Wifi range extender

jamiez said:
In terms of latency, im not a mega avid online gamer - but do play ps4 games online, so certainly don't want them to be laggy. My current average speed is 31 mbps and ping is between 10 and 20 so pretty good!
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I'm not aware of games being an issue. The real biggie is Sonos. If I have my access point that is connected vie Ethernet over power blocks (mine are TP-Link but any have the issue) then my Sonos controllers flat refuse to see the players if the controller is connected via the upstairs access point. As that is directly over the kitchen it happens a lot. Turn it off and everything is fine and dandy. I've spoken to Sonos and it's a known issue.
 
I cant say I've ever noticed a hop between the two but I only have two mobile devices that use the wifi as my desktop is wired. My other family members notice the jump from wifi-router to range extender device (we have a little Hawaii extender)..
 
Stuart Truman said:
sp3ctre said:
Wifi does not automatically connect to the strongest signal.
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It "should". Mine hops flawlessly. fairly standard setup, gateway with wifi, Ethernet over power to the upstairs rear part of the house and another access point wih same ssid and password.
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Devices should connect to the strongest signal when they first connect to a parlicular wlan - after that it's down to the device manufacturer, some hold on to the AP as long as there is a tolerable signal (as per the standards), others will rescan periodically and, if they find the same SSID with a stronger signal they'll move over, the best only rescan/move when idle to avoid noticeable latency issues

Each access point has it's own MAC which is used to generate its BSSID (or BSSIDs if supporting more than one wlan), the 'proper' systems that aggregate multiple APs are device-independent and make all the APs look as though they have the same identity (virtual MAC -> virtual BSSID) so the device never knows it's being handed off from one AP to another - as the handoff is done 'in the background' it also eliminates latency issues even if the device is in use
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TP-LINK-TL-WA850RE-Wireless-N-WiFi-Long-RANGE-Extender-Repeater-Booster-WPS-/281502993275?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item418ae2cb7b

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TP-Link-TL-WPA271KIT-150Mbps-AV200-Wireless-N-Powerline-Extender-Starter-KIT-NEW-/271309431766?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f2b4d63d6

:wink:
 
i have trouble in my flat. i have line of sight to the damn router and its still rubbish so i got a set of those devolo things and they are ace. easy to set up just press the button on the front press the button on the router wait a bit and then go and pug them in in the room i want wifi and hey presto it works.

best £100 quid ive spent in months (excluding the engine swap in the westy)
 
i have trouble in my flat. i have line of sight to the damn router and its still rubbish so i got a set of those devolo things and they are ace. easy to set up just press the button on the front press the button on the router wait a bit and then go and pug them in in the room i want wifi and hey presto it works.

best £100 quid ive spent in months (excluding the engine swap in the westy)

i wouldnt bother with those tp link things. i borrowed one to try and it was the biggest pile of wank going
 
domsz4 said:
i have trouble in my flat. i have line of sight to the damn router and its still rubbish so i got a set of those devolo things and they are ace. easy to set up just press the button on the front press the button on the router wait a bit and then go and pug them in in the room i want wifi and hey presto it works.

best £100 quid ive spent in months (excluding the engine swap in the westy)

i wouldnt bother with those tp link things. i borrowed one to try and it was the biggest pile of w**k going
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Not sure why you were defeated by TP-link plug ins as I have several and they work fine. Just plug the wireless access point into a socket in or near the room I want WiFi coverage and it just works. There are loads of other brands home plug type products out there for around £30 or less and I have set some up for friends and family too with no probs so certainly no need to spend a ton!

If you live in a small flat your issue may be transmitting too strong a signal generating noise so try setting to a lower level which you can do on the TP-link. I had a problem connecting to mine if I was too close until I reduced the strength now it works perfectly.
 
Job done - just setup this kit tonight in less than 10 mins

http://www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-wi-fi-home-hotspot-500-kit-9BRT.html

I got it for less than half price since I am an existing fibre customer.
Setup was effortless and with the aid of a simple BT utility, you can browse the IP of the powerline hotspot and then change the SSID and password to mimic the main router in the house.

Tested the unit several times using speedtest and there is no noticeable loss of ping or speed when testing in all parts of the house where previously I had no wifi coverage

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Stuart Truman said:
jamiez said:
In terms of latency, im not a mega avid online gamer - but do play ps4 games online, so certainly don't want them to be laggy. My current average speed is 31 mbps and ping is between 10 and 20 so pretty good!
Click to expand...

I'm not aware of games being an issue. The real biggie is Sonos. If I have my access point that is connected vie Ethernet over power blocks (mine are TP-Link but any have the issue) then my Sonos controllers flat refuse to see the players if the controller is connected via the upstairs access point. As that is directly over the kitchen it happens a lot. Turn it off and everything is fine and dandy. I've spoken to Sonos and it's a known issue.
Click to expand...

Thank you - I have had this issue for ages and was not aware it was a known one.
 
jamiez said:
Tested the unit several times using speedtest and there is no noticeable loss of ping or speed when testing in all parts of the house where previously I had no wifi coverage

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

These really are great devices for getting extra reach either on WiFi or for extending cabled out connections. I've been using them for a few years and have just extended my network replacing very old 802.3g WiFi.

Your connections speeds might not be as high as you think however. They quote up to 802.11n for the WiFi connection speed, but, the port speed into the router is limited to 100MBit/s, somewhat lower than both the WiFi transfer rates and than the quoted link speed across the power network. For most applications you won't see any issues as your internet broadband speed is probably lower than all of these anyway. However, if you are streaming video from a NAS or exchanging large volumes of data across your local network you may not be getting the full benefit of the WiFi rates or the power line transfer rates because of the 100MBit/s router connection bottleneck.

I transfer some huge photo files to/from my NAS, and to do so quickly, I keep the connections on a Gigabit LAN or a WiFi link directly on my router. A power line solution won't let you get that kind of transfer rate, maybe lower than 10% of that.

Your data rates across the power network also may not be high if you have long cable runs (i.e. big house and hence need to additional WiFi) or a noisy mains environment. I have two power line 500 devices at opposite ends of the house that will only connect at c60Mbit/s.

As I said, a great solution, but maybe not the best for some or all circumstances.
 
jamiez said:
Job done - just setup this kit tonight in less than 10 mins

http://www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-wi-fi-home-hotspot-500-kit-9BRT.html

I got it for less than half price since I am an existing fibre customer.
Setup was effortless and with the aid of a simple BT utility, you can browse the IP of the powerline hotspot and then change the SSID and password to mimic the main router in the house.

Tested the unit several times using speedtest and there is no noticeable loss of ping or speed when testing in all parts of the house where previously I had no wifi coverage

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Told you didn't I :D
 
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