Extending wifi coverage

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bluedragon120

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Jul 22, 2012
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I was looking to extend the reach of my wifi signal. The router is placed in the bottom floor. The signal on the first and second floor is not great. The computers on the first and second floor are connected using a network cable and we would like to keep it that way. But for phones the wireless signal isn't good enough.

So what is the best way of getting a better wifi signal on the first and second floor? Should we use a second router, an acces point or a wifi repeater? (or something else???) What i heard about the wifi repeater is that it halves the signal speed, if we used a wifi repeater will the connection be fast enough to use it to watch youtube videos for example?

The main use of the phones is just to browse the internet and watch youtube videos etc.

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
Solandri

Most true access points only have a single ethernet port. You've got two options.


  • ■ If the computers on the first and second floor are connected to the network cable from the router via a switch (only way to connect multiple computers to a single network cable), just plug the access point into an extra port on the switch.
    ■ You can use a new router as an access point. Just be sure to turn DHCP off (having two DHCP servers on a network will cause all kinds of problems). And don't plug in anything to the WAN port. Once you've done that, this second router will essentially be acting as a switch with a WiFi access point attached...
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gondo

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Apr 20, 2004
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The best solution would be to get a router that has a wireless access point (WAP) feature. Or just buy a wireless access point, but a router with the feature may be cheaper. Install the WAP on the second floor and run a cable to the basement router. Bamo wifi for your phones.

You could use a repeater or wifi extender, or a router with the feature built in, but it may not work great. It would have to pick up the weak signal from the basement when installed on the main floor and may not work that fast. An access point with a cable will give full speed.

If you buy a router or wireless access point it'll have the option to use either a cable as an access point, or as a wireless repeater. Try the repeater option first to see if it works for you before installing a cable. If installing a cable is simple, then problem solved.
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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The "omnidirectional" whip antennas on most wifi routers are only omnidirectional in the horizontal plane. Their signal strength forms a torus (a donut) with weak coverage directly above and below. So they are not very good for covering multiple floors.

http://mpantenna.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FIGURE-1.png

You can supplement your coverage with another router or access point on the other floor(s). Or if your router has multiple antennas you can try rotating one about 45-60 degrees so the meat of its donut intersects the computers on the other floors. Note that antennas on the receiving devices on these floors should be rotated so that they are parallel with the antenna on the wifi router they are connecting to.
 
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gondo

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So point the antennae in the basement straight up so you loose coverage in the basement. Then upstairs you must lie down horizontally on your head with your phone upside down to intersect the tangent hypotenuse signal from the basement router?

Easier to route a wire upstairs and put an $80 wireless access point.
 
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bluedragon120

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Jul 22, 2012
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So it seems like getting a router or an access point is the best option for me.

What is the best place to put it? on the first floor or the second floor?

And the ethernet cable i now use for one of the pc's would have to be used for the router. So the pc would need an extra cable to connect to the new router or access point that i will buy. which then goes to the bottom floor. Would that cause any slow downs because it's essentially going through 2 routers?

Thanks for the answers so far guys, you have really helped me out.
 
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gondo

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That works. Attach the access point to the existing cable and computer to the access point. It won't slow anything down as long as the cables are all Cat5E or Cat6 and terminated properly. You'll get 1000MB or GB speeds. If you want fast wireless speeds get a wireless AC. And the multi band AC wireless devices with multiple antennas will be better at reaching the second floor. They are significantly more expensive than older wireless N devices however.
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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Most true access points only have a single ethernet port. You've got two options.


  • ■ If the computers on the first and second floor are connected to the network cable from the router via a switch (only way to connect multiple computers to a single network cable), just plug the access point into an extra port on the switch.
    ■ You can use a new router as an access point. Just be sure to turn DHCP off (having two DHCP servers on a network will cause all kinds of problems). And don't plug in anything to the WAN port. Once you've done that, this second router will essentially be acting as a switch with a WiFi access point attached. You can plug in your other computers into that router just a if you were plugging them into a switch. You also probably want to assign this second router a static IP address so you'll be able to reconfigure it in the future (e.g. change WiFi password).

    http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point

If you want fast wireless speeds get a wireless AC. And the multi band AC wireless devices with multiple antennas will be better at reaching the second floor. They are significantly more expensive than older wireless N devices however.
Click to expand...
If your current WiFi router is old (a b/g device) be aware that b/g WiFi slows down to the speed of the slowest connected device. So if someone has an ancient 802.11b wifi card in their computer connecting at 1 Mbps, everyone's WiFi will slow down to 1 Mbps. 802.11n and ac do not suffer from this limitation, so it's a good reason to upgrade from an old WiFi router.

When setting up multiple WiFi routers/access points, some people like to give them all the same SSID. This will allow devices to seamlessly switch from one AP to another depending on which provides the best signal strength. But it makes troubleshooting problems more difficult. I prefer to give each of them different SSIDs for this reason (based on the theory that most people use the WiFi from a fixed location like their room). But it's personal preference how you want to set it up.

Also try to set each AP up on a different channel, so they don't interfere with each other. For 2.4 GHz, channels 1, 6, and 11 are the only truly independent one (channel 1 actually covers 1-5, 6 covers 6-10, etc). The 5 GHz channels are all independent.
 
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