extending wifi signal

[ady eflog]

I am looking to extend wifi signal in the block so that 2 of us can share the costs. Unfortunatly my friend is just outside the range of my wifi, what ways can we extend the range apart from him moving room or costing a fortune.

 

[babysitter]

Generally depends on the equipment you are using. Netgear rangemax is pretty good for me, what's the distance you are trying to obtain.
Some ideas here

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/wirelesstips.aspx

 

[ady eflog]

Total distance is only about 60 feet, directly along a corridor. the signal is about 20 feet short of the door. I have just been googling about turning a spare netgear router i have into a repeater? is this viable?

 

[flyingbanana]

I have heard, believe it or not that pringles tubes can be used to boost the signal. Don't ask me how it works, maybe like pointing a car remote at your head to extend the range?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=betR3vejzg4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantenna

 

[FOMDude]

If all else fails - Speak nicely to the GRMS guys; get 60-70ft ethernet cable made; out of one window across into the other corridor room window and voila, no issues with wireless connectivity.

Good luck!

 

[Ex-Bay]

Put a decent aerial (a decent co-linear) on each end of the connection. If necessary, lift them up a bit (there is no substitute for height).
This method worked in our spacies' HQ.

 

[beowulf]

Through all the walls in the block would be the problem. How many physical walls would it have to go through?

I looked into this for my house. My cable wireless comes into my daughter's room and by the back door the signal is gone - surfing in the garden is out.

From what I learned a second router is not the answer, there should be only the one wireless router I think (but I could be wrong) so a repeater is what you want to go for.

You would need to identify a midway point and set the repeater up there.

The advice I was given at the time I set mine up was that the higher up the router is the better (in offices the router is that thing on the ceiling that looks like a massive shiny spider) so that is why mine is in the upstairs. So if you are both on the same floor of the block start by blu-tacing your router to your ceiling. It wont help much but it could give an extra few yards.

 

[ady eflog]

cheers for the replies guys, the block has a suspended ceiling so technically I could hard wire it through to his room, better go buy some biscuits for the C4I guys then........

 

[busby1971]

Home plugs may be your answer, plug one into the router and the other in the room where you want additional wifi, the bonus of this is you are only sharing the broadband not the wifi.

Have a look at the Amazon website - other websites exist - as they do great customer returns if the products don't work.

 

[monobrow]

Wires is the way forward. You can set up a second wireless router so that you get into the network, then route the traffic through the one on the internet but setup can be fiddly, and you'll be running a (shorter) network cable anyway...

 

[beowulf]

Wire through the ceiling would be the more reliable way. And I suspect you would have to go to several miles of cable before it is more cost effective to get a plug or repeater.

 

[lilgurn]

If you friend has a computer as opposed to a laptop, you can replace the antenna with a directional high gain antenna for like £20.00, that should cover it easily...

 

[Space_Cowby]

cheers for the replies guys, the block has a suspended ceiling so technically I could hard wire it through to his room, better go buy some biscuits for the C4I guys then........

This would probably be cheaper than the biscuits

I have bought a few from them and they all work fine.