Extend range of wifi at home

[lemel]

My router is located in my office at home but I want to use my laptop to watch sport in my bedroom upstairs but it keeps dropping out, how could I boost the signal to prevent this and improve the speed.

the router I have been issued with is an ASUS RT-N10+, my speedtest is -Ping 6ms, download 11.74Mbps, upload .97 Mbps

I am using an Imac in the office and a macbook pro in the bedroom for the sport.

Any help would be appreciated?

[Riggi]

Get a wifi extender.

I use a TP-Link WA850RE and it works well. Cost 1400 baht

There are others that are more powerful, but more expensive

Edited August 17, 2014 by Riggi

[slipperylobster]

Move your router higher up in your office, and away from thick walls, metal, appliances and such. Try to get it next to a window, where you also have a window upstairs. You could just run a LAN line out of your router and plug in you laptop upstairs. That is all the free ways.

As mentioned early, you could get a repeater. Or even a USB wifi dongle with antenna...for your laptop.

I would play around with moving the router a bit higher..without obstructions.

[KhunBENQ]

And try a bigger (higher gain) antenna at the router in exchange of the small one supplied.

Edited August 17, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[Chicog]

You could try the Powerline jobbies if your circuits can take it.

Faster than Wifi and works through walls.

http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/?siteid=3

[transam]

I moved my wifi router a few inches and now 4 bits of stuff have no probs anywhere in the house.

[lostinisaan]

Please buy an USB antenna. ( Tenda seems to be a very good brand), use a five meter extension USB cable ( a longer one doesn't work) and you'll find the right place for your antenna.

It's only about 300 baht.

[lostinisaan]

And try a bigger (higher gain) antenna at the router in exchange of the small one supplied.

A better option would be to use an USB antenna, you can extend it up to five meters and find the right place, where you'll have access everywhere

I tried a longer cable, but it doesn't work. Had high speed from a nearby hotel for many years, so not just in a house. .

The one I'm using is a Tenda 150 Mbps Wireless N High Gain USB adapter. Perfect and cheapest solution for most problems.

[Tywais]

Move your router higher up in your office, and away from thick walls, metal, appliances and such. Try to get it next to a window, where you also have a window upstairs. You could just run a LAN line out of your router and plug in you laptop upstairs. That is all the free ways.

As mentioned early, you could get a repeater. Or even a USB wifi dongle with antenna...for your laptop.

I would play around with moving the router a bit higher..without obstructions.

As mentioned, I would try relocating it to a different location to see if it improves before buying anything. You can look on YouTube as there are a lot of DIY cheap extender ideas. If you have an Android phone you can put WiFi analyzer on it to evaluate your signal around the house. iPhone has the same app I believe. My house, 2 stories, has a Cisco Wifi router on the 2nd floor near the balcony glass doors and its antenna is built in but the location of it gets everywhere in the house but a bit weak in the kitchen. My house is fully wireless and quite a few gadgets operate with no problem.

But of course a lot depends on how many walls and the construction of them so evaluate your positions and minimize the number of walls between the router and the bedroom.

[lemel]

some sound ideas, thank you for your imput, will try moving the router first but the walls are very thick and its a larger than normal house, I can even have problems in the lounge. Its already near the window and its not feasable to run a lan line, so will try USB antenne first, then a reapeter and look at the CISCO router. once again thanks

[Tywais]

As for wifi extenders/repeaters:

"No matter what they are called or technology they use, repeaters start out with a minimum 50% throughput loss. The reason is that a repeater must receive, then retransmit each packet using the same radio on the same channel and with the same SSID. If the repeater is very efficient, then your loss will be close to 50%. But if it's not, throughput loss can be higher."

Thanks to that 50% loss in bandwidth right off the top, just about all wireless extenders suck. But the technology has gotten a little better in the past year. If you have to get a Wi-Fi extender, it should be the $80 Netgear WN2500RP, which has a dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio. The extender can use one frequency to communicate with a router and another frequency to communicate with client devices, which bypasses that 50% hit to bandwidth.Thanks to that 50% loss in bandwidth right off the top, just about all wireless extenders suck.

Even so, a Wi-Fi extender is the last thing you should buy to improve your wireless network. The simple truth is that there are two better alternatives to consider first:

• Getting a new, faster router with increased range

• Setting up a hardwired network using Ethernet, MoCA or powerline that will blow any Wi-Fi extender's speed out of the water

These options are faster, and they'll give you a lot more bang for your buck.

tested.com

[Tywais]

[Chicog]

some sound ideas, thank you for your imput, will try moving the router first but the walls are very thick and its a larger than normal house, I can even have problems in the lounge. Its already near the window and its not feasable to run a lan line, so will try USB antenne first, then a reapeter and look at the CISCO router. once again thanks

Then look at Ethernet over Power.

