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BT Wifi range extenders
I predict a Riot - 15/6/13 at 08:15 PM

I live in a T shaped bungalow and the BT home hub that lives in the attic centrally does not produce a reliable signal to the three extremities of the house.

The plan is to re-locate the home hub to one end of the house and add two range extenders to the others.

I am quite capable of doing any cabling required but am not up to speed with networking and Wifi.

Can any one point me towards a product that is compatible with the home hub.

Many thanks,Adrian

joneh - 15/6/13 at 08:26 PM

Hey Adrian,

I've used these:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/networking/other-wireless-solutions/netgear-wn1000rp-universal-wifi-range-extender-white-18438951-p dt.html

Work really well and as far as I'm aware will work with any wifi signal.

Jon

P.s every so often Currys get some in at £9.99

T66 - 15/6/13 at 08:32 PM

I learned recently that BT hubs also share part of the delivered bandwidth publicly, to enhance their BT Openzones. It can be turned off in the router.

gremlin1234 - 15/6/13 at 08:40 PM

almost all range extenders will work with the bt hubs
there are also some that use mains wiring [powerline] for transmitting the signal, (to the garage for instance)

alternatively, if you can add cabling easily, it is 'simple' to convert a spare router to a wireless access point, (or just buy an access point)

but if having multiple access points, give them the same credentials, [net name (ssid)& password] but put on differing channels

gremlin1234 - 15/6/13 at 08:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by T66
I learned recently that BT hubs also share part of the delivered bandwidth publicly, to enhance their BT Openzones. It can be turned off in the router.

your own net traffic takes priority,
ps if you turn it off on your router, you don't the have access to bt fon/ bt wifi elsewhere.
pps it dosn't count to any bandwidth allowance.
ppps, my hub makes bt fon/bt wifi available, and I know its used.

jossey - 15/6/13 at 09:01 PM

If you can run Ethernet cable to the opposite side n get a access point. Extenders can be a pain with certain stuff like my Linux pc n iPad but my windows laptop was ok.

That's my 2 peneth anyway.

I've got a garage ssid and a upstairs one and one in living room my laptop n iPad n iPod n Linux pc just finds the stringer signal n moves between them.

T66 - 15/6/13 at 09:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
quote:
Originally posted by T66
I learned recently that BT hubs also share part of the delivered bandwidth publicly, to enhance their BT Openzones. It can be turned off in the router.

your own net traffic takes priority,
ps if you turn it off on your router, you don't the have access to bt fon/ bt wifi elsewhere.
pps it dosn't count to any bandwidth allowance.
ppps, my hub makes bt fon/bt wifi available, and I know its used.




Nice one, I am now educated.

scimjim - 15/6/13 at 09:25 PM

I use these to get my very low strength BT WI-FI signal to the top of my 3storey house: http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/wireless-range-extenders/XWNB1601.aspx

britishtrident - 16/6/13 at 05:56 AM

There is absolutely no problem using WIFI access points to extend range , they work seamlessly with any type of OS including Linux and Android.

I have done a few installations with with secondhand D-Link access points bought from ebay for around than £10 to £40 depending on model, One of the reasons I use D-Link DWL access points is they have screw fittings on the aerials which allows the use of a longer high gain aerial which greatly improves range. The aerial can also be mounted remotely by using an extension cable.
With a high gain aerial you may well find you only need one access point in addition to your BT router as BT routers have notoriously poor wifi performance.

You can also connect wireless access points using Homeplug Networking Over Mains which is now my preffered method over wired networking.

MikeRJ - 18/6/13 at 11:01 PM

Wireless Range extenders do reduce bandwidth and increase latency. Not a problem for web browsing, email etc. but can be a problem with streaming video.

blakep82 - 18/6/13 at 11:17 PM

I quite like the tplink ones. Easy to set up, and proved very reliable so far. 2 of them and you're sorted

Think its this one I've got
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-150Mbps-Wireless-Range-Extender/dp/B008GBON7G/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1371597097&sr=8-6&keywords=tplink+ran ge+extender

Only had to reset it once in 18 months I think? First job though, update the firmware, or you'll struggle to get it sorted straight out the box

whitestu - 19/6/13 at 08:40 AM

I recently bought a range extender from Amazon. It was a cheap unbranded one but was utterly useless. Much better to get two power line adapters and a cheap access point / router. Tenda do WAP [W311r] for about £12 that works great. Combine this with a pair of TP link power line adapters for £25 and you will have a massively better solution to your problem.

As said above, most old routers will work as WAPs.
Stu