wifi extender

[alacant]

Hi everyone

I'm trying to get a home wifi (not designed for heavy traffic) so that a disabled guy can vnc into his computer at the mount. It's working fine, but it's slow. I've traced to weak point to the interim wifi extender; vnc with the two computers in the same room -without the extender- is instantaneous.

This must be doable without having to plug or switch anything and without cables. The telescope end is taken care of. The total distance which needs to be covered is 50m. 

Question: home lan experts, what would you recommend as the middle wifi-extender thing?

Cost: not that important but if you could give a top of the range and an affordable model, that would give me something to go on.

TIA

 

[Elp]

Usually the shared electrical circuit types are best that you can plug into a mains socket but each end has to be on the same circuit. I tried a Netgear wireless one before and measured around an 50-80M reliable range, the further you go or the more walls/materials they have to go through the slower and less reliable the connection becomes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-Range-Extender-EX6120/dp/B01560JGQW/ref=mp_s_a_1_17?crid=3O1AUAUF2BBDW&keywords=netgear+wifi+extender+quad&qid=1656435733&sprefix=netgear+wifi+extender+quad%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-17

 

[jefrs]

The BT Home Hub expert I spoke to told me he used the mains plug in type himself.

We have the BT Home Hub. The hub and two extender discs which can reach the garden shed 20m away. I had Netgear extenders as well but they interfered with the BT discs.

The wifi dongle in the telescope needs to be quite powerful too.

[fozzybear]

Bye the looks of things your friend has Sat Internet access Huawei box? or is that for TV use the Coax cable? and all connectivity via WIFI yes? if not what does he have?  the little black cable is that the cable to the phone socket for internet access

the little MU wifi extender i have tried and not very good depending on the property build Stone walls a no no the signal does not go thru.

Can you not get a couple of CPL's and then one plugged in to the router then the other plugged into the mains near the OBS and an ethernet cable into the obs pc or is that wifi also?

[fozzybear]

2 hours ago, alacant said:

The telescope end is taken care of.

what do you mean

 

[alacant]

1 hour ago, fozzybear said:

what

I'm just looking for something to replace the black box. The white box is 600/600 fibra óptica.

Cheers 

Edited June 28, 2022 by alacant

[fozzybear]

18 minutes ago, alacant said:

I'm just looking for something to replace the black box. The white box is 600/600 fibra óptica.

Cheers 

you quoted my what with ? I'm just looking for something to replace the black box. The white box is 600/600 fibra óptica.

and i have answered as in the post

[fozzybear]

either a CPL at either end or ethernet cable if wifi not up to the job

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by fozzybear

[Elp]

Another option if you have one lying around and it has the option to, is to use an old router in bridge mode though it may not be compatible if the main router is a different make, there's a bit of light config to do to get it setup.

[JOC]

50m is at the end of 'easy to solve' IME.  I wanted internet into a shed only about 25m away and couldn't solve it with WiFi bridging (nowhere to plug them in half way along the external route) or electronic through the cables connectors.  Whilst it sounded more than I wanted to do, the solution wasn't actually that difficult to deploy - or really hugely expensive.  You might need to provide a little shed (larger waterproof plastic storage box might do) to house equipment in and maybe run a bit of electric cable to get power as well, but for me the solution was a length of external quality cat 5 cable. run into the house (I went through an air brick) and connected into one of the outputs on the home router - a cheap connecting kit from the online auction company put the cat 5 ends onto the cables - which can be checked with a cheap tester from the same source.  Then you can plug it into a wifi flinging unit (router) at whatever cost you fancy at the far end and a new one will probably clone itself to your existing logon details very easily.  Get the power to the same location - maybe get a electrician in to give you a suitable external power source and Bob's your uncle.  I was lucky, I had the weatherproof shed that already had power, but essentially I did was described above and get a brilliant connection, with the possibility of hard wired connectivity at the far end if I need it and WiFi connectivity.  My experience with these plug in systems is a lot of cash spent and they never really seem to do the job, especially if they are not on the same ring main.  A bit of hard wiring and the encouragement of a few SGL members to try it solved my connundrum and you won't beat the connectivity offered by a bit of cabling - far better than all these plug in gizmos IMO. 

[alacant]

Thanks so much everyone.

Oh, how I hate home wifi!

Unfortunately, as per the original post, the only thing I can change is the interim box. @Elp do you know if your netgear alternative will be any better than the existing box? The latter is a mi-home.

Cheers and clear skies.

[JOC]

6 minutes ago, alacant said:

Thanks so much everyone.

