WiFi Range Booster

markwilliams82

markwilliams82

markwilliams82

Associate
Joined
15 Sep 2009
Posts
1,461
Location
Birmingham
The company I work for is after a way to extend there wifi signal range.

They have recently expanded into an empty unit next door and moved the offices to the front of these. The wifi router is in the comms room in the old unit and the signal doesnt stretch to the new office.

What would be the best and easiest way to get the signal over there?
 
Albeit for my house I have just bought one of these....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-030-TP


.....it seems to do what you are looking for. I used and Android tablet and installed Wi-Fi analyser to see where my dead spots were and then installed the above to provide another Wi-Fi connection. There are various permutations that you can do with the above and maybe you would want to read up on them to see if it would fit your needs.
 
Looks good, I'm either going to go for the Edimax 7416APN or TP-Link WA901ND

Any opinions on which is the best or will work best?

Just to confirm my setup. The comms room with our current wireless router is in one building. Our new office is in the offices at the front of the adjoining building which has a mini comms cabinet in with a switch linking us to the old comms rooms.

My plan is to plug one of these range extenders in to the switch and extend the wifi signal....will this work?
 
^^^ If you understand that I'm slightly retarded when it comes to implementing these devices then that should help to shape the value of my reply ;)

AFAIK for the unit to act as a repeater station it has to pick up the wifi signal and then amplify that to ensure that the same SSID etc is broadcast. For me that was not easily done as the positioning of the Wireless Access Point was too far away from the base router.

So mine is connected via Ethernet and a switch, as you describe, and then I have two wireless connections in our house. One "downstairs" and one, get ready for it, called "upstairs".
I suppose in a work / office environment that would offer an advantage of not having too many users using one wifi connection..?

You could download the manual here...

http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=TL-WA901ND#down

and probably make more sense of its functions than I did.

(page 4 of the quick install guide is what you need to look at)

I guess you will post back in about a month or so :D

FWIW - I love the TP-Link (not used the other you have noted) as the signal strength and wifi coverage is superb.
 
Last edited:
Considering this will be used for a business, the better way would be to run a Cat5e cable from the new office back to the original router, and then stick a traditional Wireless Access Point on the end, rather than trying to use extenders / boosters. They might work in a residential environment, but for a business they will be too unreliable.
 
the main comms room we have in one building, is linked to a mini cabinet and Netgear switch via an optical cable.

This then feeds all the sockets in the office.

If this is connected, would I just be able to connect a Wireless Router to the switch or a spare socket in the office to enable wifi in the new office?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom