Wireless Range Extender or Dual Router Setup?

[Taylor Riley]

So I was thinking about doing a two router setup until I saw that there were wireless range extenders. How well do they work?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Range extenders are very poor compared to doing a true multi-access point environment.

If you can get an ethernet cable to another spot in your home, buy a Wireless access point (You do not need another Router unless you want the ethernet ports there too). Then configure the network SSID and password to be the same on both your current wireless router and the access point, and have seamless wireless access throughout the house. If they allow you to set the channel make sure to pick channels that are far apart from eachother to avoid interference.

 

[Taylor Riley]

Range extenders are very poor compared to doing a true multi-access point environment.

If you can get an ethernet cable to another spot in your home, buy a Wireless access point (You do not need another Router unless you want the ethernet ports there too). Then configure the network SSID and password to be the same on both your current wireless router and the access point, and have seamless wireless access throughout the house. If they allow you to set the channel make sure to pick channels that are far apart from eachother to avoid interference.

That's what I honestly planned on doing. I'm installing a patch panel on Friday and I have a network switch ready to mount. I was gonna run two apple extremes but I'm gonna wait until later on.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Range extenders are very poor compared to doing a true multi-access point environment.

If you can get an ethernet cable to another spot in your home, buy a Wireless access point (You do not need another Router unless you want the ethernet ports there too). Then configure the network SSID and password to be the same on both your current wireless router and the access point, and have seamless wireless access throughout the house. If they allow you to set the channel make sure to pick channels that are far apart from eachother to avoid interference.

That's what I honestly planned on doing. I'm installing a patch panel on Friday and I have a network switch ready to mount. I was gonna run two apple extremes but I'm gonna wait until later on.

Ok good, WAY better than using a range extender. If you get a PoE switch you can get a wireless access point like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833168157&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=engenius-_-33-168-157-_-Product

Mount it somewhere and it doesn't even need to be plugged in, just gets power through the ethernet cable.

Just an idea (I have in my house its nice to have on ceiling and out of the way)

 

[Taylor Riley]

Range extenders are very poor compared to doing a true multi-access point environment.

If you can get an ethernet cable to another spot in your home, buy a Wireless access point (You do not need another Router unless you want the ethernet ports there too). Then configure the network SSID and password to be the same on both your current wireless router and the access point, and have seamless wireless access throughout the house. If they allow you to set the channel make sure to pick channels that are far apart from eachother to avoid interference.

That's what I honestly planned on doing. I'm installing a patch panel on Friday and I have a network switch ready to mount. I was gonna run two apple extremes but I'm gonna wait until later on.

Ok good, WAY better than using a range extender. If you get a PoE switch you can get a wireless access point like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833168157&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=engenius-_-33-168-157-_-Product

Mount it somewhere and it doesn't even need to be plugged in, just gets power through the ethernet cable.

Just an idea (I have in my house its nice to have on ceiling and out of the way)

I'm running a little trendnet gigabyte switch since they are only 20 bucks and I don't need all five ports. How well does that extender work? I might just through that in the attic and use it for the time being. The apple extremes are future purchase.

 

[Rogue Leader]

If you're going to run a wire may as well run one to another access point. It depends which type/brand of extender you are talking about. The thing i linked is a Wireless access point that requires a PoE switch, so at this point not what you want.

 

[Taylor Riley]

If you're going to run a wire may as well run one to another access point. It depends which type/brand of extender you are talking about. The thing i linked is a Wireless access point that requires a PoE switch, so at this point not what you want.

Define wireless access point? Is it simply like making Wireless Network #2 that runs off of the same router? So you just change the connection depending on what side of the house you are on?

 

[Rogue Leader]

If you're going to run a wire may as well run one to another access point. It depends which type/brand of extender you are talking about. The thing i linked is a Wireless access point that requires a PoE switch, so at this point not what you want.

Define wireless access point? Is it simply like making Wireless Network #2 that runs off of the same router? So you just change the connection depending on what side of the house you are on?

So if you're looking to extend your network (for a low cost) the best way to do it is to have a wireless router, and run a ethernet cable to another router or wireless access point. WAPs are generally cheaper, they don't do any routing they just provide wireless access. Ignore the one I showed you before, instead something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704049&ignorebbr=1

You configure it with the same SSID and security as your router's wireless network, and it provides wireless signal from its point. Its basically the same thing as how wireless works in a business, they just have a lot of those WAPs around, with the routing done by 1 central router.

Slightly more technical but when configuring it you want to set the channel on the router and the WAP to different numbers, spaced from eachother (like 2 and 11) so they don't interfere with eachother.

You could do this with 2 airports as well, just turn off routing on the second airport, configure the wireless network like I said above, and it will behave like a wireless access point.

 

[Taylor Riley]

If you're going to run a wire may as well run one to another access point. It depends which type/brand of extender you are talking about. The thing i linked is a Wireless access point that requires a PoE switch, so at this point not what you want.

Define wireless access point? Is it simply like making Wireless Network #2 that runs off of the same router? So you just change the connection depending on what side of the house you are on?

So if you're looking to extend your network (for a low cost) the best way to do it is to have a wireless router, and run a ethernet cable to another router or wireless access point. WAPs are generally cheaper, they don't do any routing they just provide wireless access. Ignore the one I showed you before, instead something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704049&ignorebbr=1

You configure it with the same SSID and security as your router's wireless network, and it provides wireless signal from its point. Its basically the same thing as how wireless works in a business, they just have a lot of those WAPs around, with the routing done by 1 central router.

Slightly more technical but when configuring it you want to set the channel on the router and the WAP to different numbers, spaced from eachother (like 2 and 11) so they don't interfere with eachother.

You could do this with 2 airports as well, just turn off routing on the second airport, configure the wireless network like I said above, and it will behave like a wireless access point.

Ahh so it will actually hop from router to router automatically. And with the airport extremes its actually extremely easy, you just tell it "hey setup as an access point!" and it will, thus the reason I want to go with those at some point! Super cool for in home internet, but not so efficient in the business world (since its all ran on software instead of hardware). Thank you for all the information, I will probably just setup a WAP until I get the funds to get two airport extremes

 

[Rogue Leader]

Yes once the signal becomes weak enough it will move on to the next one. If the signals cross over sometimes you need to mess with signal strength to get the transition right, but in the end you will have basically seamless internet in all places in your home.

Good luck, enjoy!