4

On my home network, I have a wireless router in the basement.

On the second floor, I can barely get a signal, and would like to "extend" my wifi to the second floor. I do have Ethernet running from my router to upstairs.

Can I extend my wifi signal by buying a cheap wifi router and connecting that to router #1 and using that as an access point?

Or do I have to buy a specific device for this?

Thanks!

Improve this question
1

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
7

I posted this before but can't seem to find it.

I would advise that if you can't get a device that supports bridging or repeating, the easiest thing you can do is to get a second wifi router and disable DHCP on it, then plug it in via ethernet to the primary router (make sure it is plugged in through a normal socket and not the router interface if it has one).

This should work fine and all DHCP requests will be handled by the basement router.

Also, if you want, you can keep the SSID and passkey the same, just change the channel to one that does not interfere: alt text

Whenever the signal drops, Windows will reconnect to whichever one is strongest.

Improve this answer
3
  • Why is everyone recommending a wifi bridge? he should use a Access Point first (or as you suggest a router with DHCP disabled), he said he has Ethernet running upstairs.
    – Scott Chamberlain
    Mar 12, 2012 at 16:12
  • Then why didn't you suggest it as an answer?
    – Bart Silverstrim
    Mar 12, 2012 at 17:09
  • @BartSilverstrim William did already (he also suggested doing a bridge too, but he did say to just use a router as a AP also) so I up-voted him.
    – Scott Chamberlain
    Mar 12, 2012 at 20:18
3

Look for a wifi extender. You can get them from newegg and other vendors. Apple's Airports have this ability as well.

Improve this answer
5
  • Downvote without giving a reason?
    – Bart Silverstrim
    Sep 14, 2010 at 15:46
  • @Bart: Welcome to the internetz. Trolls need not apply. (I too hate drive-by downvotes).
    – joeqwerty
    Sep 14, 2010 at 15:54
  • @joeqwerty: I've been tempted to cruise the meta site and ask for a feature where you have to give a reason for your downvotes, but I don't know if it's worth getting involved in the politics. I'd support it for no other reason than it helps refine answers if you know what others thought was "wrong" with the given answer.
    – Bart Silverstrim
    Sep 14, 2010 at 15:58
  • I agree. It'd be nice to know why an answer was downvoted, if only for the purpose of enlightening the answerer.
    – joeqwerty
    Sep 14, 2010 at 16:05
  • 1
    I down-voted this because this is a poor solution for the OP's situation due to the fact he has Ethernet already running upstairs. A wireless access point is a much better solution, you will have a reliable Ethernet connection instead of relying on the wireless reaching the repeater.
    – Scott Chamberlain
    Mar 12, 2012 at 16:10
2

If you extend it using a second router, be sure to set that router to "bridged" mode. This turns of DHCP and allows machines connected to the second router to be on the same network segment as machines connected to the first router.

Also set the channels to a different value on each router. The best choice (assuming the are not already in use in your neighborhood) is 1 and 11 for the two routers because the frequencies don't overlap.

Improve this answer
1
  • s/of DHCP/off DHCP/
    – Alexx Roche
    Dec 20, 2016 at 13:10
0

There are a few options available to you. One is to add a Wireless Repeater. These extend your wireless network range. They offer an easy way to increase the coverage of your wireless network. A wireless repeater will bounce signals, which may not have had the density to reach the destination device of their own accord, to remote wireless devices. They operate by effectively daisy chaining the wireless signal.

A simple change that could boost performance would be to change your wireless channel. Try altering your wireless router's channel through its configuration page to see if your signal gets stronger.

These two links provide quite an interesting insight into DIY wireless range boosting:

http://lifehacker.com/296367/boost-your-wireless-signal-with-a-homemade-wifi-extender

And this link is only applicable if you can replace your current router with a compatible router such as a WRT54GL:

http://lifehacker.com/178132/hack-attack-turn-your-60-router-into-a-600-router

Improve this answer
0

You can extend you coverage by using a WDS link from your existing AP to a second AP downstairs. This is not the best way as you cut your throughput in half with every hop. To get full throughput the best way is to use a dual radio box that has one radio catching the "backhaul" signal and the second transmitting. You can also add a more powerful radio/antenna combination upstairs to get you a better signal down stairs. a Mikrotik board with UBNT XR2 and 7dBi antenna will get really good range. There are a number of options on this site.

Improve this answer
1
  • I think WDS is the wrong solution when there is an ethernet connection between the two wireless stations. Why burn part of the wireless spectrum to back-haul the data? Even with multiple 2.4GHz and 5GHz antenna I would send the traffic between wifi stations via ethernet where available.
    – Alexx Roche
    Dec 20, 2016 at 13:14

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .