mhutaff's profile

Teacher

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9 Messages

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 8:27 PM

Extending Wifi Range to back of property

Hi,

 

I have my Residential Gateway set up at the absolute front of my house. It's connected to my television/receiver in my living room, and the existing (DirecTV) cabling running through my house connects the television/receiver in the back of the house. I have no problem with the connection with either television, and the wifi in the front of the house is strong enough to support my laptop and desktop with great access.

 

In the back of the house, however, wifi is spotty, especially for mobile devices. I was wondering if there was a solution I could install off my television receiver in the back of the house that would boost the wifi signal enough to give good reception there and also in our garage, which is about 10 feet away. Would like to put a wireless UVerse box out there if possible. 🙂

 

Am perfectly willing to purchase a router or other similar hardware if I can install it with relative ease at the back of the house. Any help or suggestions on this hardware would be most appreciated.

 

Thanks!

New Member

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25.7K Messages

11 years ago

Use one, two, three or more of these.  If you have a ton of money put one in each room!!  You will have coverage for sure then although it wouldn't be necessary.  This would be to extend your wireless for regular devices such as computers, smart phones, or anything else on your wireless network.  If you want a wireless STB in your garage the access point that comes with it will be plenty strong enough to run the wireless STB in your garage with an 1100 sq ft home.  Don't try to judge your current wireless strength to determine if you can get a wireless STB to work.  That box uses totally different wireless signaling to transmit and receive wirelessly.

 

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New Member

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25.7K Messages

11 years ago

Just thought of something else and my edit time ran out, but my neighbor has a wireless STB and his access point is about 75 ft. from my RG inside his house of course.  Using inSSIDer I can see his signal good and strong inside my house.  That of course is going thru all of the walls in his house and all of the walls in my house.  You should be fine with what you are trying to do. 

New Member

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25.7K Messages

11 years ago

Remember, the lower the -dbm is, the better the signal. The higher in -dbm, the worst the signal.

Teacher

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9 Messages

11 years ago

Will try the Netgear box - thanks!

Expert

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9.4K Messages

11 years ago


@gregzoll_1 wrote:
Remember, the lower the -dbm is, the better the signal. The higher in -dbm, the worst the signal.

 

Just to clarify, the signal strengths of wireless devices are measured in dBm, which is the signal strength referenced to 1 mW.  Thus, a 1 mW signal is 0 dBm.  A 10x lower signal of 0.1 mW would show as -10 dBm.  A signal 10x lower than that would be 0.01 mW, or -20 dBm.

 

Greg is correct that the magnitude (number only) portion of the reading goes down as the strength gets higher.  e.g. a -20 dBm signal is stronger than a -30 dBm signal.  However, since these numbers are negative, the actual value follows standard mathematics, e.g.

 

-30 < -20, so the -30 signal is less than (and lower strength than) the -20 signal.

 

Teacher

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9 Messages

11 years ago

How do I apply this knowledge to the situation? Is there a setup on the Netgear box that lets me choose dbm?

Expert

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9.4K Messages

11 years ago

No, you don't set a signal strength, but you can measure it to get a good idea of how well your computers can receive the signal.

There is a program for PCs called inSSIDer that will graph the signal strength over time for you. You can install it on a laptop, and walk with that laptop into your backyard and see your signal strength. You can then compare what the signal strength is with the various solutions presented in this thread and determine which might work the best.

A "good/excellent" wireless signal will have a signal strength of -50 dBm or higher (remember, that means that the number is lower than 50, e.g. -45 or -40, etc.)

The lower limit for usable wireless communication on most computers is about -80 or -85.

Teacher

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9 Messages

11 years ago

Ah, very cool. I'll install on my wife's laptop tonight and give it a try!

Expert

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9.4K Messages

11 years ago

Be aware that this will work as long as that STB is turned off. If you turn that STB on and tune to a channel, the multicast traffic will likely overwhelm the router and you won't get any connectivity.

The only way around this would be to run another Ethernet cable from the N600 back to the RG.

Contributor

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1 Message

11 years ago

The eithernet port on the back of the STB is only to be used when feeding the STB on eithernet. If you plug anything it to that port and you have the STB on, it will affect your your video service and may also affect the video service to your other tv's. You could have the RG moved to a more central part of your home, but you would need a phone & cable jack at that location. You could also run cat5 from the RG to a room that is close to the garage and place the WAP there.

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