Tired of fighting with WIFI adapters? Me too. I fixed it grandma

[CharlesV]

The only thing worse than these extenders in WiFi mode is the power line network extenders.

The last one I encountered in the wild made me nostalgic for dial-up networking. I showed them how to snake a floor-to-floor ethernet wire alongside a forced air heating duct. Builder left huge gaps, I could have run all ethernet! They had 2 routers onsite so it got reused.

Actually, I have had pretty good luck with a few powerline installs. But, they were newer buildings and I stayed on the same circuit in all cases. I have only done 3 installs, but all three worked perfect. On the down side.. I tested two more locations - but both were different circuits which will either never work, or work very poorly. It really is best to stay away from those if you can ;-/

My favorite "ugly install" was using two point to point wireless units - high end, and it was an awesome solution. The locations were approx half mile apart, but visible to each other. We ended up installing one unit on each roof and while calibrating was interesting... once we had them dialed in ... they ran for a VERY long time with very good results.

[DukeComposed]

The only thing worse than these extenders in WiFi mode is the power line network extenders.

The last one I encountered in the wild made me nostalgic for dial-up networking.

Actually, I have had pretty good luck with a few powerline installs. But, they were newer buildings and I stayed on the same circuit in all cases.

I had the bright idea to put a mini PC in my bedroom and hook it up to a television and use it as a media machine. I can use my laptop comfortably in bed, so assumed that a regular wi-fi connection would be fine.

Data transfers to the media machine were so slow as to make streaming anything impossible. Even at standard definition rates, watching something like a basic YouTube video at 480p took 45 minutes to buffer. This is when I began investing in youtube-dl, downloading low-res local copies of YouTube videos and then synchronizing them to the bedroom media PC with SyncThing during the day while I was at work, then watching them at night or over the weekend. This process was functional, but took hours.

I had a conversation with my boss about it, and he suggested I buy powerline network extenders. I suggested he give me a raise and I would. Eventually, we both were true to our word and I bought a, roughly, $90 kit of two TP-Link extenders and plugged them in. Bandwidth jumped up to what I can handily call "useable" and maintenance is non-existent. I still download videos and sync them to the media machine, but transfers take minutes, not hours. Streaming from a browser or with streamlink is possible as long as I keep it to 720p or less. Since the television itself is rated for 720p, this is fine.

I cannot say that powerline network extenders are perfect or don't have cases where they fail to live up to expectations. I had a problem and they improved my situation dramatically. I forget what the model is of the ones I bought off of Newegg five years ago or so, but they're all right in my book.

[m_pav]

I have lived in rental houses all my Adult life and all of them have been built in the 60's, one socket per room and always in the worst possible place. For the last 3 rentals I lived in, I run Ethernet cables and fitted fixed network sockets to bring them up to the same specs as new houses being built without asking the landlords, I simply told them I'd done it after it had been done, that it had been done to professional standards and they it would remain when our tenancy ended and none of them complained. In 2 of the places, I improved the lighting too and left it behind when we left, never made an enemy of a landlord, always welcome to return at any time if ever needed.

In NZ, many old houses were made with NZ Kauri, a very hard wood, chainsaws are apt to polish and burn the wood more than cutting it when it's fully dried. That is to say, they may as well be concrete block walls as far as WiFi is concerned, penetration just aint gonna happen.

So what do I use to extend my WiFi? I use cheap Mikrotik Routers connected to one of the LAN cables I run from my primary Mikrotik Router. I simply erase all settings to a zero config state, then build it into a simple Bridging switch with WiFi access points that match exactly the ones already in use. Tested on all machines and OS's, WiFi switchover is seamless.

Simple steps below in code tags for easy identification.

Code: Select all

Remove the default configuration, factory reset and re-login

Bridge --> 	On Bridges Tab
		Click + to add --> Apply
			Add Ports to Bridge, 
			On Ports Tab, + select WLAN1
			--> Apply & repeat for all ports till done

Setup Repeater mode
		2.4 Ghz Single mode
			Wireless --> Select Wlan1 and click ✓ to enable it 
			Double-click Wlan1 to open settings.WinBox
				Select 		= Wireless Tab 
				Change Mode 	= ap bridge
				Change Band 	= 2GHz-B/G/N (see router specs)
				Channel Width 	= 20/40MHz XX
				Frequency 	= auto
				Fill in SSID	= 
				Select Country 	= NZ
				Installation 	= indoor
If Router is Dual mode, 2.4 + 5Ghz, repeat same steps on Wlan2 allowing for differences.
			
Create Wi-fi Security profile	
			Security Profiles Tab --> + to add new or just edit the existing default

If you wish to incerase security, disable unused LAN ports through Webfig or WinBox.

[CharlesV]

@m_pav very nice! I like those little routers and yes as long as you have a cable :-)

[rokytnji.1]

Free range extender attatched to wireless N usb on motorcycle shop computer. Cardboard keeps the heat down on the usb wifi dongle.
USB armored cable routed through wall of shop . Covered with clear nylon armored hose.
Setup is about 10 years old now. Wore out a IBM Desktop computer. The antenna has never needed repair or had to replace the dongle.

Wifi speeds are the fastest on that setup when it comes to updates. Dell 3500 took the place of the IBM m41.

[CharlesV]

Free range extender attatched to wireless N usb on motorcycle shop computer. Cardboard keeps the heat down on the usb wifi dongle.
USB armored cable routed through wall of shop . Covered with clear nylon armored hose.
Setup is about 10 years old now. Wore out a IBM Desktop computer. The antenna has never needed repair or had to replace the dongle.

Wifi speeds are the fastest on that setup when it comes to updates. Dell 3500 took the place of the IBM m41.

Thats excellent! So many ways to solve a problem - love it!

[korilius]

I used a power line network extender and it was horrible. It might have been OK if all my gear was on the same circuit - but I wasn't willing to take the time to find out!

[korilius]

... I use cheap Mikrotik Routers ...

I've heard nothing but good things about Mikrotik. Very powerful and reliable. I almost bought them but went with ubiquity (I don't like ubiquity now)>