WiFi network extender without coax

[SoDifficult]

Hey everyone.

I have Frontier (Verizon) Fios 100/100mbps internet. I'm using an Actiontech MI424WR Rev I router.

The WiFi from the router works great as long as I'm in the room it's installed in, but it's terrible anywhere else; even 10 yards down the hallway in the living room. Other devices can connect, but with poor/fair quality at best. Streaming with a Firestick is basically impossible.

My question is, what is the best option for me extending the signal to the other room? I do not have coaxial or Ethernet access anywhere else in the house.

Is there an option of plugging something in to the router and another in the other room using just the electrical wiring?

I do have an extra D-Link DIR-655 lying around. Would that be of any use? If so, how would I go about setting it up?

If you need any additional info, let me know. Otherwise, any suggestions, model #'s, links to other threads that have more info, or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, peeps!

 

[RealBeast]

Yes, use a pair of powerline adapters -- AV1200 or better, like the TP-Link PA8010P kit and attach the DIR-655 configured as an access point in the area with poor wireless.

The configuration of the access point is easy, give it a static address that is in the network range but not in the DHCP range of the main router (to prevent conflicting addresses), turn off DHCP on the 655, and use a different radio channel on the 655 (selecting from the three non-overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11 between the router and AP).

 

[SoDifficult]

Yes, use a pair of powerline adapters -- AV1200 or better, like the TP-Link PA8010P kit and attach the DIR-655 configured as an access point in the area with poor wireless.

The configuration of the access point is easy, give it a static address that is in the network range but not in the DHCP range of the main router (to prevent conflicting addresses), turn off DHCP on the 655, and use a different radio channel on the 655 (selecting from the three non-overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11 between the router and AP).

Awesome. I figured there had to be some simple solution. I'm going to go pick up one of the adapters right now and try to set this up. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks!

 

[SoDifficult]

Yes, use a pair of powerline adapters -- AV1200 or better, like the TP-Link PA8010P kit and attach the DIR-655 configured as an access point in the area with poor wireless.

The configuration of the access point is easy, give it a static address that is in the network range but not in the DHCP range of the main router (to prevent conflicting addresses), turn off DHCP on the 655, and use a different radio channel on the 655 (selecting from the three non-overlapping channels 1, 6, and 11 between the router and AP).

Okay, so I did everything as you explained and just have a couple questions:

Regarding the channels, just to clarify, I am supposed to put the 655 on a different channel than the master router? Currently I have the master router set to channel 11. I had this all set as you described, but once I went in and changed the channel on the 655 from 11 to 6, I can no longer access the router via the browser. Not sure why this is happening. I was in, changed the channel, hit save, then got "The site can't be reached." However, I can still access it via WiFi.

That leads me to question 2. Once the channel issue is resolved, will there now be two access points in my home? Is this better than just making it an extension with the same name, or is that even possible?

If it will be an additional access point with its own name, will I have to manually switch my devices between the two access points to choose the stronger signal when I'm moving around in the house, or is there a way to do this automatically?

Thanks in advance.
____________________
Update:

I downloaded a WiFi Analyzer to see what channel stuck on the AP, and apparently I put it on the same channel as the master. I'm going to hard reset the AP and try again. I did a little more googling and read that once I complete this process, I'm not able to go back and modify AP settings. Now I know...

 

[RealBeast]

The reason that you could not access the 655 after the changes is because you changed its IP address, and turned off its DHCP, not due to the radio channel.

You can indeed go back and make changes, simply attach a computer to the 655 with a cable to an LAN port, set the computer to a static address consistent with the AP (i.e. in the same range) by going to the network control panel, select change adapter settings, right click on the adapter and select properties, highlight Internet Version Protocol 4 and select properties, then click the radio button to set a manual IP address -- after you are done resetting the AP go back and reset the computer to automatically obtain an address.

Then type the address of the AP into the attached computer browser and you will access it to make changes. Set it as you wish then disconnect from the computer, reattach to the network cable, and reset your computer used to make the changes.

 

[SoDifficult]

The reason that you could not access the 655 after the changes is because you changed its IP address, and turned off its DHCP, not due to the radio channel.

You can indeed go back and make changes, simply attach a computer to the 655 with a cable to an LAN port, set the computer to a static address consistent with the AP (i.e. in the same range) by going to the network control panel, select change adapter settings, right click on the adapter and select properties, highlight Internet Version Protocol 4 and select properties, then click the radio button to set a manual IP address -- after you are done resetting the AP go back and reset the computer to automatically obtain an address.

Then type the address of the AP into the attached computer browser and you will access it to make changes. Set it as you wish then disconnect from the computer, reattach to the network cable, and reset your computer used to make the changes.

It seems that everything is connected properly but the speeds are even worse than before I started.

With just the Master router connected and set to channel 11, I get around 90 mbps down/100 up via WiFi in the same room. When I run the test from the living room I get about 25 mbps down/55 mbps up.

I then configured the AP 655 as you described (gave same SSID as Master, assigned static IP, disabled DHCP, put on different channel 6).

Once configured I connected AV1200 powerline adapter 1 into LAN 1 on the Master router and plugged it into the wall. I then plugged powerline adapter 2 into the wall in the other room and connected it to LAN 1 on configured AP 655.

Now when I run a speed test I'm only getting about 7 mbps down/ 20 up.

What do you think might be killing the speeds? Is there anything else I can do to improve this? It also seems like things are running faster when connected to the Master router, but since I named both SSIDs the same I can't tell which device I'm connecting to. Would I be better off giving them different names? Or am I just completely overlooking something?

Also, I tried several times to connect my Chromecast to the network, and it repeatedly failed and would then cause the device I was using for setup to have issues with connecting to the network. Completely removing the AP solves this. Either I am doing something wrong or the DIR 655 just isn't compatible. Any suggestions on what I could try?

 

[RealBeast]

The 655 should work fine, you need to go over all the settings again to insure that everything is as it needs to be. Take a look at the bottom of THIS guide (at the bottom of the page below all the junk).

While I would use the same passkey, I would recommend a different SSID. Your devices can connect to the weaker radio if you let them choose, so force them to connect to the strongest nearby radio.

Also insure that you use WPA2/AES security, N only (unless you really need to support legacy devices), and a 20MHz wide channel (not 40MHz) on the 655 or else you will limit the wireless speed of the AP.

Best to use a wireless analyzer program on a laptop to check signal strength and channels (if yours doesn't do that grab a copy of the free version of inSSIDer).