[kwlug-disc] Extending WiFi Range

[William Park]

Where in your basement is your router?  At the floor, near wall, etc?

I used to have a router at the basement corner where all wires (phone,
cable, electricity) would come in.  Reception at the opposite corner of
the house wasn't that good.  So, I bought 2 external antennas (TP-LINK
TL-ANT2408C), and place them away from the corner.  Reception got
better.  Eventually though, I moved the router to upper floor, at the
centre of the house.
-- 
William

On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 07:29:33PM -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> WiFi reception in my house, using the OpenWRT powered D-Link DIR-835, is
> generally adequate, but could be better in some spots. Reception is
> intermittent in the backyard, where I am pondering a project that would
> need it. Perhaps the basement's concrete is interfering?
> 
> I like OpenWRT and plan to stay with it. Also the router itself has lots of
> storage (flash) and RAM, so will be here for the future. It is in the
> basement, near the cable modem, and other equipment, and connected to the
> UPS in there.
> 
> Moving it to the main floor is not likely since it would involve finding a
> power outlet and running Ethernet, as well as losing the UPS connection.
> 
> So, my questions are:
> 
> 1. What does one do in this case? Do you buy another router, possibly one
> capable of running OpenWRT and turn off the router features, and keep it
> only as a WiFi hotspot and put it near the spots where good reception is
> needed?
> 
> 2. If so, what are good routers that you tried this on?
> 
> 3. How did you turn off OpenWRT routing ...etc. on it?
> 
> 4. Does the new WiFi hotspot have its own SSID or can it use the same SSID
> as the main router?
> 
> Any other thoughts/ideas welcome.
> -- 
> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
> 2bits.com, Inc.
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