Question do I need to upgrade my router etc ?

[stingray230sx]

I currently have a Linksys WRT320N DUAL BAND router. works great in my house as i am only streaming a roku in the next room from the router, as well as my cellphone.
I will be moving to my childhood home I inherited and am currently renovating it now.
the office area will be in the back of the new addition across from the master bedroom so that tv/streaming should be acceptable.
I was planning on adding a wifi repeater, as I didn't want to run drops to the front of the house until I need to do any major surgery on the drywall.
there is a box high on the wall in the front dining room where my mom had a sconce light, and it's no longer there, exposed when I removed a large corner china cabinet.
I planned on adding an outlet to this box as it has power there already, and using the height to plug in a wifi repeater, but it will be fully at the opposite end of the house from the modem and router I currently have, and I have read that the repeater might need to be closer to the router signal.
The main reason for the desire fore a repeater is the cellphone signal is practically non existent unless you are out on the street.
so I want to use the phone over the web service my cellphone provider offers to make sure I get calls all the time.
also there will be a room back here used as a small work room for bikes/hobbies etc, so a laptop will always be on the workbench to access the web, and there may be a tv there, but there is a cable drop there already.
sorry for the long explanation, but i guess my main question is,
is there a decent repeater for my router?,
I really don't want to drop a load of cash on a new router /mesh system if I can avoid it
thanks

 

[bill001g]

Repeater should always be your last choice you lose a lot of bandwidth and you now have 2 signals that can be interfered with.

They work "OK" when you have no other options. Key is they must be placed where they can get a good signal from the router and still provide a strong signal to the end device. This is never just sticking them in the remote room that has issue they will get the same bad signal from the main router and then make it worse by repeating it. It might have lots of bars for signal strength but the data quality will still be very poor. It takes lots of trial and error for placement in a house. If it was one big open room you could place it half way. With wall, ceiling etc absorbing signal you are going to have to experiment.

So other option when you don't want to rip the drywall up....even though that is still the best.

If you have coax cables you can use a technology called MoCA. The newer versions of this claim 2.5gbit but they easily do full 1gbit speeds.

Next you could consider powerline networks. This is not as fast but all you need are power outlets. Although you will never get gigabit speeds you should be able to get over 100mbps using the newer units that have 1000 or 2000 numbers on them.
There are still those rare houses powerline unit refuse to work in.