extending a wifi signal

[scamper]

I have been using a standard Telstra broadband box with wifi and most of my xmas light work is in the shed.
Now I don't often need to connect to the internet, but when I do it is very scratchy whether I get any or a little signal.
I bought a range extender, and as I do, I went for the best one at the time that I could afford. The salesman was not very cluey though, so I had to rely on best judgement.
The biggest problem, is it is not really a range extender so much as a repeater. And I need to log in with a different password if I hook into that. This box also decreases the speed significantly as soon as you turn it on.
Is there anything out there, that just boosts the signal, so I can just go further and not have to log into different connections?

 

[StuartW]

Hi Scamper I actually just went through this last weekend. I was having trouble with my WiPi connecting to my main wifi router so dug out an old Netgear N300 extender I had laying around to get the signal out to the garage. By default most extenders will use a _EXT suffix for the network SSID this is to eliminate problems of using mobile devices moving in and out of the range of each signal within the house and not knowing which one to lock onto. I found this out by doing a bit of Google research. Once I had found out the reason and the fact that I will only have this extender operating when required (when I am working in the garage or to get the time for the Pi during show time) I came to the conclusion that my situation did not require such a setup so I just renamed the extender network the same as the main house network without the _EXT and with the same password and everything seems to be working perfect.
No need for different network or password.

Hope this helps


Stuart

 

[scamper]

Thanks Stuart.
I just renamed the extender to the same as the main box and did a speed test and signal strength test.
It works like a charm, also it changes over from one network to the other so quickly, you hardly even notice it.
I will test it for the next week or so and report back if I find any problems.

 

[StuartW]

Good to hear that it seems to be working for you and I just didn't happen to fluke something when I set mine up


Let me know if you come across any problems so I can keep an eye out for them.


Stuart

 

[ecbailey]

You may find that if you are just in range of the weaker signal the device may hold onto this instead of switching to the stronger signal. A quick wifi on/off or disconnect/reconnect on the device usually fixes this.