Wifi amplifier

wyz2285 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:35 am

Hi guys.
I?m going to move to a new house soon and that damn thing has 3 floors plus basement(my workshop)... The wifi emitter stays in the first or second floor but I want to have internet all around the house, if possible the backyard and garden as well.
So is it possible to amplify the wifi signal? Like use a transistor and extra power supply?
Thanks

CannonCreations · Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:59 am

well you have several options in regards to increasing your range. You can either get a signal booster, also called a range extender, or signal repeater by some companies, or you can upgrade your router to a more powerful model. I would personally go with a signal repeater. It can be put anywhere within the range of your current wifi,and does just what the name implies, it repeats the signal, basically another router, but using the same network. you can put multiple repeaters throughout your house. All it needs to work is a power outlet, and a reliable network to connect to.

wyz2285 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:51 am

Something like this?

CannonCreations · Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:05 pm

Yes something like that should work, I don't know where you live, because that plug wont work in America, it is made to fit European sockets. I don't like going through eBay though, because it doesn't give all the details for the product. Just make sure that it can operate on the same frequency as your wifi, b/g/n. Most likely your router is either a (g) or (n) type, and I would guess that this one would work, but it doesn't strictly state what type it will work with

Technician1002 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:22 pm

There is a limit on how much you can gain from a high power router. The communications link is a two way street. If your phone or tablet does not also have high power, the link will be broken even if the device is showing 5 bars of signal. Apply high power with caution as it is not a fix all solution.

Repeaters and extenders are a much better solution as they put a reciever (in the repeater) near the phone or tablet to relay the signal both ways.

The downside of repeaters is they cut the bandwidth as they now occupy two data streams instead of just one. Data from mobile device to repeater and repeater to router does slow the connection.

A better solution if you can run cat5 cable is to use a second router. Place one upstairs near the wall toward the garden. Upstairs and garden are covered. Place the second one on the first floor on the other end of the house. You should be able to register both routers and have the mobile device connect to the stronger one when in the area. To connect two routers to the same broadband modem, connect the primary router via the WAN port to the modem in the normal fashion. Use a crossover cable (or a regular cable with a modem with auto MDX ports) from the LAN port of one router to a LAN port of the secondary router, with the WAN port disconnected. Put both routers on the same subnet such as 192.168.1.1 for the primary and 192.168.1.2 for the secondary, and make the SSID different for both routers, such as primary and secondary, and place them on different channels such as 1 and 11. Turn off DHCP, etc on the secondary router so only the primary does the heavy lifting and is the only gateway to the Internet.

This configuration makes the two act as one with 2 WiFi links.

wyz2285 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:32 pm

I live in Europe so it works for me.

The downside of repeaters is they cut the bandwidth as they now occupy two data streams instead of just one. Data from mobile device to repeater and repeater to router does slow the connection.

Hum... My internet isn't great, 1mb/s it's the max I ever got when downloading. The service however says I should have 12mb/s. The repeater I linked says it allows 300mb/s so does that matter?

Technician1002 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:37 pm

Shouldn't matter on a slow connection. It would impact the wireless speed so 54 would become 27Meg, This won't slow the Internet connection, but may slow LAN connected printing, media streaming servers, and NAS boxes if you have them.

Article on using two routers on a CAT5 cable to extend range.
http://www.labnol.org/internet/connect- ... ers/13517/

Article with step by step with pictures
http://www.wikihow.com/Connect-Two-Routers

wyz2285 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:43 pm

Technician1002 wrote:Shouldn't matter on a slow connection. It would impact the wireless speed so 54 would become 27Meg, This won't slow the Internet connection, but may slow LAN connected printing, media streaming servers, and NAS boxes if you have them.

Then it's ok. I don't have any wireless printer or anything like that however my laptop, tablet and other computers are all connected in a "family" network while in the same wifi zone (so I can get files from other devices using only my laptop). Will this suffer a major impact if one of the device it's in the repeater zone?

jakethebeast · Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:04 pm

Linear amplifier for the frequency, illegal without licenses though

wyz2285 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:11 pm

Care to elaborate

? I don't mind if it's simpler than buy that repeater from ebay or more effective.

jakethebeast · Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:34 pm

Just google linear amplifier for radio and you should get the basic idea of how it works. Probably you have to build it yourself, never seen one for these frequences

Technician1002 · Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:49 pm

Remember that is is not a broadcast transmitter. It is packet radio, so it must switch from Transmit to Receive fast enough to handle packet handshakes. Again as in my first post in this thread, forget a linear amplifier. If your laptop in the garden does not have high power too to link back, it won't be heard by the router at all and thus a fail to connect. The high power would only cause interference with your neighbors. Don't do an amplifier.

The ability to see a hotspot a mile away does not mean it can hear an unamplified signal from a tablet a mile away.

On the other hand, A high gain antenna can direct transmit power as well as improve the ability to listen to a distant weak signal, so directional high gain antennas for your favorite corner of the garden may be worth looking into.

I've seen amplifiers for these frequencies. They are sometimes used for long haul links, but to work a directional high gain antenna is used on both ends and an amplifier is used on both ends. It works line of sight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_Wi-Fi
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/vene ... 237-miles/

jakethebeast · Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:26 am

Good point Tech, a high-gain direct antenna would be the easiest option

POLAND_SPUD · Thu Sep 26, 2013 12:10 pm

a high gain antenna isn't the best idea in this particular situation

He should get a second router as tech advised earlier in the thread.

I'd probably get one of these

They are really cheap and can be hacked to give you a lot more features. I am not even talking about interfacing them with microcontrollers... if you upload a special firmware you can turn it into an IP cam with just a usb webcam

Technician1002 · Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:42 pm

Here in the US, I can pick up used G band routers for $10 as people upgrade to N. You don't need to buy new equipment.

Before buying anything, be sure to check your coverage. Some floors don't kill the signal much, so a router on the main floor may be able to penetrate through the floor to the basement, outside wall to the garden, and ceiling to the upstairs. Is there a central location that can provide good signal to all areas? I can pick my Wifi outside almost a 1/2 block away, so my entire yard is covered.