wireless bridge? [solved]

[Guy]

Ok so I have a question about wireless bridging. I have my xbox + computer downstairs but the wireless doesn't reach there well. Could I have a wireless bridge (1 at the router, 1 downstairs, connected directly to eachother) to make the connection better? Or should I just have a booster which is also a switch downstairs that gets the wireless signal and lets me connect lan cables. what is your suggestion? also, what are your suggestions for products? I've had a look around but I'm not sure what would be best :s

 

Cheers :)

[Laura]

I had a similar situation. I couldn't get signal downstairs so I bought an Apple Express to repeat (although it's not directly connected, as you said you might want) the network. Although I'm sure that there are cheaper options out there. :)

[Sbrideau]

Get those long Ethernet cables, nothing is better than that.

[shawn3090]

Get those long Ethernet cables, nothing is better than that.

Yes. My dad drilled holes in every room and put these in like 10 years ago its amazing.

[indy500fan]

If you lived in the Cincinnati area I would run some ethernet cable for you, for a price...

 

If you have an unfinished basement running a cable to every room in the house isn't that hard, you can buy a box of 1000ft cable for around $40 and then all you need are the jacks/mounts/inserts for each room which totals about $3 per. If you have more than one device that needs a connection in a specific room then buy a cheap switch, or run two cables there, or if you don't care about power over ethernet then you can get get two connections out of one cat5 cable. If you have a finished basement, but not drop ceilings, then it can get pretty complicated, if not impossible to hide it well.

 

But it is always better to connect wired, especially for gaming.

[Doomster]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169923 - read the reviews for these, a lot of info around on using them in wireless repeater / wireless to lan bridge etc. - and SO CHEAP!

 

Ok, so it's single antenna N-150 (some call it N-lite), rather than the full MiMo N-300

[shawn3090]

If you lived in the Cincinnati area I would run some ethernet cable for you, for a price...

 

If you have an unfinished basement running a cable to every room in the house isn't that hard, you can buy a box of 1000ft cable for around $40 and then all you need are the jacks/mounts/inserts for each room which totals about $3 per. If you have more than one device that needs a connection in a specific room then buy a cheap switch, or run two cables there, or if you don't care about power over ethernet then you can get get two connections out of one cat5 cable. If you have a finished basement, but not drop ceilings, then it can get pretty complicated, if not impossible to hide it well.

 

But it is always better to connect wired, especially for gaming.

Lol so my dad did it pretty ghetto with just holes in the walls everywhere.

[Guy]

Drilling holes in the wall to install ethernet cables isn't really an option.. nor is running ethernet cables throughout the house. I know its better to do it wired but it isn't feasible for a variety of reasons. :/

[Skeptical]

My cousin bought a bridge, but he didn't find it boosted the signal all that much.

 

Not sure if that's true of all, but the connection was only a bit faster. Shame you can't run ethernet.

[Laura]

At Best Buy, I saw some wireless ethernet boxes. You plug them into an outlet and they have a single ethernet port. One goes into the router and the second goes wherever you need it. Then you could plug in a splitter and hook up your Xbox & computer into the second one downstairs. I almost bought it but I knew that I wanted wireless downstairs, as my laptop is not stationary. It was more expensive than what I bought, so it must have been $115 or so. Pretty expensive. <_<

[indy500fan]

At Best Buy, I saw some wireless ethernet boxes. You plug them into an outlet and they have a single ethernet port. One goes into the router and the second goes wherever you need it. Then you could plug in a splitter and hook up your Xbox & computer into the second one downstairs. I almost bought it but I knew that I wanted wireless downstairs, as my laptop is not stationary. It was more expensive than what I bought, so it must have been $115 or so. Pretty expensive. <_<

 

Are you sure they were wireless and not powerline ethernet adapters? Generally the wireless network extenders don't have an ethernet port on them (Some do exist, didn't think Best Buy sold them though). Around $115 is the normal cost for the dlink powerline adapters, which transfer data over the power lines in your house. We use them sometimes for IPTV installs since you can't get enough speed/quality out of wireless. The dlinks aren't quite good enough though, we buy comtrend brand which are around $200 for the pair.

[Laura]

At Best Buy, I saw some wireless ethernet boxes. You plug them into an outlet and they have a single ethernet port. One goes into the router and the second goes wherever you need it. Then you could plug in a splitter and hook up your Xbox & computer into the second one downstairs. I almost bought it but I knew that I wanted wireless downstairs, as my laptop is not stationary. It was more expensive than what I bought, so it must have been $115 or so. Pretty expensive. <_<

 

Are you sure they were wireless and not powerline ethernet adapters? Generally the wireless network extenders don't have an ethernet port on them (Some do exist, didn't think Best Buy sold them though). Around $115 is the normal cost for the dlink powerline adapters, which transfer data over the power lines in your house. We use them sometimes for IPTV installs since you can't get enough speed/quality out of wireless. The dlinks aren't quite good enough though, we buy comtrend brand which are around $200 for the pair.

