Hi all, this may have been covered in a KH podcast but I have a 3,600 sq foot house where my inte...

[G+_Don Burgess]

Hi all, this may have been covered in a KH podcast but I have a 3,600 sq foot house where my internet modem and router are upstairs and I need WiFi coverage upstairs and downstairs.  I have a TP Link Dual Band Router upstairs with a Cisco Dual Band Router running DD-WRT down stairs.  My house is not wired with Cat5 so I am using a PowerLink connection between both WiFi routers and having a big drop in speed between the upstairs WiFi and the downstairs WiFi.   Is there any other way to speed up the two connections without drilling holes in the wall to put a Line in between them.  Can someone point me in the direction of solutions or remind me of a KH podcast that I might not have seen?  Thanks

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

You may be able to use a wifi repeater rather than power line.  Try having just one wifi router on at a time and looking at the signal from it with something like Wifi Finder while walking around the house.  Does the signal reach halfway?  If so a repeater will probably have less of a speed drop than the power line network you have currently.

 

I'm guessing the PowerLink adapters are on different circuits on your breaker box?  Also, what model PowerLink are you using?  Power line gear has improved a lot over the past couple of years, but you will still find the older, slow equipment around.

[G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ]

Don Burgess A WiFi repeater is absolutely your last resort. Unless you have a really good one (as in, Enterprise, $500 or more, class) it's going to kill your  throughput. 

 

The enemy of WiFi networks is more 2.5/5Ghz RF energy in the air. A WiFi repeater, as you may have guessed, fills the air with more RF energy... and if it's poorly constructed (as most are), it will actually act as a signal jammer if you've got enough APs in the area.

 

The one exception is if you've got a dual-band AP that can use the 5Ghz link as it's "bridge" back to the router with the cable modem. If you use 5Ghz for the bridge, it should keep 2.4Ghz from becoming overly crowded.

[G+_Ben Reese]

So, if I'm not mistaken - and someone please correct me if I'm wrong... An Ethernet over Power adapter functions much like a wireless network except it's medium is the ground wire in your house. (I thought I had even heard of people snooping on that traffic from outside the house using wireless receivers.) If the power line adapter isn't working, the house could have incorrect ground wiring or the two outlets are both too far from your breaker box.

 

While a wireless repeater is not always the best solution, it could be a solution here. I setup a WRT54G running DD-WRT as a wireless repeater and it's in the complete opposite end of their house from the main router. That repeater has 2 TVs and an Xbox connected to it and the signal does great.

[G+_Walter Riggs]

I have cable plugged into a ASUS router downstairs, powerline ethernet to the upstairs office, and an old AirPort router set up for AP mode connected to the other end of the powerline Ethernet.  Works like a charm. I use these Powerline adapters: http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PA4010KIT-Powerline-Adapter-Starter/dp/B00AWRUICG/ref=lp_1194444_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412109237&sr=1-1

 

It actually works even though the breakers are on separate circuits.  I don't ask why, I just went with it and the upstairs is well-served with wifi now.

[G+_Travis Hershberger]

Walter Riggs I still don't understand how breakers are supposed to attenuate the signal.  I could see how the ground line could interfere assuming that the power being put out by the adapter ends up going to the ground (literally).

[G+_Ben Reese]

Breaker boxes (at least in the US) have 2 sides serving 110-120V each. When both branches go to 1 outlet you can get 220-240V.

 

If these adapters use the primary lead of the outlet as their antenna then I would expect it to reach any other breaker / outlet on the same branch but not necessarily the outlets connected to the other branch. Perhaps Don Burgess could try his downstairs adapter on a few other outlets (in different rooms perhaps) as a test.