I'm a wifi potato, please help

[potato]

hello

I have a square apartment. I can only have router on left side of apartment, due to wiring limitation. The place is about 1300sq.

I have a shaw cisco modem and a zyxel router. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GRFC82/?tag=snbforums-20

the shaw modem is dpc3825. It can act as wifi, but people have preivously recomended to use it as modem only in bridge mode and use the expensive zyxel router as wifi.

So what are my options? My internet speed is 25/2.5, but i may increase to 50/10. someone said to get wireless switch but i googled it and i can't find it..

Also i don't fancy idea of getting 2 different ssid. It's real pain to connect to 3 bar signal from 1 bar signal router everytime. Someone said routers can act as repeater. my zyxel is not a repeater..

So yes, im really a potato. please recomend best for my situation. my budget max is 70-100$. I made post on reddit but was told to come here

 

[abailey]

I agree with turning off your wireless on the shaw modem and putting it in bridge mode. But what exactly is the problem you are having?

 

[potato]

signals are weak at other side of house. im happy with router but just need extension to other half side of house.

i also want same network, so i dont have to manually reconnect everytime to move to better signal

 

[potato]

I agree with turning off your wireless on the shaw modem and putting it in bridge mode. But what exactly is the problem you are having?

http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/?model=TL-WA850RE

this one i can get for $25

is it good? work with any router?

 

[mervincm]

Yes keep it bridged, that cisco router has crap WiFi. If you complain load and long enough you may be able to get Shaw to replace it with a new motorola/arris AC moted that has excellent WiFi. Shaw says they don't have them, but they do have a few, but only for customers that have bad WiFi at this point.
Also, in my area Shaw does not have 50/10, are you sure it's not 50/3?

Best option would be to wire in an AP high and central. If you can't do that, you can try a wifi extender. you just plug it in the wall 1/2 from your AP to the dead area and it improves your coverage in the dead area. it works by pairing with your AP and re-transmitting. It's just a band aide, and it kills your top end speed, but in the right situation its a cheap easy fix.
this link has a picture that shows you were you put it.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX50636

 

[abailey]

If you use a wireless range extender you must make sure it can get good signal from your wifi router. So it needs to be somewhere between your wifi router and your client. You don't want to put it in a place where your client is not getting good signal from the router as your extender would also not get good signal from the router. Also remember that using a wireless extender cuts your throughput in half. The best way to get better coverage would be to put in a second wireless AP that was wired with Ethernet back to the router, but that can be difficult especially in an apartment.

 

[potato]

If you use a wireless range extender you must make sure it can get good signal from your wifi router. So it needs to be somewhere between your wifi router and your client. You don't want to put it in a place where your client is not getting good signal from the router as your extender would also not get good signal from the router. Also remember that using a wireless extender cuts your throughput in half. The best way to get better coverage would be to put in a second wireless AP that was wired with Ethernet back to the router, but that can be difficult especially in an apartment.

hello

which one is good, re1000 or the tp-wa850re? the re1000 costs 28 and tp costs 25.

also these extenders cutting in half... does it cut half everything or just devices connected to the extender?

maybe i need 2 of these... if i get 2, can second extender connect to first extender? or both must connect to router? also if second extender is connected, it means 7.5mbps speed then, even more half?

and will all these have same ssid? so i can control my xbone from any room

 

[potato]

Yes keep it bridged, that cisco router has crap WiFi. If you complain load and long enough you may be able to get Shaw to replace it with a new motorola/arris AC moted that has excellent WiFi. Shaw says they don't have them, but they do have a few, but only for customers that have bad WiFi at this point.
Also, in my area Shaw does not have 50/10, are you sure it's not 50/3?

Best option would be to wire in an AP high and central. If you can't do that, you can try a wifi extender. you just plug it in the wall 1/2 from your AP to the dead area and it improves your coverage in the dead area. it works by pairing with your AP and re-transmitting. It's just a band aide, and it kills your top end speed, but in the right situation its a cheap easy fix.
this link has a picture that shows you were you put it.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX50636

is it same as what i mentioned in previous post? i posted 2 models

also i might get telus with their 50/10 net. i have student plan and telus offer better speed.

and the guy said speed gets cut in half so does it mean my entire home has access to 12.5mbps speed? or just for the extender devices???

