Home wifi help

[Halon]

Looking for some help from any network gurus in here. Switched to CenturyLink DSL 2 months ago. We have the standard issue Actiontek DSL modem from them that has built in wifi. It's in our theater room in the basement where it's plugged into our phone line. The wifi is very weak in a few spots upstairs. What I was hoping I could do is use my wifi router I used to use, upstairs as a repeater. The house is not wired with CAT5, so it'd have to be done via wifi only, placed somewhere upstairs where the signAl is still strong, pick it up and repeat it. Anyone know how to do this, or if it's even possible? I do have a couple of those Ethernet AC outlet adapters I could use to connect the basement modem to the remote wifi router, but those adapters aren't all that fast and I'd rather avoid that. Although our internet service is only 5Mbps, so might not be a huge deal since I think those adapter run faster than that.

Specs on the components in case it helps:

Wifi Router:
Belkin N150 Model# F9K1001V4

Modem/built in Wifi device(from CenturyLink):
Actiontek C1000a

[curt_gendron]

You could try just plugging in your Belkin router next to your Actiontek one in the basement and see how the signal is upstairs. Since its a different brand, you may find it works better. (or worse) Or sometimes in a different spot in the same room can affect reception on another floor. Seems odd, but it can affect it.

[A//// Guy]

Heres a basic rundown of options you have:

http://www.audioholics.com/home-thea...or-large-homes

You have a few options starting with a range extender:

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-N300-W...eless+extender

I havent used an extender personally but you could try that first if you wanted to see if it can boost signal to the other parts of the house.

Since extenders can slow things down after they repeat and you only have a 5Mbps connection, you could also run an Ethernet line from your theater room upstairs. You should be able to pop a line up through the floor or wall and make an outlet in the kitchen. Maybe in a cabinet someplace you can then place your Belkin and make it a Wireless access point. Read over the article and you can then see what your options are.

You could also just get a more robust wireless access point that may reach all parts of the house. Then just turn off wireless on the Actiontek and use the new access point to give wireless. Usually the ones that come from a provider arent that great. And the Belkin 150 is not that great either in terms of range.

http://www.amazon.com/EnGenius-Techn...n%3A2888517011

We have 4 similar to this model in our office here, and they cover well and can be used as power over ethernet, so you dont even need a power source at the actual wifi unit.

http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-UniFi...n%3A2888517011

[polishmafia]

There is a really cool app you can get for your phone called "WiFi Analyzer". You can open it up and move around your house to find out where the signal is strong, and where its weak. It could help you determine where the best place is to put a repeater.

[Halon]

I do have said app, and have located spots that would work great upstairs. I've tried doing it in those locations but fail every time. Once I try to setup the Belkin, I pretty much ruin the entire wifi in the house, so I have to factory reset the Belkin and try again. Just hoping that I can use my Belkin to do the range extension. Problem is there are a million options on it and I struggle to know which I should be using, and the right way to set it all up.

Peter that extender doesn't look like too bad of an option, not to much $$ either. If I can't get the Belkin to work, I may give it a shot. Thanks for the link!

[Halon]

Also, here are the AC Ethernet adapters I have.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o09_s00

I have a total of 4, only currently using 2 so I have some spares I could use. That link you sent said this is an option. The thing I don't like about these is how they state they are 200Mbps capable. I forgot the exact number, but when I did a test with them the realistic speed I got was more like 10-15Mbps I think. Which is faster than my internet speed so that's not a huge deal. But, if I want to say pull something off my own NAS in my house, then i'm taking a serious speed hit by limiting myself to 10-15Mbps when my home wifi network should be able to go much faster than that. I don't recall off the top of my head what protocol I have at home (b, g, n, etc). That article said this option is faster then the wifi to wifi extender, which I wonder about because if I'm on N and have say a 300Mbps wifi setup, a wifi only extender is going to knock it down farther than my outlet converters which already knock it down to like 10-15?

[A//// Guy]

On the belkin you would want to set it up as a Wireless access point and not a router, since you have the Actiontec already handing out DHCP addresses.

What you want to set up to repeat signal is a wireless bridge, see if the settings even allow that in there and test that.

Those adapters are interesting, I havent seen those. In all honesty, if you can run a couple Cat5e lines through your ducting or through an unfinished wall or basement ceiling room, I would do that. Then you can put another WAP upstairs with the same name and have great signal and speed. Im really surprised you didnt put a few ethernet outlets around the house when you built the house, since that would have been pretty easy to do even yourself.

[Halon]

Yeah, wish we would have ran some now. While we were building there were a million decisions to be made (not only on the house but we were in the middle of wedding planning as well), and we just passed on that. What we did do however is we had them run a flexible pipe from our basement furnace room, up into the upper level ceiling/attic, with a fish line. So maybe I can run a line from the furnace room, up into the rafters, and then down somewhere where I can pop it through the wall. If I do that, that might be a longer term solution, might be easier to try one of these other options to get us by for now until I try to tackle running a new line

[A//// Guy]

Oh yea that would work! Id do that, or you could get a Power over ethernet (POE) type wifi unit, then you could just set another WAP in the rafters of the upper level and you wouldnt need any power up there.

[Halon]

Well here's what I've done so far. So the way my house was setup is I was using 2 of those powerline adapters. I had one by the modem in the basement obviously, that was plugged into the modem. The other one I had upstairs in my office plugged into my main computer. I've had it that way for awhile basically just to get my computer off the wifi. So what I just did was unplug my computer from the powerline adapter, and plug the Belkin into it. The plugged my computer into the Belkin since it's a switch. So my computer is still "plugged in" and not on the wifi. The Belking I just setup a 2nd wifi like Andrew had mentioned, same SSID but I added "_UP" to the end.

