passthrough if your short on sockets ( more expensive though) and its not recommended to place these into surge protection  outlets

[Scribbler]

If you get two cheap routers that are the same and install dd-wrt firmware on them you can configure them in bridge mode. Some routers have this functionality by default, but you will still have to enable it in the firmware and tend to be more expensive. This means you can walk seamlessly between them and your device will lock onto the one with the best signal strength. You keep one the Master connected to broadband input and locate the other Slave near to the device that can't get signal. then you will have double coverage. The signal area will look like an overlapping figure of eight in plan view. Configuring can be tricky for a novice but as long as you remember you need to have separate ip address on the same range but have the same SSID then it will work. Best thing with this method is no Ethernet cables required just a mains adapter for your router.

[mattievrs]

What settings are you using on the router, also you might be able to hard wire with a plug like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-200Mbps-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B007JD6LBS/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url.

In regards to the router settings, it's set up as the bt engineer set it up.

[mattievrs]

A little more info then......

The infinity is a line all of its own so no phones attached at all. The router is a homehub5 and the computer does pick the wifi up occasionally but only at 1 bar of strength. I think I'll try one of those plug in boosters and see what happens.

Cheers

[Aspman]

Aldi are selling a Wi Fi extender this week for £19.99. You plug it in an electrical socket in a suitable location and follow the instructions. 3 year warranty.

 

Beat me to it.

 

You could also use the powerline networking kits to extend the network.

[Its me]

Try one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00416Q5KI?pc_redir=1395554152&robot_redir=1

Fantastic bit of kit.

My PC was loosing the signal continually, bought one of these, installed in minutes, I can now stream movies

Regards all

Juan

Sent from my iPhone using my thumbs

[seboni121]

STOP STOP STOP !

[4wheel]

This week Aldi are selling Wi Extenders that plug into an electrical socket for £19.99. 3 year warranty.

[whitep]

Or ebuyer tp-link range extender/access point

[Moist Von Lipwig]

Another vote for powerline adapters. I use them to hook up my Sky box and PS3. Speed is better than wifi and have had no issues with them other than you need to follow the setup instructions properly.

[jlwah]

Or ebuyer tp-link range extender/access point

+1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Extender-Set-top/dp/B006PYGWG6)

[Huwcymru]

Use power line adopters they solved all my wi if issues in one go

Edited 26 March, 2014 by Huwcymru

[the mad monk]

remember with wifi extenders, if your wifi signal is crap your only extending a crap signal, homeplugs will be full signal wherever you place them, your not boosting anything, your transmitting it from one room to another and then transmitting a full signal

[whitep]

remember with wifi extenders, if your wifi signal is crap your only extending a crap signal, homeplugs will be full signal wherever you place them, your not boosting anything, your transmitting it from one room to another and then transmitting a full signal

 

The one I use has a wire from one router to it and runs through the loft. But I have a long bungalow so can do that easily.

[rwbaldwin]

Try calling BT. A neighbour had a similar problem and BT fixed. I don't know any details, so I don't know if it was just settings, hardware or something else.

[lfc958]

Beware if you use the ones that use the electrical ringmain to boost signal as no one has mentioned that these will only work if on the same circuit.

 

I.e if you want to extend upstairs you cannot plug into the upstairs circuit if your base plug is on the downstairs one.

 

 

I have a repeater that boosts the signal covering upstairs, this also has the same security WEP key that your main router has & appears as  routername_EXT on your wifi list  giving me the same signal strength as if i was close by. Sorted 

[the mad monk]

@lfc im no electrician so i could be wrong here but my receiving homeplugs in the house extension and works fine, ive also plugged it in upstairs and it works just the same

id suggest trying a repeater first as there cheaper and if it works great, if not then try homeplugs with wifi, thats what i did and just got a refund on the repeater as it didnt work for me

Edited 26 March, 2014 by the mad monk

[mattievrs]

It's all basically down to the lack of range on the homehub. I'm going to get one of the tp links that is linked above and hardwire it to the router, the run it along the loft I think. Should sort it out.

[jlwah]

It's all basically down to the lack of range on the homehub. I'm going to get one of the tp links that is linked above and hardwire it to the router, the run it along the loft I think. Should sort it out.

You might not need to do that. 

 

I thought I'd do the same, only there was something up with the cable. So all I did was plug it in where I wanted to boost the signal (main bedroom) went through the configuration process to set it up in repeater mode and then it found the wi-fi signal.

 

This way I was able to use the LAN port for a direct connection to the tv (instead of having to buy a tv wi-fi adaptor as it didn't come with one inbuilt) thus enabling the (somewhat limited) on-line content on the tv and the wi-fi signal was boosted for phone / tablet use as well. Works a treat!

 

You can read the TP Link manual here: http://www.tp-link.com/Resources/document/TL-WR702N_V1_User_Guide.pdf

Edited 26 March, 2014 by jlwah

[Fidget]

Beware if you use the ones that use the electrical ringmain to boost signal as no one has mentioned that these will only work if on the same circuit.

 

@lfc im no electrician so i could be wrong here but my receiving homeplugs in the house extension and works fine, ive also plugged it in upstairs and it works just the same

id suggest trying a repeater first as there cheaper and if it works great, if not then try homeplugs with wifi, thats what i did and just got a refund on the repeater as it didnt work for me

 

Highlighted the crucial part in LFCs post. As he says, it depends if your upstairs and downstairs ring main circuits are separate.

 

If separate, there's no continuity between upstairs and downstairs sockets and the powerline adapters won't be connected. Presume in your case, the upstairs and downstairs sockets are on the same ring and can therefore 'see' eachother fine. We have only one socket ring in our house, they run off the same MCB - all except one side of the lounge where it appears a separate ciruit was created for a double socket - exactly where I wanted to put a powerline adapter   (Our house had a partial rewire some time before we bought, can't explain why it's like this).

 

I resorted to powerline because of poor WIFI signal, although I still have issues if I want to surf with my phone in the house, could probably do with an extender upstairs.