Be Excellent To Each Other

I have moved into my new place. It has virgin 50mb broadband, with a super hub.

Unfortunately I am on the 2nd floor and on the edge of the signal... what if anything can I do to boost it.

Move downstairs

I don't think the other tennants would like that.

Could I put in a better router?

Edge of the signal? Is it a shared connection and you're having trouble with the wifi?

Wifi, it works fine in the rest of the house.

One of the chaps said, the last tennant had plugged in another wifi device into the super hub and it boost signal. I am not clued up on this

You need a wireless range extender

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-7416A ... 2_edpp_url

I can vouch for these. Have two of them.

The best method is to run an ethernet cable to the extender from the main router. This gives a lovely stable connection.

You can also set it up as a repeater where it relays the signal from the main router (no cable needed). This can be hit and miss if the initial signal is weak or there is interference. I have a repeater set up like this in my living room and it has been known to get cranky occasionally (seems to be a reset once or twice a year). It's fine for most things though.

The wired method also allows you to use another frequency for the repeated signal which seems to give better coverage. Devices seem happy to pick and choose whichever they want. My Dad's house has two repeaters, both wired, and both on different frequencies. Coverage works really well.

I do prefer the wired method though. It just seems faster and more solid.

Brilliant....

Popped in here to make a sarky joke about how you should by an Xbox One, but instead I find a device that could solve our bedroom wifi woes.

Cheers.

The in-laws had really poor wi-fi coverage, so they bought an edimax externder/AP and just couldn't get it to work.

I managed to set it up, but had to search on the internet for decent instructions as the ones in the box were totally shit and misleading, so it's really no wonder that they couldn't get it to work. Newer models may perhaps have better instructions provided.

Once set up though, it worked like a charm and I was the favourite son-in-law again

I will order one of these.. I take it I just plug it as Chinny said into the hub and then BOOM, more wifi?

You don't plug it in, I don't think. Just sit it inside the router's wifi range and it will pick it up and repeat it again (once configured, of course).

If you read my original post there are two approaches.

1 - Just let it act as a repeater. It picks up the original signal and relays it. This is dependent on the signal quality and obviously means it has to contend with all the existing wi-fi traffic.

2 - Run an ethernet cable from the existing router to the extender. This ensures a high quality uncontended interference link between the router and the repeater.

Across various premises I have 3 repeaters in use (1 old Netgear and 2 Edimax). The wired solution is faster and more reliable. But if you can't wire it, as long as the unit has a good signal to begin with then you shouldn't notice much difference. Don't stick it on the edge of the existing wireless signal and expect miracles though, you'll find you have a 100% signal but the poor quality of the link between the router and the repeater will mean a terrible datarate between the 2.

To be honest, I'd see if the landlord will run a cable up. Not a big job

I have had a look.. it i will be a pain.

Or I would, plus I want wifi in my room, for my phones etc..

You can still get the repeater for good wifi

You don't have to run the cable as far as your room. Just get the repeater closer than the main router.

Indeed if your signal is already crap in your room, putting a repeater in there will make no difference if you go for the wireless repeater option because the repeater will have no signal to work with.

The Edimax also has aerials which you can move around. For good upwards coverage you want the aerials horizontal rather than vertical. In our old house the signal was terrible if you had the aerials vertical but we had full coverage when I changed to horizontal.

In short, regardless of which method you use, all you need to do is get the repeater closer to you than the existing router is.

Stop making this complex

Just buy the repeater, set it up as per instructions, and put it somewhere on the 1st floor landing or something.

In the parents house, due to rather wife proof walls, we ended up using home plugs to get the network round the house and then repeaters from that to provide wireless.

May be an option, although not an overly cheap one.

And not one if you enjoy listening to Radio 5 on AM.

You can get homeplugs that'll do it all-in-one which aren't too pricey:

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/Sh ... olo1409kit

Adds to shopping list.

And not if your wiring isn't squeaky clean. Backing up an unreliable, bursty, overhead-y, latency-rich connection with an unreliable, bursty, overhead-y, latency-rich connection is... desperation.

I am very lucky to have found a woman with a semi-detached house who didn't mind me drilling holes and nailing cable all over the outside of it. Then again, I think she's pretty chuffed to have found a man who was game for putting 2 greenhouses and 5 raised beds in the back garden and occasionally helping with digging and watering.

Think of the alternative...

"HONEY! I'M HOME!"
\

Ok. So my phone, laptop and printer connect to the wifi

Laptop won't see the Internet unless wired to the router.

I don't have the admin rights to the virgin super hub.

Any suggestion. I am thinking home plugs with wireless in my room

Check your laptop's TCP/IP settings.

Will do but they work ok everywhere else.

Having read around, it looks it is a common issue with an unpatched superhub..

If you're paying for this service in your rent, tell the landlord. You shouldn't have to sort this shit out on your own.

Yes I should do...

Going to get one of these and be done with it..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004 ... ROKL5A1OLE

Cheaper but I've no idea how good they are (how ever could can use it in stop frame animations as a dancing robot):
http://www.ebuyer.com/254253-d-link-200 ... dhp-w307av

Also more :
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=powerlin ... r+wireless