Wireless Router Question

[lewber]

I am not technologically savvy and am easily confused about these things. But we need better wireless in our house. Internet is cable and comes in through the front main part of our home where our desktop is. I need it to reach down to a basement where the xbox and apple tv are, and I need to it reach upstairs to a back bedroom to run a laptop that has some big video and picture demands that need transferred wirelessly. 

 

What should I look for? I went on Amazon and all the reviews just confused me, so speak in beginner talk please :lol:

[Lanny]

For the brand, I would look at TP-Link stuff. Lots of bang for the buck. I think they supply about 50% of WiFi Infrastructure.  (Disclaimer, We have 2 TP-Link WiFi Routers that I reconfigured to work as WAPs (Wireless Access Points) and an 8 Port TP-Link Switch in our house).  There are different kinds of HW (Hardware) that you might use. The easier and more expensive route is to go Wireless and hope for the coverage you need. The route we chose, is harder, because it involved installing CAT5 Ethernet Cables, from our ADSL Modem/Router to each of the TP-Link WiFi Routers that we are using as WAPs.  The advantage to what we did, in addition to lower cost, is that we have Ethernet and stronger WiFi at those 2 locations. I would look on the TP-Link web site

http://www.tp-link.com/us/ to get an idea of the different options available to you. Then, I would look for any units you think might be appropriate and Read-The-Reviews on Amazon.  Read the most recent reviews, and the most Popular and most Negative Reviews.  When I selected the TP-Link WiFi Routers that we are using, in 2014, I had never heard of TP-Link.  On Amazon, it was the #1 selling   WiFi Router and many Reviewers commented that it out performed much more expensive routers that they had. 

 

Look into how  hard or easy it would be to run a cable to each of those locations. That virtually guarantees those areas will have solid WiFi.

 

OT: By the end of the month, if all goes well, the new ISP will install FTTH (FIber to the Home) to our house and I will then need to reconfigure the 2 TP-Link   WiFi Routers, so they work with that network and not our old ADSL service.  

Edited April 7, 2017 by Lanny

[lewber]

Thanks Lanny. We have cable in the basement. We should be able to get better wireless there? See, I am clueless!

 

I don't think I can get a cable into the upstairs bedrooms without a good bit of work. I'd like to do wireless up there. 

[Lanny]

Thanks Lanny. We have cable in the basement. We should be able to get better wireless there? See, I am clueless!

 

I don't think I can get a cable into the upstairs bedrooms without a good bit of work. I'd like to do wireless up there. 

 

You are welcome.  If you can run (or already have) a CAT 5 Ethernet cable, from where your Internet service becomes available inside your home (an ADSL Modem or Cable Modem that also is furnishing WiFi and Ethernet to your house), from that Modem, into the basement, that will give you a more solid WiFi service in the basement.

 

There are Wireless WiFi devices available. I think there are several different types, but I have no experience with them, so I suggest that you look on the TP-Link web site at the different models available, and then look at the Reviews on Amazon. Some of the items have thousands of Reviews and I think that is very positive and look for a 4 out of 5 when I buy things,

 

Some of the WiFi Extenders or whatever they are called just plug into an AC Outlet in the Wall.  If one of those would work for you, that is as fast and easy as it would get.

 

The Cable in the Basement is for Cable TV service to a TV there, or you have some kind of Networking Device there?

 

There are different ways to do this (as with many other things involving computers). The fastest (and probably the most expensive) would be to try to go completely wireless and pray that will provide the WiFi signal you hope for, where you hope it will be.  That is  sketchy, until you actually buy the Hardware and can test it in your home. 

 

The other, harder, way, is to do what we did. Our house is one story, but the walls are Concrete with structural bricks between them, and a lot of Rebar inside them, so getting holes through the walls, for those cables, was difficult, but it is a one time thing.

 

You can probably find some How Tos and Tutorials if you Google and also be sure to do the same on YouTube.

 

Again, I am not an employee or stockholder of TP-Link but their stuff is a lot of bang for the buck and I wouldn't look at any other brand.

 

I am getting the picture of your house. Two stories with a basement.  If, per chance, the WiFi Extenders are going to be more or less vertical, from the current WiFi source (ADSL Modem, etc.) I believe that would increase the possibility/probability of you getting WiFi onto the 2nd floor and into the bedroom with Wireless WiFi Extenders (there are probably different names for those devices...)    If however, for example, I'm using our house which is long, if the WiFi source (ADSL Modem) is near the West end of the house and you want WiFi service on the East end of the house on the 2nd floor and in the Basement, I think that is more problematic, without using CAT5 cables. However, I have no experience with those devices and am only taking a wild guess here. 

 

ETA: We have 3 Samsung SMART TVs that will be getting TV service from the new ISP.  That service will be by cable, from the Satellite Antenna, to each TV. However, sometimes, those sets run on WiFi, for other things that SMART TVs do.  I think that might include our Netflix service. So, that is another reason we need good WiFi in the areas where those TV sets are located, which is at opposite ends of the house.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Lanny