Expand wireless coverage on my first floor

[rosso711]

Hey guys,

Would love some help with this if you can. I need to expand my wireless signal in some way. Below is the situation:

1st floor:
My router (LINKSYS WRT54GL) is in the living room. I have the latest DD-WRT firmware for my router on it. The router is place below the TV in a cabinet. Though for some reason the first floor has full bars wherever i go even with the cabinet closed.

I have the following connected on it with ethernet cables:

• ISP MODEM
• DREAMBOX
• ASROCK ION 330HT-BD
• SAMSUNG C7000 3D LED TV
• MY PC

2nd Floor:
Here is basically where my problem is. I dont have any wireless coverage here, sometimes one bar but keeps dropping. This is where i would like to expand my wireless coverage. How do i go about doing that? I have

3rd Floor (Attic):
Here i have my desktop PC. What i did when the house was building, i asked the electrician to have 2 Ethernet cables passing through the pipes and ending up in the living room so i can connect them directly to the router.

I have no idea what i have to do, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[DelJo63]

see this for ideas
You can use your household a/c wiring to deliver wifi to a remote room where you connect
an Access Point (or another wifi router) and connect devices to it.

 

[rosso711]

Isnt there an easier way? someone told me about range expanders but have no idea how they work

 

[nismo91]

basically the range expanders just repeat the signal from your WRT54GL router. I mainly use linksys for these kind of stuffs, but i just want to say i don't recommend the Linksys WRE54G. Had 3 of them, 2 of them fails after a while (including the one with LAN port).

 

[rosso711]

can you suggest one range expander that will work with my Linksys WRT54GL?

 

[nismo91]

i really have no idea about range extenders to recommend. common brand such as Belkin F5D7132, D Link DWL G710, NetGear WGXB102NA should be compatible with your linksys router, since many of range extenders are designed to be 'universal'.

if you're fine with a little configuring and more cables, i highly suggest you to use access points like jobeard mentioned. you will need to buy a AP such as linksys WAP54G, and then set it to act as a repeater to repeat the wi-fi signal back to your WRT54GL.

Linksys Guide

p.s. i am no expert in this field, might want to wait for others recommendation.

 

[DelJo63]

Isnt there an easier way? someone told me about range expanders but have no idea how they work

IMO, Post#2 is as easy (and reliable) as it gets.

 

[tipstir]

Your second floor you could run APNs (access point networks) this is what I do. So one good clean non-interference (clear of site) spot could give your dwelling the coverage it needs. Really don't want to use repeaters as it would be a flip/flop signal and you won't be happy with the results using the main wireless APNs as site survey for the repeater to connect to. When I do that my overhaul radius coverage is reduce where as if I use wired connection GIg to Gig APNs so that 802.11n is gets the right throughput. I run both 100mbps, 1000mbps, 802.11g and 802.11n. Here. Below is Layout 7 and now up to Layout 10 which has additional 13 wireless nodes. Nodes = devices.