Recommendations for old house?

sparky · May 13, 2013, 12:55:06

Has anyone got any recommendations for a wireless router in this situation.

My son and his wife have just moved into an old house, mostly one room per floor, but it has four floors. Loads of stairs! Thick'ish walls. Anyway, he wants to buy a new wireless modem router, ADSL2+. He's still waiting for the line, but has been told he can expect to get somewhere between 7 and 15 Mbs download speed. The problem is, the phone line comes in at the bottom of the house, where the NTE5 socket is. This is also where he wants his TV to connect to the Router. However, the office (works from home) has to be top floor because of mobile phone reception.

So he needs a good wireless signal up top, from a wireless router that is on the ground floor.

Any suggestions?

Simon · May 13, 2013, 13:03:50

I think Den has just bought one of these:

http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/wireless-range-extenders/WN3500RP.aspx

But I'm not sure that's the best solution for four floors.

sparky · May 13, 2013, 13:24:10

Simon,

Yes, I was looking at those as well. It's certainly a possible option.

Simon · May 13, 2013, 14:39:28

Homeplugs might also be worth looking at.

psp83 · May 13, 2013, 15:29:29

Quote from: sparky on May 13, 2013, 12:55:06
Has anyone got any recommendations for a wireless router in this situation.

My son and his wife have just moved into an old house, mostly one room per floor, but it has four floors. Loads of stairs! Thick'ish walls. Anyway, he wants to buy a new wireless modem router, ADSL2+. He's still waiting for the line, but has been told he can expect to get somewhere between 7 and 15 Mbs download speed. The problem is, the phone line comes in at the bottom of the house, where the NTE5 socket is. This is also where he wants his TV to connect to the Router. However, the office (works from home) has to be top floor because of mobile phone reception.

So he needs a good wireless signal up top, from a wireless router that is on the ground floor.

Any suggestions?

Can he run at least 1 ethernet cable?

What I did for a friend in a old house with 3 floors was run a ethernet cable from ground floor router to top floor and wired into a 2nd router acting as a wireless ap, this then gives you 3 other ethernet ports to use for other things as well as wireless.

sparky · May 13, 2013, 16:51:51

QuoteCan he run at least 1 ethernet cable?

mmmm. Not sure, we'll have to have a look. Problem is it's rented so can't start drilling holes.

Simon · May 13, 2013, 17:29:54

Tell the landlord you've had to get rid of the mice.

psp83 · May 13, 2013, 17:58:24

Quote from: sparky on May 13, 2013, 16:51:51
mmmm. Not sure, we'll have to have a look. Problem is it's rented so can't start drilling holes.

Talk to the landlord, I'm sure he won't mind you drilling a little hole in each floor corner if your son is willing to leave the cable if he moves for the next people.

Tell your son to tell the landlord it will help persuade other people to move in if they ever moved out

Of course, if the landlord says no, then the other cabled option is...

If there's air vents going outside, in the rooms where you need internet access, push a ethernet cable through and run it outside and then back into the air vent in the room required

but be sure to get ethernet cable that can be used outside ( http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/cablingcat5/f/cat5outdoors.htm )

nowster · May 13, 2013, 18:09:09

Homeplugs work best where they're not on a spur (eg. an extension cable) but plugged directly into a hard wired wall socket. This is from my own measurements. I had to use them to extend the network in parents' house. Wireless repeaters were less than reliable (because both access point and repeater were on the same channel, it seems devices would get confused and connect to the wrong one, ie. the furthest away). Hard wiring was not possible due to a solid floor (this will hopefully be remedied this summer as heating pipes have to pass through that floor/wall).

Prepare to incur the wrath of the local radio ham if you do use homeplugs. Some of the higher speed ones have been demonstrated to wipe out local DAB reception too.

Steve · May 13, 2013, 18:17:21

Must use more Homeplugs

I have heard that they can effect FTTC as well. Wireless repeaters or WDS is slow and uses WEP if I recall. WiFI extension which is becoming more popular ie Apple, Netgear, Buffalo and Asus are the ones I know about offer low latency and good throughput with WPA encryption.

nowster · May 13, 2013, 18:27:07

Quote from: Steve on May 13, 2013, 18:17:21
Must use more Homeplugs I have heard that they can effect FTTC as well. Wireless repeaters or WDS is slow and uses WEP if I recall. WiFI extension which is becoming more popular ie Apple, Netgear, Buffalo and Asus are the ones I know about offer low latency and good throughput with WPA encryption.

WiFi extenders are inherently repeaters. They have to be if you think about it.