cell phone wifi range extender

[kailen35]

hi
im trying to gain 20 feet range in wifi for my cell phone. theres a hotspot close by but im slightly out of range. any extenders or repeaters that will work with a cell phone? thanks.

 

[kailen35]

anybody have any solutions for my problem?

 

[eszed556]

Essentially any device that is capable of WiFi (mobile phone, laptop, smart TV etc) can connect to a WiFi extender or repeater. The job of these WiFi range extenders is to 'duplicate' and extend the source signal either using the same network name or a new network name (depending on how you configure it). So you will able to connect your cell phone to it like any other WiFi network.

 

[kailen35]

ive been researching on extenders and repeaters but, they all seem to need to connect to a computer via ethernet cable. do you know of any that work with a cell phone? maybe you can link me to a product, thanks.

 

[bill001g]

The cell phone is not the issue really. It would be nice if the manufactures did not call every box they sell a "extender" even though they all do not have the same function. Most devices though it means wireless repeater that takes a wireless signal and duplicates it.

That is not your actual problem though. Almost all wireless repeaters use a protocol called WDS. This is not actually part of any standard so not all devices support it. In addition WDS is consider a security exposure so many device require special configuration to use/activate it. The hotspot may not support WDS and since you have no access you can not turn it on.

If the hotspot does not have support for WDS it gets complex to solve this. It can be done but now you need a special kind of "extender". Again it would be nice if they didn't call everything extenders. The device needs 2 separate radios, one to talk to the hotspot and another to talk to the end devices. This is a every changing market so I do not now what is a easy to get device if you need something like this. You can look at products from ubiquiti or engenius if you need a special device. If the hotspot supports WDS then almost any of the more consumer brand "extenders" will work.

 

[eszed556]

ive been researching on extenders and repeaters but, they all seem to need to connect to a computer via ethernet cable. do you know of any that work with a cell phone? maybe you can link me to a product, thanks.

I think I misunderstood your question. Did you mean connect to the extender network via cell phone at the time of initial configuration?

If thats the case, I have configured a TP Link RE450 WiFi Extender through my cell phone. There is an app available for compatible extenders that you'll need to download on your cell phone.

Its a pricey WiFi Extender. Perhaps there are other WiFi Extenders that are compatible with mobile apps - you'll need to research.

EDIT: Below is an image of the RE450's configuration options straight out of the box.