[RichCor]

THREE of the he easiest and cheapest suggestion to try would be to:

move the WiFi Access Point away from the wall

point the antenna flat (horizontally) so the signal pattern will be up/down

if everything you do is Internet, drop the WiFi Tx/Rx speed to match your Internet throughput

Walls will reflect and absorb WiFi signals. Moving the AP away from walls (and metal objects) will help with signal integrity.

WiFi 'stick' antennas are mostly omni-directional. Imagine placing a donut over the tip of your antenna, this would be its signal pattern (but much larger). A higher gain omni antenna just flattens out that donut shape so it won't help you upstairs.

Moving the antenna from vertical into either a 45° or 0° position will send more signal up/down. (Just follow the imaginary donut shape and put some donut upstairs directly toward your Laptop to take a bit).

Some people on the forum have suggested dropping the Tx/Rx speed. Higher speeds do result in lower strength, easily corrupted signals so it may be helpful.

As already mentioned, buying an external USB WiFi Adapter (with external antenna) would help.

As would alternatively purchasing a PowerLine adapter kit (ethernet to ethernet/WiFi) that uses in-building wiring as a cable link.

[lemel]

cheers guys!

[FreedomRouters]

Lemel, If all else fails, take a look at Tywais' suggestion again about getting a router with more punch. We'd be happy to help! https://www.freedomrouters.com

[phanu]

Buy a 5W signal Booster Broadband Amplifier on Ebay !

I bought one, sent from China, for less than 2,000 THB and it works perfectly : I have Wifi in all my garden (14 rai)

[Pib]

Also keep in mind that Wifi communications is a two-way process which also depends on the Wifi circuit in your computer. The Wifi router also has to be able to receive signal back from your laptop in order to make and maintain a connection. If there was such a thing as a Wifi router putting out 50,000 watts I expect my computer could pickup that signal 100 kilometers away but I wouldn't be able to make a connection because that router could not pickup the signal from my computer...no two-way communications; no connection.

I say above because some people have Wifi connectivity issues even with a good Wifi router signal, but unfortunately the quality of their computer's Wifi circuit is not that great...works fine in the same room but start putting some distance, walls, and floor between you and the router (especially in a two story residence) and the connection is loss or throughput slows down a lot.

But with above being said Wifi router placement and modified Wifi router antenna can make a big difference sometimes...if that don't work you are probably going need to use a range extender/second access point. Like for me in my two story home my True-issued Wifi router (and my TOT-issued Wifi router before switching to True) was placed upstairs and did a pretty good job providing adequate signal upstairs and downstairs most of time. But there were times when the neighbors got home and turned on their Wifi routers that their signals would interfere with my Wifi router signal which causes a reduction in signal/interference which would cause my laptop downstairs to intermittently lose connection or data flow really slow down. I would change my Wifi router to transmit on a channel less interfered with and that would help sometimes until some of my neighbors started doing the same thing, setting their N routers to 40Mhz bandwidth which covers 4 channels, etc...it got to the point with so many Wifi signals close to me switching channels helped very little...I just need to boost my Wifi signal level my boosting its level, reducing distance/obstructions between my router and computers, etc....but a person can only do so much in moving your router/devices around, bypassing obstructions like walls and floors, etc.

So, about six months ago I decided to put an access point down stairs by running an ethernet connection from my main router upstairs to my access point down stairs....I was able to drill a couples holes through some windows wooden frames, run outdoor quality ethernet cable between the two Wifi devices, and now I have a strong Wifi signal coverage upstairs and downstairs. I have my devices upstairs connect to the upstairs router as first priority and my devices downstairs connect to the downstairs access point as first priority...I I don't loss any signal connection speed like common with many repeater setups.

Yea, N routers advertise super-duper coverage but a lot of their specs are done in a laboratory environment and assume a computer is using a first rate/high end/multi-channel N Wifi circuit. I have used both N and 54G routers and found little difference between the two when it comes to "distance" connectivity in and around my two story concrete home. Increasing signal level via amplified signal or adding a range extender/access point, or reducing distance between your router and devices is about your only choices unless you want to try the signal over the house power lines approach which I tried once about ten years ago...it didn't work worth a durn, but that was with 10 year old technology...the stuff they have today is definitely better.

[waynethor]

I saw a YouTube video where the guy uses a beer or soda can to make a signal enhancer of some sort. It seemed real but I didn't try it because I don't need to increase my signal range. Please try it and tell us if it works. The video should be easy to find if you search in YouTube.

[Jeffrey346]

Extenders boosters etc are a waste of money. Invest in the new Apple Airport Extreme. Mine covers my home with no signal loss.

[Cthulhu]

You could try the Powerline jobbies if your circuits can take it.

