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Author Topic: wifi booster  (Read 3752 times)

Offline Andy

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wifi booster
« on: October 22, 2017, 10:10:15 pm »
some times the wifi signal drops and have to resort to 4g on my phone to get the internet upstairs so been looking into a wifi booster...Any one use of recommend one

Offline lukemk5gti

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2017, 08:03:33 am »
I bought two from aliexpress for the exact same reason. All they do is pick up a sh*t signal and bump it up another flight of stairs which subsequently drops by the time you finally get it to your phone.

If possible, get a wired LAN receiver option and wire from the broadband device to the wifi booster upstairs. That way it's full strength signal being bumped.

If you can't wire a LAN then I suggest going for a powerline adapater which takes the wifi signal through the wiring system in your house so it's a more solid connection.

Offline rich83

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2017, 08:33:16 am »
Tp link. Power line adapters with wifi. Just need setting up so the wifi ssid and password is the same as your current router.

TP-Link 600 Mbps 2-Port Powerline Adapter, Range Extender, Broadband/Wi-Fi Extender, Wi-Fi Booster/Hotspot, No Configuration Required, Wi-Fi Clone, UK Plug (TL-WPA4220KIT V1.20) - Pack of 2 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mSz7zb6XBX7B2

Offline FJ1000

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2017, 01:11:54 pm »
Tp link. Power line adapters with wifi. Just need setting up so the wifi ssid and password is the same as your current router.

TP-Link 600 Mbps 2-Port Powerline Adapter, Range Extender, Broadband/Wi-Fi Extender, Wi-Fi Booster/Hotspot, No Configuration Required, Wi-Fi Clone, UK Plug (TL-WPA4220KIT V1.20) - Pack of 2 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mSz7zb6XBX7B2

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Offline pudding

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2017, 02:51:03 pm »
Used those Powerline adapters in a couple of houses I rented and they work well.  But for some reason, in my own house with up-to-date building regs, they don't work...at all.

Who is your BB provider?

I'm with BT and had the same issue with the HomeHub 5 on the 2nd floor of the house.   Recently switched it to the Homehub 6, or whatever the latest one is, and now passengers on aircraft flying over my house can enjoy free Wi-Fi for a few seconds.  Huge difference in range between old crusty routers vs new ones.


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Offline lukemk5gti

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2017, 03:16:02 pm »
Used those Powerline adapters in a couple of houses I rented and they work well.  But for some reason, in my own house with up-to-date building regs, they don't work...at all.

If you think about it, old houses had one single circuit that some electrician hodge podged together and daisy chained off the room next door. Effectively it was one long cable doing your entire house nearly.

New regs came in which mean that each room now runs on a single loop straight back into the board. Even large rooms are sometimes broken into separate loops.

So in an older house the signal comes in and flies straight up to most rooms in the house but in the new house it goes in, does a loop, goes to the board, does a loop and on and on until eventually it comes to you with piss poor signal.

Or so a technician told me he came out to install my broadband.

Offline pudding

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2017, 04:19:51 pm »
Used those Powerline adapters in a couple of houses I rented and they work well.  But for some reason, in my own house with up-to-date building regs, they don't work...at all.

If you think about it, old houses had one single circuit that some electrician hodge podged together and daisy chained off the room next door. Effectively it was one long cable doing your entire house nearly.

New regs came in which mean that each room now runs on a single loop straight back into the board. Even large rooms are sometimes broken into separate loops.

So in an older house the signal comes in and flies straight up to most rooms in the house but in the new house it goes in, does a loop, goes to the board, does a loop and on and on until eventually it comes to you with piss poor signal.

Or so a technician told me he came out to install my broadband.

Yeah makes sense!   The houses the Powerline adapters worked in were Victorian and a couple of ~1995 vintage houses.    The house I bought was built in 2007 probably has the wiring style you describe.  I don't even get any handshake LEDs on the adapters in the same room the router is in, let alone on a different floor!  Zero connection!   

My gf's Victorian house is amusing.  Ancient fuse box in a really bizarre place, with pull out fuses and rope insulation on the wiring  :grin:   If something blows a fuse, the whole house goes down  :grin:







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Offline lukemk5gti

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2017, 08:18:27 am »
Used those Powerline adapters in a couple of houses I rented and they work well.  But for some reason, in my own house with up-to-date building regs, they don't work...at all.

If you think about it, old houses had one single circuit that some electrician hodge podged together and daisy chained off the room next door. Effectively it was one long cable doing your entire house nearly.

New regs came in which mean that each room now runs on a single loop straight back into the board. Even large rooms are sometimes broken into separate loops.

So in an older house the signal comes in and flies straight up to most rooms in the house but in the new house it goes in, does a loop, goes to the board, does a loop and on and on until eventually it comes to you with piss poor signal.

Or so a technician told me he came out to install my broadband.

Yeah makes sense!   The houses the Powerline adapters worked in were Victorian and a couple of ~1995 vintage houses.    The house I bought was built in 2007 probably has the wiring style you describe.  I don't even get any handshake LEDs on the adapters in the same room the router is in, let alone on a different floor!  Zero connection!   

My gf's Victorian house is amusing.  Ancient fuse box in a really bizarre place, with pull out fuses and rope insulation on the wiring  :grin:   If something blows a fuse, the whole house goes down  :grin:

Mine is Victorian too, 1890 build but luckily the last owner had to redo the wiring and fuse board which saved me €€€

Have to say though, the structure of my 1890's build is far superior to any new build I've seen. They just don't make them like they used to.

All these new regulations and yet we're actually going backwards.

I'm watching the builders next door to me put up an extension and they've used white deal timber with no protection from rot or water ingress and standard ply (not marine). They'll get 5 years our of it.

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2017, 03:24:08 pm »

Mine is Victorian too, 1890 build but luckily the last owner had to redo the wiring and fuse board which saved me €€€

Have to say though, the structure of my 1890's build is far superior to any new build I've seen. They just don't make them like they used to.

All these new regulations and yet we're actually going backwards.

I'm watching the builders next door to me put up an extension and they've used white deal timber with no protection from rot or water ingress and standard ply (not marine). They'll get 5 years our of it.

Although the circuitry would play a role in broadband/wifi distribution it's more the actual walls that influence the wifi, older homes generally had a chimney breast in the middle of the house which essentially helped to distribute the weight into the foundation so the rooms were built around this and the connecting walls didn't have to be think and so could be single brick in width.

Modern homes don't really have fireplaces (conventional heating) unless it's asked for or if they are it's generally at the side of the house for ease of alteration, therefore homes now have to have real walls down stairs which are often double block width (a block is wider a brick) so basically wifi can't travel through thick walls so it's a bollocks for wifi.

Anyway it matters about the placement of your wifi/router box as you want it to have the clearest path to access as many rooms as possible and not to just sit at the bottom of the stairs with only real visibility to one room.

Offline FJ1000

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Re: wifi booster
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2017, 06:28:54 pm »
The circuitry comments relate to the power line adapters...they use the home's electrics to extend the internet coverage.

I've also got a netgear AC router hooked up to my virgin hub (which is set to "modem" mode to work with an external router.) Much better coverage than the virgin jobbie...can get 80-90MB in the loft where there was no signal before, yet there still seem to be dead spots in a couple of rooms, where the power line adapters are handy.


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