WIFI Booster (Amplifier)

[squidtrap]

SO- got cable guy to fix most of my problems but i still have one.

we hang out in the back room which is about 40' from my router and around 2 turns. i works fine in my seat (usually) but where my wife sits its 90` from where i am so the signal is much weaker.

directly across the room and in the kitchen is an outlet where i could put a booster which would b a straight shot to her and it has a good signal. did a speed test there and its the same as other places in the house.

can anybody recommend one that they might know is good. looking at them they range from 15.00 to 120.00 the computer guy at work said there are plenty that will do the job as its only about 20' to her seat, thanks Ed.

[LCJudge]

I bought one at Staples and I think it was in the $30 range. It does the job fine and enabled me to put WiFi in my shop which is about 100 ft from the house. In some cases you're paying for the name rather than the product.

[Harry]

Tommy, I need to do the same thing, house to shop long haul. What brand and model booster did you get? My ASUS router almost makes it, especially if the computer in the shop has an external antenna, but a cell phone or notebook is in the dark. Is the booster in your shop or is it nearer to the router?

I put a new mini-split in the room over the shop and a WIFI connection would give me full monitoring and control of that unit.

[I like oldstuff]

I don't need one so I can't offer any good data. But click on these reviews and see what they say.

http://www.toptenreviews.com/compute...i-fi-boosters/

[squidtrap]

Judge- i had called my local staples and they said they only carry 1 and it was 120.00 but had no complaints or returns. a little steep for 1 dead spot.

looking at a d link one for like 40.00 that has real good ratings. also no problem to return if it does not solve my problem.

[AngolaGravely]

Old thread, But I have some info to help.

Look into DD-WRT. It's a generic router firmware that loads onto like millions of cheap routers.
one of the firmware settings is "WiFi Repeater". it's easy to flash to a cheap router, easy to set up and once set up, does not need anything but a power source. It can run standalone at a fringe area.
Plus, if you want to play with settings, I've found lynksys radios in the routers are default set to 35% broadcast power. DD-WRT allows you to crank that to 100%.

THIS DOES REPLACE YOUR STOCK FIRMWARE AND CAN BRICK YOUR ROUTER IF NOT DONE CORRECTLY.

The good thing is, if it still fires up, you can flash your routermaker's firmware back to it and recover it 99% of the time.

https://dd-wrt.com/

Click here and see if your router will work.
https://dd-wrt.com/support/router-database/

[Odin]

Typically I don't bother with the wifi booster or wifi range extender units sold in stores. My experience with them has been that they are unreliable devices that only work with a specific brand and model of router, and are very poorly constructed.

A local church needed a wifi range extender so that the office wifi could be used for presentations in the hall. What I did was I bought a second router similar to the one they were already using, and reprogrammed it with OpenWRT. Like DDWRT, this is an open source firmware replacement that allows complete customization of the router's setup and configuration.

Using OpenWRT, I then set this second router to lock on to the first router's signal, and transmit a signal of its own on a different channel so that devices could use either router about equally well. It has worked reliably for quite a few years now, and avoided having to run cables through a 150 year old church building.

[mihit]

First steps: can you move your router to a more central location?
Next: Wok-fi or cantenna.
Get a router with external (RP-SMA connected) antennae and upgrade them.

If that fails, an ethernet-over-power (EoP) device will extend your network along your home wiring (as long as it's on the same phase), and fill in any dark spots.