Faster than Wifi and works through walls.

http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/?siteid=3

This seems to be very much the preferred option in the UK and I 've been tempted to try it here, but is it safe with the 2 pin, no earth circuitry?

Also when you say "if your circuits can take it" - do these things impose much extra load on the system?

It seems to me the way to go if it's safe.

[Addonvalue]

You could try the Powerline jobbies if your circuits can take it.

Faster than Wifi and works through walls.

http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/?siteid=3

Is this available in Bangkok? I still don't understand how it works? Do you buy one or several?

Would you know where we can get this?

[Cthulhu]

You could try the Powerline jobbies if your circuits can take it.

Faster than Wifi and works through walls.

http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/?siteid=3

Is this available in Bangkok? I still don't understand how it works? Do you buy one or several?

Would you know where we can get this?

You might find this UK link helpful.

http://www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-wi-fi-home-hotspot-500-kit-9BRT.html?ql=9brt-8w3v

Similar products are certainly available in Thailand; I've seen them in Tuk Com in Pattaya. I guess Pantip Plaza would be the place to start in Bangkok. I've no idea though whether the dodgy nature of the mains in Thailand would compromise their safety.

Maybe Chicog can advise us on that.

[Thaiready]

D-Link is much better...than that TP crap

[RichCor]

You could try the Powerline jobbies if your circuits can take it.

Faster than Wifi and works through walls.

http://www.tp-link.com/common/subject/powerline/TL-PA211/?siteid=3

Is this available in Bangkok? I still don't understand how it works? Do you buy one or several?

Would you know where we can get this?

You should be able to find Powerline Bridge Adapters in Bangkok, or they can special order them for you.

You can also order them online from ThaiVisa sponsor InvadeIT: Powerline Networking

"Powerline Adapter Kit turns your existing powerline into a high speed network with no need for new wires or drilling. No configuration is required, simply plug your adapters into your power sockets and you can establish networking infrastructure in a flash. With a speed of up to 500Mbps."

Requires two, or more, Powerline Adapters. They come in different configurations, some as Ethernet Only and others as Combo Ethernet/WiFi. Generally speaking you can mix and match to build your own kit but it's best to do it within the same brand for greatest usability.

Sometimes Powerline Adapters work between houses if they share a very close street transformer and are on the same AC Phase Circuit.

Sometimes these devices won't work at all because the AC lines contain to much RF noise from electric motors, halogen lights, etc. RF Noise Filters can be added to incoming Electrical Mains to reduce or eliminate many RF noise issues.

[Pib]

I saw a YouTube video where the guy uses a beer or soda can to make a signal enhancer of some sort. It seemed real but I didn't try it because I don't need to increase my signal range. Please try it and tell us if it works. The video should be easy to find if you search in YouTube.

I tried the beer/coke can thing once...didn't really help...maybe 1db gain....maybe I should have tried a pepsi can.

But I did make a curved reflector from tinfoil & cardboard that helped significantly like shown in the video in above post #12 by tywais. By helped I mean that increased my power transmission by about 3-5db (which is at least doubling of radiated power). Now doubling of power radiated may sound impressive but it takes so little to also cause a 3db loss of power (power level cut in half) and a 3db increase may just get you up form say a -85dbm signal to a -82dbm or -80dbm level which is still a low level signal. Each person's results will vary....an extra 3 to 5db may make all the difference for some folks.

It's important to get the reflector curvature right and the distance between the antenna & reflecting tinfoil just right to get maximum antenna/radiated power gain. I used it on my one antenna router for well over a year...in my case that extra 3 to 5 db noticeably helped.

[Saraphee]

I run 4 powerline adapters, bought from China via eBay. They are plug & play and work perfectly - even when I stream TV out by the swimming pool. Each pair cost me less that 1200 baht, free postage (separate shipments) and no duty charged.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Saraphee

[sulasno]

http://store.linksys.com/Linksys-WRT1900AC-Open-Source-Wireless-Router_stcVVproductId158014980VVcatId551966VVviewprod.htm

[Chicog]

My reference to circuits is based on being told that they only work properly if they are on the same "ring", but not being a sparky I'm not entirely sure what this means.

Sounds like RichCor has more experience in this area.

[chiman]

I have built a lot of public WIFI's in my time, and love all the concrete block here in Thailand.. it just kills the WIFI signal.

1. Move your WIFI router to a more central location in your house. The signal coming off it looks like a mushroom. You can always hire someone to run an ethernet cable for you so it's neat, or just buy a very long one and do it yourself.

2. Use Apple Airport Extreme devices and buy 2 of them...one Extreme and one Express. They are very easy to setup WIFI extending on and I have 4 of them in my office. So that is my solution of choice. I have LAN cable ran to various spots for the 4 access points.

3. Don't bother setting up a repeater/express unless it's hard wired to your LAN

Good luck