- BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK HOW TO
- BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK INSTALL
- BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK MANUAL
- BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK SOFTWARE
When shopping for a range extender, it's important to find one that matches your router's specs.
BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK HOW TO
How to Find the Right Extender for Your Router Range extenders provide a relatively easy way to deliver Wi-Fi without having to run cables. In most homes, however, the router's location is tied to the room where the internet enters the house, which means relocating the router will likely require running an Ethernet cable to the desired area. In some cases, you can relocate your router to a central location to deliver a stronger signal to those dead zones that were previously out of reach. Likewise, homes with multiple floors and many walls are more susceptible to signal loss than a one-story home with an open floor plan. But for homes built with dense materials like brick, concrete, plaster, and metal, some level of signal degradation is almost a certainty. Range extenders come in various shapes, sizes, and speeds, but they have their limitations they are typically half as fast as your primary router, and they create a separate extended network that makes seamless roaming difficult.ĭepending on the size and layout of your home, a mid-to-high-end router may provide all the Wi-Fi coverage you'll need.
When paired with a budget-priced router, you can build a tandem system that gets coverage as good as, or possibly better than, what you'd get from a single high-priced router.
BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK INSTALL
What makes them attractive is that they are easy to install and inexpensive.
BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK SOFTWARE
Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.Set up the wireless securityįor both the bridge and repeater options, next go to Wireless > Wireless Security and enter the security settings of your main router. Under the virtual interfaces section, you can choose a different SSID so that you can connect to that router specifically if you're closest to it. In the physical interface section, enter the SSID of your primary router and choose "Bridged" for network connections this means that your repeater router will get the signal from and be connected to your current network. If you want to use your old router to increase the range of your wireless network, choose "Repeater" for the Wireless Mode.
For Network Mode, SSID, and Wireless Channel, set the same options as your primary router. If you want to connect wired devices (e.g., your TV or game console) on the old router and have it connected wirelessly to your modem or other router, then choose "Client Bridge" in the Wireless Mode drop-down.Here's where the instructions differ, depending on what you want to do: Open a web browser and go to 192.168.1.1 to get to the DD-WRT control panel (If your computer doen't use DHCP to get its IP address automatically, you'll have to set the IP address to the same subnet-e.g., 192.168.1.5).
BEST WIRELESS REPEATER FOR HOME NETWORK MANUAL
Install DD-WRTĭo a hard reset on your router (check the manual or search for " hardware reset," then connect your computer to the router's LAN port with an Ethernet cable. If your router can't install DD-WRT, you can always buy a used one, such as the popular Linksys WRT54G for pretty cheap. Head to DD-WRT to find out if your router model is supported and download the latest release. There are a few different scenarios here, but for all of them, you'll need to install the Linux-based DD-WRT to replace the old router's default firmware-and give it not only more options but also enhance its performance. This means that even devices that can't reach your main router can get connected through the old router anywhere you put it. By installing the free DD-WRT firmware on the old router, you can turn it into a wireless bridge or repeater. If you own devices with wired-only (Ethernet) connections and your router or modem is too far away or your wireless network doesn't cover enough area in your home, an old router can solve your problems.