My house floorplan is rectangular, meaning it is pretty long in one direction compared to the other direction. Now I have my wireless router setup in one corner of the house and I have made a wired connection to the diagonally opposite end of the house, my living room, where I have my TV and PS3. The problem is that the wi-fi strength in my living room is very poor/almost nonexistent.
Question: How can I get a better wi-fi strength in my living room and have a seamless connection everywhere inside my house. I am thinking that I need a second router: I connect the first router's wire connection to the WAN port of the new router and connect my PS3 to its LAN ports. I plan to run both routers with same SSID and then I can have a strong Wi-Fi connection everywhere. I went to the store today and they told me that this is not possible. Please help, how can I solve this problem.
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Cheetah2004 said:My house floorplan is rectangular, meaning it is pretty long in one direction compared to the other direction. Now I have my wireless router setup in one corner of the house and I have made a wired connection to the diagonally opposite end of the house, my living room, where I have my TV and PS3. The problem is that the wi-fi strength in my living room is very poor/almost nonexistent.
Question: How can I get a better wi-fi strength in my living room and have a seamless connection everywhere inside my house. I am thinking that I need a second router: I connect the first router's wire connection to the WAN port of the new router and connect my PS3 to its LAN ports. I plan to run both routers with same SSID and then I can have a strong Wi-Fi connection everywhere. I went to the store today and they told me that this is not possible. Please help, how can I solve this problem.
relocate the wireless router to the center of the house. If you want to use your approach, use the LAN ports only of the second router and turn off its DHCP. This way you force the 2nd router to become an AP and all your devices are on the same LAN
Message edited by: ellory on 2009-11-01 23:28:23 CST
If your wireless router has removable antennas, you can replace it with a directional panel antenna. Those are designed to broadcast in one direction, so mount it on the back wall & your signal is spread throughout the room & strength will be much higher than a round (omnidirectional) antenna.
Alternately, get yourself a higher powered router, such as a Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index) which is open source router firmware that gives you much more control over your router, including the ability to boost the signal strength.
You already have a wire run to the living room. Just add an access point there. Most routers will function in AP mode, just check the documentation to be sure. In fact, most will function as a switch at the same time as an AP, so you can plug PS3 into one of the other ports on the router. Otherwise, you will need a cheap switch also.
Thanks to everyone who replied. Quick notes: 1) My house has very old wiring and powerline networking doesn't work reliably. 2) It will be really hard for me to relocate the wireless router at the center of the house. 3) I plan to upgrade my router with WRT54G.
Finally I am intrigued by the last post ".. Most routers will function in AP mode, just check the documentation to be sure. In fact, most will function as a switch at the same time as an AP, so you can plug PS3 into one of the other ports on the router.." Does anyone know off the top of your head, which routers will support this feature.
Cheetah2004 said:Thanks to everyone who replied. Quick notes: 1) My house has very old wiring and powerline networking doesn't work reliably. 2) It will be really hard for me to relocate the wireless router at the center of the house. 3) I plan to upgrade my router with WRT54G.
Finally I am intrigued by the last post ".. Most routers will function in AP mode, just check the documentation to be sure. In fact, most will function as a switch at the same time as an AP, so you can plug PS3 into one of the other ports on the router.." Does anyone know off the top of your head, which routers will support this feature.I described how to do it in my earlier post. Most will
Just to clarify ellory's post, when he says "use the LAN ports only of the second router" he means that you just need to plug the main router into a LAN port on the second router (and disable DHCP). Do not plug it into the WAN port as you alluded to in your original post. Then any device that is plugged into the 2nd router or connected to it wirelessly will pick up an IP from the main router.
All of the Zyxel routers do it. Most linksys routers do. Other than that, it's hit and miss. I would say at least 80% of the routers made in the last couple years will. I would just look in HD to find a cheap router, then either download the manual or google the model number and "AP". You should get a ton of hits if it's capable.
I use this setup at home. I have one main router and 4 remote routers working in AP mode, all wired to the main router. Together, it gives me full coverage and lets me break the wireless into zones with different AP's.
drodge, you are right as far as an official AP mode, but every consumer router I know can be forced to behave as an AP if you disable DHCP and only use the LAN port
ellory said:drodge, you are right as far as an official AP mode, but every consumer router I know can be forced to behave as an AP if you disable DHCP and only use the LAN port
Right, I was only talking about supported products.
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