WIFI extending

[123Jim]

In a very large house with three separate electrical wiring systems,
what is the best way to extend the WIFI?

As I discovered today The disjointed wiring system means I can't use the
power line connectors which sends the signal through the power cables.

I have not had very good experience with an extender similar to this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Re...&qid=1371509940&sr=8-4&keywords=wifi+extender

I am considering buying a couple of these inexpensive routers:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Re...&qid=1371509940&sr=8-4&keywords=wifi+extender

Would I be able to use that as an extender? How would I configure it?
I guess I am unsure of the terminology for using a router as an
extender. IN my current router I see several kinds of new connections:
PPPoA, PPPoE, Static, DHCP, Bridge and Clip.

Which one would I use to configure the routers as extenders? and is it
the best solution given that the other simple extenders are not going to
work.

 

[miso]

You might want to take this over to alt.internet.wireless

Personally, I'd skip the repeater and do a combination of some wiring
and three different WAPs on 1,6 and 11. Make sure the channel is not on
automatic. You probably want to bridge them, so restrict the IP address
range on each router. You will probably need an unmanaged switch. I've
been using those Dlink "green" switches without any problems.

I would avoid cheap routers, then again, I'm not the one that needs
three of them. I'm using a Buffalo wzr-hp-g450h with native dd-wrt. I
will never buy a router that doesn't use open source firmware. dd-wrt
seems to be the most common firmware if you want it factory installed.
[Less work and there is no incompatibility issue.]

If you use dd-wrt, you may want to contemplate port isolation on the
wireless. That keeps wireless devices from seeing other wireless devices
There is another set up that keeps the wireless ports from seeing your
local network. Better for security, but it limits some features like
"personal cloud."

 

[Paul]

In a very large house with three separate electrical wiring systems,
what is the best way to extend the WIFI?

As I discovered today The disjointed wiring system means I can't use the
power line connectors which sends the signal through the power cables.

I have not had very good experience with an extender similar to this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Re...&qid=1371509940&sr=8-4&keywords=wifi+extender


I am considering buying a couple of these inexpensive routers:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Re...&qid=1371509940&sr=8-4&keywords=wifi+extender


Would I be able to use that as an extender? How would I configure it?
I guess I am unsure of the terminology for using a router as an
extender. IN my current router I see several kinds of new connections:
PPPoA, PPPoE, Static, DHCP, Bridge and Clip.

Which one would I use to configure the routers as extenders? and is it
the best solution given that the other simple extenders are not going to
work.

It's possible to couple the PLC signals from one wiring system into
another. But I don't think your city electrical inspector, is going
to like my comment It probably wouldn't be "Code" to put some
home-made gimmick into the breaker box or wiring. This document,
is just to give you some idea what it takes to couple them - this
is *not* a recipe for home experiments.

http://www.jdhunt.com/homeplug/aug07/PLC_Cross-phase_Coupling.pdf

As far as the Wifi goes, I guess I'm just not a big fan of Wifi.
Too many variables. The problem is, spending the money, and then
not getting the performance, fiddling around with antennas, antenna
location and tilt, having to deal with neighbors using high power
11n to screw up your Wifi, and so on. And with some of these
extension toys, they're running b or g, and have thruput
limitations. It's just a money pit.

*******

This site has all sorts of ideas, and perhaps you could take
a look around here. They have performance charts, for product
comparison.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-howto

Paul

 

[miso]

I have the opposite opinion of wifi. I am amazed how well it works
considering spectrum is shared.

Repeaters have their place, but in general should be avoided.

 

[123Jim]

You might want to take this over to alt.internet.wireless

Personally, I'd skip the repeater and do a combination of some wiring
and three different WAPs on 1,6 and 11. Make sure the channel is not on
automatic. You probably want to bridge them, so restrict the IP address
range on each router. You will probably need an unmanaged switch. I've
been using those Dlink "green" switches without any problems.

I would avoid cheap routers, then again, I'm not the one that needs
three of them. I'm using a Buffalo wzr-hp-g450h with native dd-wrt. I
will never buy a router that doesn't use open source firmware. dd-wrt
seems to be the most common firmware if you want it factory installed.
[Less work and there is no incompatibility issue.]

If you use dd-wrt, you may want to contemplate port isolation on the
wireless. That keeps wireless devices from seeing other wireless devices
There is another set up that keeps the wireless ports from seeing your
local network. Better for security, but it limits some features like
"personal cloud."

"WAPs on 1,6 and 11" Is this a reference to non overlapping WIFI
channels? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

Does each Wifi Access point such as this for example:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WA901ND-Advanced-300Mbps-Wireless/dp/B002YETVXC/ref=sr_1_1
......
... require a unique non overlapping channel? How does that work if a
user moves around while expecting to remain connected?

I'm considering the above on the end of some ethernet cabling fed
through the roof space! I'm beginning not to trust WIFI extenders,
boosters or repeaters. Nothing but bad experiences so far.

 

[miso]

Yes, those are the 3 channels that don't overlap, but you are in the UK,
so you have more choices. In practice, it is hard to "own" 1, 6, and 11
in the US because everyone else knows they don't overlap. ;-)

Now moving around is a good question. Maybe you can put your portables
on the wap in the middle of the house.

I have no idea how to do a mesh (same channel), but you might want to go
over the alt.internet.wireless and ask about that.

I know it is personal information, but just how big is this house? I
wonder if you have a issue with the house construction more than the
house size itself. Unfortunately, I don't speak UK construction, but in
the states, if you have walls with chicken wire under the plaster, good
luck with wifi. Or ICF with all that rebar and cement.

It would also help to know what clients you are using. For instance,
iphones have terrible wifi.

This is what I have:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-Airstation-Nfiniti-Wireless-N-Router

/dp/B005G9C4C2/ref=sr_1_75?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1371610644&sr=1-75

US link has more reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-AirStation-HighPower-Gigabit-Wireless/dp

/B005CSOE1G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371610893&sr=8-1&keywords=Buffalo+Airstation+G450

You can factory DD-WRT it. It also supports openwrt if you want to hack
it. Like I said before, I simply will not buy another routers that
doesn't use open source firmware. The manufacturer gets bored with it
and never patches the firmware.

I saw that rant about port forwarding. I can't speak for that complaint
since I'm not doing port forwarding. I know you lose the usb port if you
run dd-wrt.

What you might want to do is just buy one of these Buffalos and see how
far it goes.

dd-wrt forum at