Tech people - do wireless "extenders" work well?
 

In a two-story house... the wireless router is in the freakin basement (so basically 3 floors down) - computer on the top floor...internet cuts out constantly lately. Thinking about throwing down $70 on a Netgear extender thingy... is it worth the money?

Before you tell me to move the wireless router, its really not that easy... just trust me on that.

It is worth it...also I recommend getting a more powerful receiver. A more powerful receiver could possibly be all that's needed in your case.

So, the router belongs to a neighbor huh?

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never used one of these just saw it for the first time at future shop recently but it seems to be pretty strong http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...9f41516 8en02

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I knew that was coming.

Dont you have a cold air return you could just drop an ethernet cable down?

I'm not Tim Allan. My handyman skills are basically zero.

The extender I'm looking at has an ethernet plug built into it though.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CFgQ8wIwAQ

there's the wifi repeater option, Can also use a regular wifi router as a bridge I think.

If there's a coaxial cable near the router you can buy a kit and get internet via coax up to the third floor and have a Wifi router take it from there.

It's like asking how long a piece of string is. Some work, some don't. Of the ones which work they may not work in your particular case depending on certain factors like placement and the materials which will be blocking them. Placement and the antenna will mean a lot. You may want to go directional. It would be better to run a ethernet cable if you can to that floor and place a separate router there. If not and you don't know much about this then call someone who really knows what they are doing in order to get the best results with the least hassle.

I set these up for a number of people, in general they have worked well

Buy a smaller house, pimp.

Check out one of those which uses the house's own electricity network as network cable and then have a wireless sender/receiver on the top floor.

That way you will have a safer and more reliable connection between the router/base station and the extender. It will not cost much more, prices are quite comparable.

I'd run a able if I were you. But then again, I'm not a big fan of wireless internet.

Back to the OP question: In the past I've installed a few linksys extenders (I believe they called them "expanders") for a couple of friends and they still work.

btw: If speed is important and you'll be transferring large files, remember that using an extender will basically cut your bandwidth in half.

Funny thing is, I use to have exactly what you're talking about and I can't find the damn things anywhere. They worked REALLY well though, and I bought those things years ago.

And I just took 10 minutes to go buy one (thank god I live close to a Best Buy) and picked up the one I mentioned earlier: http://www.google.com/products/catal...956&os=reviews

So far, so good... works really well. Appreciate the help guys! :thumbsup

Funny thing is, I bought the exactly same device for my parents who both want to use their ipads in their tv room, which is on the other side of the house from the router. So Last week, I bought it for them, installed it and it works like a charm. It might hang itself, for unknown reasons, like once per month or so. Then my dad just unplugs it and lug it back in and it all works again. Strange but the solution is so simple it's not worth worrying about, the normal day to day operation is both quick and sweet! Good choice! :thumbsup

That's what I figured.

I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed at how well this thing works so far. Doing some speed tests and download analysis now... not bad at all! :thumbsup

Should get something like http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=53...acture=Netgear or http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=62...facture=D-Link this way you get a much faster connection then wireless. You can get multiple units to connect different pcs/laptops all over the house.

It's ok if you just want to surf, stream video or music and copy some files here and there. General household stuff.

I would NOT recommend it for serious work. I was using a wireless network for my animation renderfarm, and had to go back to wired. The drops in data was killing me, even with an extender. I'll never use wireless for work again, until the standard is raised to be 10 times more reliable and faster than 802.11n

Find someone you can pat to run a ethernet cable.:2 cents:

Yeah they work fine. Just make sure it can extend at rates you wish it to. For example: If all your gear is wireless "N" spec but you get a "G" spec extender, you're shooting yourself in the foot. You will still connect in all likelihood but wireless "N" spec has better range atop of it's better speed.

oooorrrrr

Pick up a pair of cheap Linksys wireless n routers (both the same model), hack it's firmware with DD-WRT and use extender capabilities on them. Near flawless.

Maybe I missed this already but I'm guessing your router is a N and not a G? Could be something as simple as buying a more expensive router with an extended range.

they work great :) Just got one. My router is in the sub panel in the upstairs media room. On the oppsite side of the house down stairs i was getting like 20% single. Now i get 90 :)