Need router for M&D

realBabelfish · 15 Jan 2013 at 15:11

hi guys.

mum and dad are on virgin but since virgin refuse to give them a new wifi router (even though they have been with virgin 10 years now) they will need to buy a new one.

i just need to make sure the signal can reach the whole house.

its only a small bungalow but i want my dad to be able to use his new tablet all over the house. tablet is a samsung galaxy tab2

they have virgin installed in the office at the front of the house in the study. (3mx3m) behind that study is the the kitchen (3m x 3m) and behind that is my dad's bedroom.

so i guess 10-15m in distance to cover the conservatory too. with 4-5 brick walls.

do i need to get them a beefier transmitter on the list below? say one with 2 antennae?

to be honest wi-fi isnt something im too clued up about. i just use the ****** superhub at my house and it reaches my whole house, but thats not got the sprawling layout of their bungalow.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?sortby=priceAsc&search=router

thanks guys!

realBabelfish · 15 Jan 2013 at 15:47

cheers mate. im more talking about one that will cope with 5/6 brick walls.

that asus one is a bit pricey.

realBabelfish · 16 Jan 2013 at 10:18

TrojanWhore said:
what bledd is getting at, is how does the internet reach the house, which will be either cable or ADSL. Cable is the same as how virgin cable television services are provided, whereas ADSL is the same as most other internet providers

yeah, i know that. i just wanted to know the strength of the signal required to reach the whole house.

i have a spare one so i might let them try that first to see coverage. no point in spending £100 when they dont need to. they are pensioners after all so as long as they get an OK signal at the back of the house that should suffice.

i have a superhub and its not brilliant but covers my whole house and some of the back garden

realBabelfish · 17 Jan 2013 at 10:08

mejinks said:
Why not get a powerline adapter with built in wifi?

their village is a bit iffy with the electrics. not sure i would trust that. interesting idea though, cheers.

realBabelfish · 17 Jan 2013 at 10:09

deshepherd said:
Firstly, check what broadband package they are on and whether their area has been upgraded yet. I was a 20Mb XL "superhub refusenik" and passed the initial updrade to 30Mb as VM wanted me to "buy" (or pay install/activation fee) for a SuperHub ... but when we got upgraded to 60Mb an banner telling me this appeared on my VM account page and invited me to request a free SuperHub to get the new speed - so I got a SuperHub ... and put it straight into modem mode.

You mention 4 or 5 brick walls .... I've got 2 such walls (though as are 1890s vintage are possibly more solid than later brick walls) between my living room and my Asus N56 router and while wifi is "ok" its was not able to stream iplayer consistently to a tablet (pauses for a few seconds every 5 mins or so) and I've resorted to using an old router as an additional access point in my living room ... though given everyone else's resounding praise for the N56 I'm still got a feeling there's something that needs "fixing" to improve its wireless performance (I've done the obvious things like trying different versions of firmware etc already!)

they told her it would cost £13 a month for the upgrade. they dont need >20mb so its a bit of a waste. much cheaper to just buy a router.

i think i will just use my spare one and see its coverage. if it works i will just let them have mine and they can buy me one if i need it.

realBabelfish · 17 Jan 2013 at 11:08

ah cool. that might be good then.