Oh, how I hate home wifi!

Unfortunately, as per the original post, the only thing I can change is the interim box. @Elp do you know if your netgear alternative will be any better than the existing box? The latter is a mi-home.

Cheers and clear skies.

FWIW I have one of these https://www.netgear.com/uk/home/wifi/range-extenders/eax80/ as close to the shed (<25m away) as I could place it within the house duplicating the WiFi and flinging it forwards and it still couldn't cover the necessary distance (and I think that's a fairly top of the range gizmo) .  I left it in place as it covers a fair bit of the garden, but it won't cover the distance you are looking at as it wouldn't get to my shed.  IMO you can't do what you want to do without a bit more hardwiring.  

[JOC]

NB.  and the eax80 above is bouncing off a https://www.netgear.com/support/product/R9000.aspx main router so we aren't lacking in power here and I still couldn't manage it via WiFi

[Elp]

1 hour ago, alacant said:

Thanks so much everyone.

Oh, how I hate home wifi!

Unfortunately, as per the original post, the only thing I can change is the interim box. @Elp do you know if your netgear alternative will be any better than the existing box? The latter is a mi-home.

Cheers and clear skies.

Specs wise the Netgear is better, I did use the 300mbps version putting the extender around 30-40M away from the router, and then the connecting computer was another 30-40M away in another building, ultimately wired is better but if you haven't got the option it's worth a try.

[DaveL59]

WiFi is unfortunately one of those things so many think will just work but for a lot of things its far from the ideal solution. In the industry we tend toward the view that if its fixed location then it should be wired if you expect it to be reliable. Walls can drastically effect coverage and signal strength as can any other active devices around that use that same signal band, for 2.4GHz that includes DECT phones etc.

If you can fit external aerials then consider WiFi-MAX externals that you can then use directionally to improve the connection between router and remote end. You'd likely want a WiFi extender to fit that onto tho else the main router won't be a lot of use for supporting the rest of the household etc.

[JOC]

Another option might be a MiFi (often rechargeable internal battery) WiFi bubble powered by a SIM to talk to the cloud and then dial back into your internal systems via the internet.  A bit like a WiFi bubble that can be created via a mobile phone, but you can get MiFi devices specifically for just creating the bubble - Huawei make such things as do probably other manufacturers.  If you know you have mobile coverage in the area concerned then that might provide a useful alternative.

Like this:  https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/mobile-wifi-3s/

Edited June 29, 2022 by JOC

[DaveL59]

11 minutes ago, JOC said:

Another option might be a MiFi (often rechargeable internal battery) WiFi bubble powered by a SIM to talk to the cloud and then dial back into your internal systems via the internet.  A bit like a WiFi bubble that can be created via a mobile phone, but you can get MiFi devices specifically for just creating the bubble - Huawei make such things as do probably other manufacturers.  If you know you have mobile coverage in the area concerned then that might provide a useful alternative.

Like this:  https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/mobile-wifi-3s/

that could work but if you expect a high data usage could be quite expensive to run depending on the data tariffs offered.

Also while you might from the MiFi/mobile internet be able to VPN tunnel back into your main home LAN, that will depend on what your main router can support, not all can/do. You're unlikely to be able to VPN connect into your MiFi since mobile operators rarely give you a public IP on these devices tho you might find one who will, for a price. That's an issue I have when my router flips over to the mobile 4G connection if the main fiber line drops.

[Borderline Bob]

The perfumed Ayatollah wanted wifi in her cabin and she installed one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077HTZ4TT/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=7404319f47bf9c063099725aab1bf69b&content-id=amzn1.sym.e4f48e2a-4f4e-495a-a95b-34f114e19c84%3Aamzn1.sym.e4f48e2a-4f4e-495a-a95b-34f114e19c84&hsa_cr_id=8120727250702&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=b56d7cac-7a52-4a98-a2af-a69644eebd60&pd_rd_w=Ip2wF&pd_rd_wg=2wYY9&qid=1656503728&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0_img&sr=1-1-fd947bf3-57d2-4cc9-939d-2805f92cef28 it works really well.

 

PS Cabin is about 30m from the house

[gilesco]

2 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

WiFi is unfortunately one of those things so many think will just work but for a lot of things its far from the ideal solution. In the industry we tend toward the view that if its fixed location then it should be wired if you expect it to be reliable. Walls can drastically effect coverage and signal strength as can any other active devices around that use that same signal band, for 2.4GHz that includes DECT phones etc.

