Don't you hate it when you are streaming your favorite "Twilight" episode and then all of a sudden...buffering...buffering...buffering...FRUSTRATING ISN'T IT?
I know from experience. (well, I don't know about the "Twilight" part) But weak wi-fi signals have been a pest in my household. We have a 2 story home that was built back in the 80s that has plaster walls with wire mesh...uggg!!!! What were they thinking???
We also have a shed out back that I have designated as my "man cave", and have wanted to get a strong signal out in the man cave for entertaining my mancave guests.
After doing much research on the subject and buying all of the wrong gear, I wanted to share this information with the world so that you may avoid spending huge amounts of dollars buying the wrong gear.
Nowadays with the Pandemic, many more people are working from home, going to school from home and streaming and tele-conferencing more than ever. You need a powerful network that can handle all of those bandwidth needs. Your house may not be like mine with concrete walls, but you still may have "dead zones" where internet doesn't reach, and want to extend your current wifi signal. This information will certainly help you.
"It all begins with the ISP Router"
Your ISP or Internet Service Provider such as AT&T or Spectrum allows you to connect to the internet. That is what routers do...route data outside your local network to the correct recipient based on it's ip address. On a small network, this and a device is all you need. Simply connect your device to the router via ethernet or wirelessly, and voila...you are connected to the internet!!!
But...what if you have more devices? And what about extending the signal? and what is all of these repeaters, extenders and what do they do?
There are so many devices out there to help you extend your wifi signal, but we have to know the difference between them and how they apply to your particular situation.
WiFi Repeater/WiFi Extender
A repeater or an extender uses 2 routers to extend a signal. One router connects to the isp router, and the 2nd router connects wirelessly to the the 1st router to extend the wifi signal using the same security as the first router. A con to repeaters is that they are vunerable to interference such as microwaves, etc.
An extender is also a wifi booster that is either hard wired or wirelessly connected to your ISP router
But what is this Access Point, and should I use it?
Well, a wireless access point is used to extend your wifi signal to logically placed dead spots. They are essentially "hotspots" that re-trasmit their own frequency bands. Most are duel bands and include 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Access Points create a new network with new security different from your main network.
CASE STUDY
You always need to look at your particular situation before just going out and purchasing gear. In my situation, we had a need for a stable internet connection that needed to be extended to over 400 ft. away from the house and it will be used for streaming, surfing and teleconferencing.
REQUIREMENTS *Stable Int Connection | High Performance | Connectivity around plaster walls | Extended Stable wifi signal to Mancave
SOLUTION
We decided to go with TP Link for all of our devices. For the stable internet in the house, we added a mesh network that services upstairs and downstairs. We used the TP Link AC1900 Smart WiFi Router connected to directly to the ISP router along with 2 TP Link AC750 Wif Extenders. One for upstairs and one for downstairs. We also ran an ethernet cable directly to the main MacBook Pro.
Extending Signal 400 feet
For extending the signal that distance, we decided to go with TP Link Long Range Outdoor Wifi Transmitters. One wired to the router via ethernet,in Access Point mode and placed on the outside of the house. The other connected wirelessly to the 1st one in Bridge Mode which extends the wifi signal.
These signals are unidirectional and made for outside use, so we had to connect an access point inside the cottage, sending a omni -Directional signal to the cottage. We went with the TP Link Deco Mesh Wifi System. I love these because I can monitor them remotely via my app and they work!! Using this configuration we were able to achieve 96.8 download speeds, 91.6 Upload Sppeds and 98.3 uptime since installing.
So there you have it...This has been Cnote with Dream Media, LLC, and Hopefully this video has helped you guys understand how you can extend your home wifi. If you enjoyed or learned from this information, let us know!!! How did it help you? What did you learn?
By the way, did you know that we are NOT an affiliate and give this information away freely.
Dream Media, LLC is a Dallas based audio and video facility dedicated to providing high quality audio, video and web services such as design, SEO and more. If you need any of those services, we would love to speak to you about your project!!!
Dream Media, LLC | 10720 Miller Road, ste 226 | 469)930-1766 | Cnote@DallasVideoServices.net