So that's working great so far if I just change my upstairs stuff to be on that network. Next step will be to try like that link said, and assign the exact same SSID on the Belkin as the modem. See if that works and things transition seamlessly upstairs and downstairs between the identical networks.

Also Peter, the Belkin I don't see a bridge option. I do see an "access point" option, which then makes me enter in a specific IP address. So far I've left that option disabled.

One other thing, the modem has this WDS tab where it looks like I can put the MAC address of a "remote" device in, I can select whether its a "AP Client Station" or "Repeater" and then give it a name. So that's interesting. But I suppose if the Belkin itself can't be a repeater, than that's useless.

[Halon]

Got the belkin set identically to the modem now, same SSID, same password, etc . Seems to be working like a charm so far. Thanks again dude!

[A//// Guy]

Sweet! Reaches the further spots in the house now? Are both units next to each other in the theater room?

[asshanson]

Haha, glad one of my random suggestions last night helped. Sounds like what I had setup in my townhome, except I used existing phone line wiring to connect the modems instead of those powerline adapters. I hadn't heard of using TCP/IP over power lines, that's a cool idea. I know you can embed other various signals in them, but hadn't thought of internet. Basically eliminates the need for ethernet cable routing in the house.

I used to broadcast both my routers with the same SSID, but I think they sometimes got confused because I had the upstairs router acting as a sub-network with it's own DHCP assignments. So it would be transmitting to both, and it wouldn't work. So that's why I keep mine with different names now. A wireless access point setup should just act as a pass-through to the main router for IP addresses. So maybe yours is setup better and you won't have an issue. I just didn't want to spend any more time on it, and I never really use the basement one anyway, except for the tv/bluray which is always downstairs.

[Speedfreak]

I'll have to digest the nerdery in this thread and see if I can figure out what I'd have to do in my house. I have areas which suck as well and been meaning to address it somehow.

[Halon]

Momin, those repeaters that Peter linked to for $40 would probably be kick ass and probably the route I would have gone. I just happened to have a spare router that I could use as well as a few of the AC adapters that I bought when Amazon had them on uber sale once.

Peter, I had to play around a little bit last night. I ended up removing it from the office and for now I actually have the Belkin in the basement as well, plugged into a 3rd powerline adapter of it's own, but it's at the other end of the basement (right under the master BR). So the entire basement has a badass signal with the wifi modem at the West end of the basement, and the Belkin at the East end of the basement. And the entire upstairs has a good signal now too, must travel through the floor pretty good. The master that had an aweful, sometimes unusable signal previously is now getting a good stable signal. I'll probably end up moving the Belkin upstairs on top of our entertainment center or something, I just had it downstairs while I was tinkering.

[Halon]

Originally Posted by asshanson

Haha, glad one of my random suggestions last night helped. Sounds like what I had setup in my townhome, except I used existing phone line wiring to connect the modems instead of those powerline adapters. I hadn't heard of using TCP/IP over power lines, that's a cool idea. I know you can embed other various signals in them, but hadn't thought of internet. Basically eliminates the need for ethernet cable routing in the house.

I used to broadcast both my routers with the same SSID, but I think they sometimes got confused because I had the upstairs router acting as a sub-network with it's own DHCP assignments. So it would be transmitting to both, and it wouldn't work. So that's why I keep mine with different names now. A wireless access point setup should just act as a pass-through to the main router for IP addresses. So maybe yours is setup better and you won't have an issue. I just didn't want to spend any more time on it, and I never really use the basement one anyway, except for the tv/bluray which is always downstairs.

Andrew, the powerline adapters are nice, but I don't think they're as good as an actual CAT5 connection would be. The ones I have are advertised at 200Mbps, but I don't think anyone ever gets anywhere near that speed. I'll try and do a test again one of these days to let you know what actual speed I'm seeing. It kind of sucks because my main PC is hooked through that. So when I have say a BluRay size file that I want to transfer from my PC to my NAS, it literally might take 10hrs. Where if I had a straight CAT5 connection, it'd probably take a small fraction of that time.

[A//// Guy]

Thats awesome! Those powerline adapters are very cool, you taught me something as well haha.

[turbotalon1g]

Great thread as I also have an extra router, and need to extend some signal.

[Halon]

Did some speed tests, thought I'd quick share the results. Keep in mind my CL internet is a 5Mbps service.

PC Speeds through my 200Mbps powerline adapter:
Internet speed = 4.13Mbps Download / 0.79Mbps Upload
Home LAN speed = 24.75Mbps Download / 25.14Mbps Upload

So I'm getting 10-15% of the rated speed through my powerline adapters. Still plenty for internet use, but kind of sucks when transferring a 30GB from my PC to my NAS. Getting the full 300Mbps or whatever a real CAT5 connection would be would make a huge difference there.

[asshanson]

25mbps actual throughput isn't all that bad over your home power lines, obviously not spectacular but enough for streaming video for sure. I can usually stream HD netflix on 20mbps on my home internet connection. You're right though, hard wired cat5 with a decent switch would def be at least 10x the speed.

Rough calculation here: 30 GB = 30,000 mByte = 240,000 mbit / 25 mbps = 9600 seconds = 2hr 40min to copy file, if you get max speed the entire time with nothing else using network bandwidth. That's a long time to copy 30GB, when you hard drive could do it in a few minutes over gigabit ethernet.