WiFi Extender or Upgrade to N Router?

[nimbah_52]

At the moment the Wireless Router is located in my bedroom which is 12 meters from the living room where the phone line is. I basically have one phone line extension from the telephone line to my bedroom where I've plugged in the ADSL filter. The modem part plugs into the actual router and the telephone line is then extended back to the living room with a second extension cable.
This is because my PC is in my bedroom.

Problem with this is the fact that there are extension cables get in the way when moving furniture around and also hang from the ceiling in the corridor.

What I'd like to do is have a WiFi dongle for my PC and move the router to the living room. Now my second problem is that my phone gets a very weak WiFi signal once you go to the living room so I imagine if I moved the router to there then I would barely get a signal in my bedroom. I have two options to solve this:

(1) Use a WiFi extender in between my room and the router and then a dongle for my computer

or

(2) Upgrade my current G router to an N router. Problem is I'm not too sure the signal will reach my room. There's a 12 meter range from the living room to my bedroom btw.

Here's my choice for an N router:
Belkin N Wireless Modem Router F5D8233 + N wireless USB Adapter 300Mpbs F5D8053 (B5DUK060)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-N-300-Mbps-4-Port-10-100-Router-F5D8233-USB-N300-WIFI-Adapter-F5D8053-/221169502323?pt=UK_Computing_Wireless_Routers&hash=item337ebac873

or

Wireless N Modem Router 300 Mbps 4-Port 10/100 Belkin Surf+ N300 F7D2401
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-N-Modem-Router-300-Mbps-4-Port-10-100-Belkin-Surf-N300-F7D2401-/221153913740?pt=UK_Computing_Wireless_Routers&hash=item337dcceb8c

& the extender will be this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300Mbps-WPS-AP-Wifi-Repeater-Range-Router-Booster-Extender-Expander-Wireless-N-G-/320996768341?pt=UK_Computing_Boosters_Extenders_Antennas&hash=item4abce5fa55

So which should I do? Extender or a new router?

Thanks in advance

 

[john-b691]

You need to upgrade your PC adapter to N also to get full advantage.

The key feature you want is called mimo. This allows it to improve the reception by using multiple reflected signal. This is how they go from 150m to 300m. Although the main thing manufacture claim is that increases the speed the more important thing is it improves the quality. So even though it does not increase the signal strength it improves the data you do get. If it says 300m or 450m that mean it has mimo if you don't want to read the fine print.

I really hate repeaters they cause all kinds of nasty random drop problems and they cut your speed way down because now you have every packet being send and received twice. I would use this as a last option.

You should not have a lot of trouble with 12m but every house is different so its hard to say. Unless money is a huge problem I would upgrade the router first and then add the repeater to that.

 

[nimbah_52]

You need to upgrade your PC adapter to N also to get full advantage.

The key feature you want is called mimo. This allows it to improve the reception by using multiple reflected signal. This is how they go from 150m to 300m. Although the main thing manufacture claim is that increases the speed the more important thing is it improves the quality. So even though it does not increase the signal strength it improves the data you do get. If it says 300m or 450m that mean it has mimo if you don't want to read the fine print.

I really hate repeaters they cause all kinds of nasty random drop problems and they cut your speed way down because now you have every packet being send and received twice. I would use this as a last option.

You should not have a lot of trouble with 12m but every house is different so its hard to say. Unless money is a huge problem I would upgrade the router first and then add the repeater to that.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Yeah I will be purchasing a N PC adapter for the router but that isn't the main issue. The main issue is basically my smartphone struggles to get a good signal 10 meters away from the router. I've tried this with another phone so I know it isn't a problem with my phone. I don't really care for the increases in data speeds etc. as I don't stream HD or play heaving gaming or anything. What I need is a something that will effectively increase the range of my WiFi signal enough so my phone can connect to it from a distance.

Would the N router provide a significant increase in range?

 

[nimbah_52]

The way I see it is that even though my phone is quite old ( Galaxy S1) there's no reason for it not to be able to get a good signal from a router just 10 meters away. My other phone also loses signal greatly when it gets to these distances. My laptop on the other hand gets a good signal.
Btw the router is a Gigaset SE527 G router. I got it with my broadband package about 2-3 years ago.

 

[inzone]

You should be able to get 50 to 75 meters with a wireless N router. Naturally walls and floors will cut that down a bit but not down to 30 meters.