There is an endless list of things that will interfere with WIFI networks, some only should interfere with 2.4Ghz bands, other will also affect the 5Ghz bands, but in truth all radio interference will interfere regardless of frequency.

Some of the things: Other wireless networks in the vicinity, be it wireless networks in your own home that you're not even aware of (yes these exist), or they might be wireless networks in your neighbours homes, and the more wifi extenders they install the more they will interfere with yours. Bluetooth can interfere as well, it's constantly frequency hopping can make issues very intermittent, and more likely to occur on devices that have both Bluetooth and Wifi capabilities. Any radio devices - Wireless door bells, video door bells, baby monitors, walkie-talkies list goes on. The Microwave oven - classic one this.

Then there is passive interference, walls, be they dry-wall, walls with metallic frames, concrete, bricks, thick timber. Further water radiators can cause havoc, especially if your APs / Extenders are situated on low level coffee or hall tables or worse on just plugged into low level plug sockets.

Further any electronic device will cause some radio interference, televisions, radios, computers, computer monitors... as I say the list is endless.

A shielded Category 5 / 5E or Cat 6 cable is eventually the only sure fast way of ensuring a reliable and fast connection - range of 100 metres without any degradation in signal.

Edited June 29, 2022 by gilesco

[Spile]

Wired is always best. A repurposed router makes a great wireless point.

Turn off dhcp in the slave and I would give it a static IP address .  Connect the slave to your main router using cable.

This thread has more details 

https://www.avforums.com/threads/faq-using-two-routers-together-extending-wi-fi.1554662/

[JOC]

9 hours ago, Borderline Bob said:

The perfumed Ayatollah wanted wifi in her cabin and she installed one of

I'm guessing the cabin already had mains power supply, thus permitting an extender at each end.  In such a situation the overlap radius might have just cut in at 15m in each direction.  However, I am not convinced from the OP that there is facility for plugging in something at the far end of things, which very much limits the options and its a good deal further than 50m so the overlaps might not work.  I still think the OP will struggle without cable and ideally will need kit capable receiving sufficent power through that cable.

[StarryEyed]

Get the black extender off the wall and on an extension lead and put it up in a window line of sight to the mount upstairs height can help.

Some wifi extenders are multi channel most cheap ones rebroadcast on the same channel which will half your bandwidth which makes things worse with weak signals.

If you can fix the bandwidth to 20mhz rather than 40mhz and no automatic switching. 

Get a free wifi scanner app on a phone and check for channel usage. 

You can often improve things doing this  without spending money and they apply even if you buy a new extender

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by StarryEyed

[DaveL59]

8 hours ago, StarryEyed said:

Get the black extender off the wall and on an extension lead and put it up in a window line of sight to the mount upstairs height can help.

Some wifi extenders are multi channel most cheap ones rebroadcast on the same channel which will half your bandwidth which makes things worse with weak signals.

If you can fix the bandwidth to 20mhz rather than 40mhz and no automatic switching. 

Get a free wifi scanner app on a phone and check for channel usage. 

You can often improve things doing this  without spending money and they apply even if you buy a new extender

 

That can indeed help, as will fixing the WiFi to specific channels that are less used from what the scan report shows. Note tho that android phones can do this easily with Inssider, WiFi Analyser etc, but the fruity ones not.

Unfortunately you can't push the range as easily, WiFi-Max aerials may help, or not. The further from the AP the lower the signal strength and the slower the connection with probably more dropouts too. Same applies if there's too many connected devices, contention for the aggregate bandwidth will result in the connection being slower for all.

Edited June 30, 2022 by DaveL59

[gilesco]

9 hours ago, JOC said:

I'm guessing the cabin already had mains power supply

If it does, then a modern powerline rather than WiFi might be better (you can still mix powerline with Wifi, but the backhaul will be over powerline). All points need to be on the same consumer distribution unit.

https://www.devolo.co.uk/products/magic-powerline

[DaveL59]

59 minutes ago, gilesco said:

If it does, then a modern powerline rather than WiFi might be better (you can still mix powerline with Wifi, but the backhaul will be over powerline). All points need to be on the same consumer distribution unit.

https://www.devolo.co.uk/products/magic-powerline

I'd agree with this, currently I use GBe capable TPlink units (AV1000/1200 IIRC) that use MIMO to improve transmission. These shunt the network around from upstairs down to the main switch & router carrying CCTV traffic and it works very well and I'm passing trunked/tagged vLANs over them too. Tho not ideal you can cross between circuits/rings so long as they are the same side of the MCB. If there's a shortage of outlets in the shed then you can get pass-thru units and piggyback the current mains feed that way.