Solution for weak wifi strength

Kumar442244

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Hello Fellow members,

Need some help here.

The connection from chromcast audio is dropping repeatedly because of the week wifi connectivity. The wifi is set up in a different room and the HT set up is ~200 Sq ft away in a different room.

Not willing to spend on a powerful router as of now. Could there be a solution for this?

Is wifi repeater any good. Any members using this?

Please pitch in and provide a solution/suggestion/help here.
 
Hi

A repeater works sometime....not guaranteed,,,,Celester340 uses one.....check with him...

The other alternative is to get a good powerful router.....preowned...check OLX
 
I have a tplink repeater. Easy to configure and works great.
 
Hello Fellow members,

Need some help here.

The connection from chromcast audio is dropping repeatedly because of the week wifi connectivity. The wifi is set up in a different room and the HT set up is ~200 Sq ft away in a different room.

Not willing to spend on a powerful router as of now. Could there be a solution for this?

Is wifi repeater any good. Any members using this?

Please pitch in and provide a solution/suggestion/help here.
If you have a spare/old WiFi router and can pull ethernet between the two, then you can set up the same SSID on a different channel and disable DHCP server on the spare one. Just ensure that the two are running on different channels like 2.4GHz channel 1 on one and 2.4 GHz Channel 11 on the other. Also ensure that you connect ethernet cable (between the routers) on the LAN side at both ends (and not the WAN end at either). This will allow seamless WiFi availability without a different SSID between two areas/zones without the bandwidth issues associated with repeater. The major issue is the need for ethernet cable between the two.
 
If you have a spare/old WiFi router and can pull ethernet between the two, then you can set up the same SSID on a different channel and disable DHCP server on the spare one. Just ensure that the two are running on different channels like 2.4GHz channel 1 on one and 2.4 GHz Channel 11 on the other. Also ensure that you connect ethernet cable (between the routers) on the LAN side at both ends (and not the WAN end at either). This will allow seamless WiFi availability without a different SSID between two areas/zones without the bandwidth issues associated with repeater. The major issue is the need for ethernet cable between the two.
Hey lobster,

I have a spare belkin router lying idle.

Can u help me configure this to solve the purpose?
 
I have a tplink repeater. Easy to configure and works great.

I was certainly considering this, but review said it creates a new connection and is not exactly a strength extender.
How easy/difficult is it to configure?
 
I was certainly considering this, but review said it creates a new connection and is not exactly a strength extender.
How easy/difficult is it to configure?
This does not boost strength, its range extender. You plug this thing somewhere between your main wifi router and your HT. Normally at mid way of two rooms or till the area your main wifi router has good strength. This device will relay all communication with your main router extending the range and both router and extender together creates a single network and you do not have to bother about connection (you connect once with your SSID). They both will have same SSID (this device copy all network details from your router automatically), so even when you move from one room to other, your device stays connected.
 
Repeaters - particularly single band ones - reduce bandwidth drastically. This may defeat your purpose.

Consider changes to the router placement, broadcast channel, antenna(e), or even the alu. foil/coke can hack before you spend on an additional device.

Ultimately, it's hard to beat good ol' Cat6 for HD video given our 'broadband'.
 
Hi,

I have 2 completely differnet and independent wifi routers at my home. Both have the same SSID with same password key for both the routers. Both these routers are however connected by an ethernet cable. I have one router in the passage way of my house which is bang in the middle of the house. This does cover up my whole 1000 sq. ft. house, but by configuring the other wifi modem cum router extends my range beyond my house into the society garden and play area upto approximately 100 ft more. This wifi modem cum router has been provided by airtel (my broadband ISP). It does reduce the speed drastically (to about 8-10 Mbps) but I am pretty happy the wifi range.

I think if you can manage a cable between 2 routers, it would be best.
 
Thanks everyone for pitching in.

I will give it a try to connect my un-used router (A good one though - Belkin) to the existing connection and see if there is any impact on bandwidth and then probably spend on the extender.

The only caveat is that it will be a wired connection between the 2 routers which will be a matter of concern for me given the fact that I have an extremely naughty daughter (1.5 years) who keeps running all over. :)
 
Wireless repeater single band: Half the bandwidth of the primary router

Wired repeater i.e. connection through LAN cable: Full Bandwidth of primary router.
 
I have a mtnl fibre optic line at home. I've attached a pic. There are two routers. The one on top is the Netgear one and the one below is the mtnl one.

I get wifi in my hall but my bedroom signal is very weak and sometimes no signal. I have tried putting the Netgear router on the top on the current shelf that also did not help.

Can I buy a more powerful range router? Will that help instead of using a repeater?IMG-20180418-WA0004.jpg
 
Check the specs of existing NetGear router and then see options of a more powerful one....check reviews and then purchase.
 
I’ve used range extenders before moving on to two router setup which is obviously way better. As such a more powerful router also might do the job. How far is the chromecast from the router and what all obstacles between them!? You can loot at the higher end Netgear or Asus routers.
 
I have a Netgear Repeater and it did the job. But generally speaking Chromecast sucks on Wifi strength as it is hidden in the back of the TV, not sure about audio how you have set it up.
 
Hey lobster,

I have a spare belkin router lying idle.

Can u help me configure this to solve the purpose?

Steps:-

  1. Connect your laptop (wireless/wired) to the primary router and log in to the admin page (typically http://192.168.0.1). Go to LAN setting page and select the IP Address pool setting for DHCP server. Limit the "IP Pool Ending Address" (or "IP Ending Address" in Netgear/D-Link/TP-Link) to 192.168.0.250 or lesser. Apply/Save and the router might restart.
  2. Similarly go to Wireless Setting page of the primary router and select the channel for 2.4GHz band to "1" from the default value of "Auto". (Instead of "1" it can be "5" or "11" also if you see some network through-put issues to devices close to this router later due to some interfering devices in channel 1 close-by). Also note down the 2.4GHz Wifi SSID configured and the WiFi security option (WPA-TKIP, WPA-AES etc) selected in this router. Appy/Save the Wireless setting and the router may restart.
  3. Disable WiFi on your laptop now and connect laptop directly to the spare Belkin router over ethernet using one of the LAN ports (same color ports and not the single different color WAN port). Go to Wireless Settings page and configure the same 2.4GHz WiFi SSID and Security option to this router. Change the Channel from "Auto" to "11" (Assuming "1" or "5" was selected on primary router). Apply/Save the setting on the router and it may restart.
  4. Again on the spare router admin page go to "Local Area Network Settings" under "Advanced Settings" of admin page (typically http://192.168.0.1). The primary WiFi Router also will most likely be on this IP segment, so we need to give a dedicated IP on this device, so select something like 192.168.0.251 (outside the range selected in above step 1 on primary router). Also select "Off" for DHCP server in the same page below. (See image)Apply and save. Now the WiFi Router may reboot and you may not be able to access the admin page any more! lan-marked.jpg
  5. Now remove the ethernet cable from the laptop and attach it to one of the LAN ports of the primary router.
  6. Now enable WiFi on the laptop and connect to the 2.4GHz WiFi SSID (selected on both routers). If you type http://192.168.0.1 on browser you should be able to connect to primary router and http://192.168.0.251 should take you to secondary spare Belkin router. Now if you move closer to one of the routers the laptop should automatically and seamlessly switch to that router
 
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