how to boost wifi signal

dannygee · 11 Sep 2015 at 21:14

My ISP is virgin media. I bought a "super hub" from them for a fiver (which is probably more than it's worth!), but still only have decent wifi signal at the back half of my house, close to where the router is.

I also have a western digital power link which works well, but obviously only if you have an ethernet port.

I've now just bought a tablet which doesn't have an ethernet port, so am going to need to resolve the signal problem -- what's the best way to boost it?

bremen1874 · 11 Sep 2015 at 21:20

If you have Ethernet in the other side of the house via the Powerline connection you could connect a wireless access point to it.

This could be a dedicated device or a wireless router retasked; many routers actually have an AP mode you can select.

dannygee · 11 Sep 2015 at 22:39

Thanks. I did try to re-use the original virgin router in the way you describe, but couldn't get it to work that way. I'll look and see if it has an AP mode, but don't think so. If I do need to get a new, dedicated device do you have any advice on which I should choose?

bremen1874 · 11 Sep 2015 at 22:46

How much are you willing to spend?

Single band? Dual band? Wireless-AC?

Orcvader · 11 Sep 2015 at 22:46

dannygee said:
Thanks. I did try to re-use the original virgin router in the way you describe, but couldn't get it to work that way. I'll look and see if it has an AP mode, but don't think so. If I do need to get a new, dedicated device do you have any advice on which I should choose?

ISP provided routers generally will have no option to become an access point only.

I have this at work and it works pretty well: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-030-TP&groupid=46&catid=1837

I used this when I was a student however as the Virgin SH2's wifi range didn't reach my room which was on the other side of the accomodation, this also gave me some ethernet ports as well: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-025-TP&groupid=46&catid=1596

dannygee · 11 Sep 2015 at 23:33

75 quid max probably is the budget. not sure about the other questions -- dual band could be a good idea, I don't really know how much of an improvement wireless-AC is likely to be (especially in my price bracket)?

holdin09 · 13 Sep 2015 at 20:10

You can use the virgin hub as an access point you just to configure it. If you want to use it let me know and I will help you.

dannygee · 13 Sep 2015 at 22:44

that's what i tried to do but I couldn't work it out, yes please help.

holdin09 · 14 Sep 2015 at 00:27

On your main router set your DHCP range to have some address spare so say your IP address is 192.168.1.1 (this IP address may be different to your) you want your range to be 192.168.1.3 - 192.168.1.254. Now you would use a power line to connect the 2 routers by Ethernet on the LAN ports. You can then set the second routers IP address to 192.168.1.2 this will allow the routers to connect to each other. Next you would disable DHCP on your second router as you do not need it. After that you can set your SSID and password the same as your main router on the second router and make sure the channels are at least 5 apart, so 1,5,11 is the best. That should work if you have any trouble feel free to ask.

holdin09 · 14 Sep 2015 at 11:20

One thing I forgot to say was that the default gateway on router 2 should be router 1 IP address so in my example it would be 192.168.1.1

dannygee · 16 Sep 2015 at 19:25

thank you very much I'll give it a go

dannygee · 16 Sep 2015 at 21:42

OK, I've tried but don't really understand where the settings are that I need to change. In my system preferences under wifi, I can find 'configure ipv4', 'router' and 'configure ipv6' and again 'router' both offering "using dhcp with manual address' and 'automatically' and 'manually' -- is that the right place? Are you able to direct me from there? My brother is suggesting a wireless network adapter as an alternative, but that costs 40 quid, I'd sooner not spend it if I can adapt hardware I already have. Thank you.

holdin09 · 16 Sep 2015 at 22:40

As I don have a virgin router it is hard to say but under configure ipv4 that is where you would put your ip address for the router so your main router should be find but have a look to see what ip address range is used the on your second router configure the ip address.

On your main router there should be somewhere to configure your ip address, might say 'range' or 'pool'. this is where you would change it so your second routers ip address is not assigned to a device.

As I have said look for a setting to change DHCP on or off and turn that off on your second router.

dannygee · 16 Sep 2015 at 23:04

OK, thank you very much