Extend an RT-3200 - best (wireless) way

[aviator1989]

Hi folks, after a search on extend 3200 didn't reveal any thing I thought I'd post a new thread. Apols in advance if covered already. I did find a great article/thread on the range of the 5300 so that prompts me to ask this here hoping someone can come up with best options

I went for an RT-3200 a year ago to plug into my Virgin SuperHub and create what I hoped would be a far "better" wifi signal throughout our house.
Result is far better indeed buuuut - The Issue - not quite good enough (for what I want).
I have the router at one 'side' of the house. I want to get a great signal at the far side of the house - on the same floor. To do that the signal has to go: across that first room unobstructed (c. 5m) through a door (thin wood) or possible straight through an internal brick wall(not sure if wireless signals look for path of least resistance), cross another room (c. 4m), then through an old double brick external wall (which has a door too) into a converted garage.

Current status - macbook picks up either of the 5G signals, iphone only picks up 1. That's a bit weird and often means they macbook and iphone end up on different SSID's which is a right pain.
When all the doors are shut, sometimes I get drop outs from one or the other aswell though I've not conclisively proved exact cause

Si I've jumped to a (poss wrong) conclusion that I could buy another gadget to fi this in a hassle free manner.

Q - if I wanted to extend the signal to improve reliability (without running ethernet cables through ceilings or under floors), can I do that wirelessly by installing a repeater of some sort in the middle room near the far away external wall and that be used to bounce the signal on to the next room hopefully stronger?
Do "proper external" wifi cards improve things in the receiving device (rather than internal wifi cards). That won't help an iPhone, but might help other devices.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

 

[TonyH]

First is your router located in the best spot for the best coverage? 2.4GHz and 5GHz won't have same coverage due to the difference of frequency. 5GHz signal strength at given spot is always weaker than that of 2.4GHz signal by ~3 to 6 db or so. If you can't move the router for better spot, you'll have to consider such thing as AP to reinforce coverage. I always managed to cover my whole house with just one router so far.

 

[aviator1989]

Thanks TonyH

There is one better room in the house - right in the middle, it's a serious practicality issue moving it though, so I've pretty much ruled that out. Isn't a massive building so I'd hoped I'd be fine - and often I am - it's just 'sometimes'.

Do wifi (PCE or USB) cards with antennas improve reception of wireless signals materially (over inbuilt receivers in PC's/Mac's/iPhone's ?

If I assume that I'm not moving the router (there's too many things hard wired into it where it sits), I see the above as one option, but doesn't fix iPhone drop outs?
Or I buy something else. is there a difference between an AP and a Range Extender? And given my router, does it matter which one?

Does having a ranger extender such as the 68U, mounted high up on a wall in the middle of the house, say on the wall close to the room the signal needs to get to, maybe help as good option? So that would mean AC 3200 covering most of house, range extender also on same level, but middle of house.
What I don't know is - does tht mean I've now split my wifi bandwidrh across so many different 'networks' that I've diluted the capabilty so much it's pointless??

I've tried Devolo - that didn't work for me. The different SSID's and bandwidth caused too many issues. Devices picking up random SSID's that then meant they wouldn't work very well in other parts of the house became a right pest.

 

[TonyH]

My idea is always cabling first for networking, if that is absolutely impossible try and solve the problem with wireless. Our house is a modest two story fully developed sitting on a palm size city lot. Building is stucco exterior solarium style with wide open space and ~40 windows surrounding the house.
Router is located on the loft upstairs. From basement to upstairs, front and back yard, garage is reachable wirelessly. (I ran cables too) One thing, my family does not play games. We have audio station(recording studio) in the basement with my back up desktop, main floor has home theater with Dell Precision HTPC, Upstairs has My Main desk top, ROG laptop, Son's Dell Lattitude laptop, another Panasonic rugged laptop as part of my Ham rigs. Then couple iPADs, iPhones kicking around. two wireless printers. No one complains about connectivity. I just want to keep it that way.