Please help i've to order by tomorrow midnight

 

[abailey]

hello

which one is good, re1000 or the tp-wa850re? the re1000 costs 28 and tp costs 25.

also these extenders cutting in half... does it cut half everything or just devices connected to the extender?

maybe i need 2 of these... if i get 2, can second extender connect to first extender? or both must connect to router? also if second extender is connected, it means 7.5mbps speed then, even more half?

and will all these have same ssid? so i can control my xbone from any room

When you add a wireless extender it cuts your wireless throughput in half for the devices connected to the extender. This is separate from your internet speed. For example if your extender is getting a good signal you may be able to get 50Mbit/s speed over wireless. Thus cutting it in half would be 25Mbit/s. Depending on extender, you can usually daisy chain another extender off of the first extender, but this would cut the throughput in half again for the devices on that extender.
If you cannot wire a WAP in your apartment I would use a dual band WAP or a dual band wireless router as your extender. Since your Zyxel router supports dual band you could use the 5Ghz channel to talk to your extender on one SSID and then use the 2.4Ghz band on both the Zyxel and the new WAP for clients (both routers using the same SSID but different channels for 2.4GHZ). If you do it this way your throughput will not be cut in half, and you won't have to worry about contention for radio time between your WAP bridge and clients. Remember on 2.4Ghz to only use channels 1,6,or 11. Of those three I would choose 1 and 11 first before using 6.

 

[potato]

can you explain second paragraph a bit more... im potato.

i would love to research but i gotta place order tomorrow so i can get device this week.

 

[potato]

When you add a wireless extender it cuts your wireless throughput in half for the devices connected to the extender. This is separate from your internet speed. For example if your extender is getting a good signal you may be able to get 50Mbit/s speed over wireless. Thus cutting it in half would be 25Mbit/s. Depending on extender, you can usually daisy chain another extender off of the first extender, but this would cut the throughput in half again for the devices on that extender.
If you cannot wire a WAP in your apartment I would use a dual band WAP or a dual band wireless router as your extender. Since your Zyxel router supports dual band you could use the 5Ghz channel to talk to your extender on one SSID and then use the 2.4Ghz band on both the Zyxel and the new WAP for clients (both routers using the same SSID but different channels for 2.4GHZ). If you do it this way your throughput will not be cut in half, and you won't have to worry about contention for radio time between your WAP bridge and clients. Remember on 2.4Ghz to only use channels 1,6,or 11. Of those three I would choose 1 and 11 first before using 6.

wait so what you're saying is i need another router plus extenders??

Ill try one router and one extender for now. The corner I'm trying to reach requires SD streaming or simple mobile browsing.. maybe bit of laptop. Think 7.5-12.5 will be enough for it with the extenders.

also is there new tech coming in routers? I think of replacing router in 1-3 years. Perhaps then the routers might have better signals.

The two products i listed earlier, re1000 and the tplink one, can they have secondary extender connected respectively?

I need to order tomorrow as they're on sale. re1000 is $28 and tplink is $25.

edit just checked the tp link ks 2.4ghz only and no additional extender allowed... Is 2.4ghz ok? I always used 5ghz before.

 

[jlake]

Most potatoes have nothing but problems with range extenders. Range extenders are a last resort option. Even lots of non-potatoes have plenty of problems with range extenders.

Since you're a potato, my advice would be to call your ISP and see if you can get a different modem/router with better wifi.

 

[potato]

what router to ask for? problem is, i might go to telus in august, so ill still need extender

 

[abailey]

Most potatoes have nothing but problems with range extenders. Range extenders are a last resort option. Even lots of non-potatoes have plenty of problems with range extenders.

Since you're a potato, my advice would be to call your ISP and see if you can get a different modem/router with better wifi.

This is the real problem. When you are talking wireless, it gets complicated to get wireless set up correctly (because there are so many variables). When you go add an additional item like a wired AP or wireless extender it gets even more complicated. The wireless extender is the most complicated. The manufacturers want you to think it is as simple as purchasing their extender and presto, you have better wifi range. In reality most people end up with very poor performance from extenders.

What I was talking about in my previous post was to use a dual band AP or router as an extender. I said use those items because most purpose built extenders do not allow for simultaneous dual band operation. And why my recommendation would yield better results than simply putting in a regular extender, it is also more complicated.

 

[potato]

This is the real problem. When you are talking wireless, it gets complicated to get wireless set up correctly (because there are so many variables). When you go add an additional item like a wired AP or wireless extender it gets even more complicated. The wireless extender is the most complicated. The manufacturers want you to think it is as simple as purchasing their extender and presto, you have better wifi range. In reality most people end up with very poor performance from extenders.

What I was talking about in my previous post was to use a dual band AP or router as an extender. I said use those items because most purpose built extenders do not allow for simultaneous dual band operation. And why my recommendation would yield better results than simply putting in a regular extender, it is also more complicated.

I went ahead and bought tplink for $26. I'm getting 4 signals on device, sometimes 5 or 3 too. But the room that wasn't covered before, is covered now.

The download speed was 7m something.

Sadly the network is 2.4ghz. But perhaps I might buy another one in future. Then I could be able to grab $25 5ghz extender, as technology evolves and get cheaper.

So far, I'm happy.

 

[mervincm]

Shaw now has released their advanced wireless modem. In my testing the WiFi portion was SIGNIFICANTLY better than what I had.

I think this it the best option if you want higher performance.

http://www.shaw.ca/store/internet/homeWifi.jsp?catId=cat1260009