Ooo, perhaps that was it. Yeah, because they looked similar to these. I wasn't even aware that it was possible to do that. Thank you for the information. :D

[indy500fan]

Ooo, perhaps that was it. Yeah, because they looked similar to these. I wasn't even aware that it was possible to do that. Thank you for the information. :D

 

They are awesome the 50% of the time that they work. There can be a problem with GFIs that prevent them from working at all in some houses, then randomly in others, then sometimes great everywhere except the one place you need them, but there are times when they work well completely and save a ton of time on an install. So I'd be wary of buying them, unless the store has a good return policy.

[Guy]

Can't use powerline connecters where I am :s

Had a pair that I used in my old house but the circuitry in this house splits between upstairs & ground floor, which is not useful seeing as the router is upstairs and my stuff is downstairs.

Any other suggestions?

[indy500fan]

Can't use powerline connecters where I am :s

Had a pair that I used in my old house but the circuitry in this house splits between upstairs & ground floor, which is not useful seeing as the router is upstairs and my stuff is downstairs.

Any other suggestions?

 

Do you have an extra coax cable hookup anywhere near both spots? You could get a media converter (RF to ethernet). We've used those occasionally and they work fairly well.

[Guy]

Can't use powerline connecters where I am :s

Had a pair that I used in my old house but the circuitry in this house splits between upstairs & ground floor, which is not useful seeing as the router is upstairs and my stuff is downstairs.

Any other suggestions?

 

Do you have an extra coax cable hookup anywhere near both spots? You could get a media converter (RF to ethernet). We've used those occasionally and they work fairly well.

I don't think so.. I'm not entirely sure what a coaxial cable is. Please clarify?

There's an active phone line, but I think I'm correct in saying that you can't use broadband from the phone line in more than 2 places (ie. using the phone line downstairs for broadband as well as upstairs for the router)

[indy500fan]

There's an active phone line, but I think I'm correct in saying that you can't use broadband from the phone line in more than 2 places (ie. using the phone line downstairs for broadband as well as upstairs for the router)

 

Coax would be what your cable TV would come through. If you have satellite they also use coax lines.

 

There is a possibility that you could use existing phone lines to get service from one part of the house to another, but it is a very small possibility. You can only have one modem hooked up at a time on any given circuit. All phone circuits use one pair, which is two wires. Ethernet only needs two pair (4 wires), but is supposed to have 4 pair (8 wires). If your house is a little older most likely the cable running through your wall is the normal red/green/yellow/black which is two pair, and there is nothing you can do since you will need three pair. However if your house has cat3 or cat5 (4 pair) run to the phone jacks you can rig up something that would work (but there would be a decent amount of interference, probably won't work well). Basically at the phone jacks upstairs and downstairs you would separate the cable into two jacks, one with one pair going to it (most likely the blue/whiteblue) which is what was originally hooked up to the jack for phone, then on the other jack you would put two pair (probably green/whitegreen and orange/whiteorange) in the 1,2,3,6 pin slots. Then you have to find how the phone cable is run in your house, most likely it is going to one spot somewhere next to your fuse box. All the cables from the phone jacks should be going to this spot, then you just need to find out which two cables are coming from the two jacks you are dealing with (this part will suck if you don't have a toner, you will have to take them off one by one and check to see if you still have a dial tone on that jack). Once you find which two cables, you just scotch lock the green to green, whitegreen to whitegreen, orange to orange, and whiteorange to whiteorange. The blue/whiteblue will all ready be connected in some manner.

 

That will not work well, but it will work somewhat. If all your phone cable isn't going to one place in the house then you will have to go jack by jack and scotch lock the two pair for ethernet together, and then it might work. More likely the attenuation will be too high and it won't.

[MageUK]

If you have a spare router knocking about then you should be able to flash it with some custom firmware like DD-WRT and use it as a wireless repeater.

[Guy]

Thanks all. I will have a look into using my old router as a repeater, cheers Peter.

@indy500fan, I'll have a look into that and see if its possible, thanks :)

[indy500fan]

Thanks all. I will have a look into using my old router as a repeater, cheers Peter.

@indy500fan, I'll have a look into that and see if its possible, thanks :)

 

The more I think about it the more I think the interference will be too much. If you do it though let me know if it works :smile: .