Carrerahill Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I am looking to put Wifi in the garage, I have ethernet out there, I just want to extend the house Wifi for seamless connection - I have looked at a couple of Wifi Repeaters with ethernet but when you read the reviews you get mixed signals. Has anyone bought a little, inexpensive, easy to configure repeater, which is working via ethernet that they are happy with, robust, easy to configure etc.? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I did similar and used two BT home hubs, Home Hub 3s I think they were. One as the main router then the other as an extender. Works for other makes. This gives the gist: https://owenkelly.uk/bt-hub-extender.html The latest BT router we have gives better coverage so the 3's are consigned to the "might come in useful one day" box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Carrerahill said: ... but when you read the reviews you get mixed signals.... 2.4 and 5 GHz mixing eh? That'll be 2.4 * 5 = 12GHz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 26 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said: 2.4 and 5 GHz mixing eh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_algebra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I use an Asus router and a BT infiniband modem (bought 2nd on eBay). We used to get crap WiFi on the upper floors because our ecoJoists seem to degrade the signal through floors, ditto outside. I have since bought 3 more Asus routers cheap on eBay to cover these areas: Asus routers will mesh (that is the main router acts as a master and the others slave off it, and all use the same SSID, etc.) so our mobile devices automatically pick the strongest signal. BT and other providers now offer similar. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceverge Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 We have the two of these. Very happy with them. I'm not that interested in such things, just wanted it to work so I blindly followed the advice of a mate. Easy to set up as far as I can remember. Haven't touched it in two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeGrahamT21 Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 (edited) If you are looking for seamless, you need to be buying a mesh network product. I've had Tenda, connected to router, and then ensure you turn off the routers wifi, but I've now got a TP-Link Archer setup, the router itself has OneMesh built in, so just had to buy a compatible Mesh adapter to join into it, works a treat. Got the VR600 from Ebay (Be careful you get one which does support OneMesh, as they don't all support it), and adapter off amazon, both bits cost me the grand sum of £60, Tenda setup was similar price. The 'mixed signals' you speak of is because the BSSID of the Wireless network will differ on the extender to the router, meaning you'll get a disconnect and reconnect. A mesh network allows you to keep the same BSSID on all devices, and 802.11r allows fast roaming, no loss of connection. Edited February 24, 2023 by MikeGrahamT21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 Mesh is the way to go, with LAN backhaul. I've a TP link Deco 5 setup and it's excellent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 (edited) +1 for ASUS. Tried bt discs , netgear , tplink , others - only ASUs did it for me Edited February 24, 2023 by pocster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesP Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 We have used the TP Link below. Simple and effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I’ve got to link ax3000 and deco m5 in a stone barn I just had to check which models and noticed that the cheap outside Wi-Fi camera on the cow shed has decided the best signal is 30 meters away in the lounge of the stone barn. Sometimes it gets the signal from a deco that’s in another barn but we have equipment that can block it so it just finds the next signal. it’s definitely not cheap but is simple to set up and works well inside and outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 repurposed routers here. Huawei 4g modem/router covers one end of the house , then an old Talktalk hub does the other, and a Draytek out in the garage. They're all joined together (along with all the house cat5 points) by a dumb switch in the plant room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 I've got a pair of Draytek APs that have been working well. Got them second hand from ebay. Easy for me to set up but I've done a few before. Most Routers give out IP addresses in the range 192.168.0.xxx or 192.168.1.xxx . That difference (the 0.xxx or 1.xxx) can make life a bit harder if the factory default IP address for your new AP is the other one. If its the same then its usually fairly straightforward to set up most APs. The things you normally want to change are: The SSID (the network name) to make it easier to recognise. Ths password The channel number (use a mobile phone app to identify empty channels for best performance. Too many devices default to channels 1 to 4). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 2 hours ago, Temp said: Most Routers give out IP addresses in the range 192.168.0.xxx or 192.168.1.xxx BTW, it is well worth avoiding these 0 and 1 subnets if you ever want to implement VPN back into your LAN as most coffee shops, etc. use them, and the routing algos can get confused when the guest LAN that you've connected to and the home LAN have the same subnet. Just pick any other yyy in the 192.168.yyy.0/24 subnet such as xxx=44 or 111 or whatever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 14 hours ago, TerryE said: xxx=44 or 111 or whatever. I think my phone uses 43. I find my phone works most places, so may be a cheap option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 My £7.50 pcm sim-only deal offers unlimited talktime and texts, but data is capped at 15Gb PCM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 45 minutes ago, TerryE said: but data is capped at 15Gb PCM. Think I get about 70Gb for a tenner. And faster than the landline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSB Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 On 25/02/2023 at 17:27, Temp said: I've got a pair of Draytek APs that have been working well. Got them second hand from ebay. Easy for me to set up but I've done a few before. Most Routers give out IP addresses in the range 192.168.0.xxx or 192.168.1.xxx . That difference (the 0.xxx or 1.xxx) can make life a bit harder if the factory default IP address for your new AP is the other one. If its the same then its usually fairly straightforward to set up most APs. The things you normally want to change are: The SSID (the network name) to make it easier to recognise. Ths password The channel number (use a mobile phone app to identify empty channels for best performance. Too many devices default to channels 1 to 4). I use Draytek's as well, the one I got with the BB, recommended by the ISP and a similar one I had lying around, who knows where from. I do have 'business' BB as when it was installed it meant I had a static IP and I could connect here from anywhere. I've not looked lately if any of the bigger / cheaper boys will give you a static IP. I have a long thin old house with thick walls so from one end to the other it had to go through 4 walls and rarely did. Now I have the extender at one end it even stretches to the annex where my daughter lives. No fancy set up just log on as admin, being Draytek the default IP was 192.168.1.1 in both cases, so easy to change one to something else and change the name. Now I have upstairs as well through the floors. We still have holes in the ceilings waiting to be filled from when we had ethernet to the kids bedrooms many moons ago. Our wifi is reliable, but slow as still on copper. A number of neighbours have managed to get FTTP, but have drop out for some reason. As I WFH I can't risk that so waiting to see what BT are doing as they are both with BT. We are a long way from the green cabinet, further than either of these neighbours so it's a wait and see scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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