Wireless Access Points (?) for home network?

[CarpeJugulum]

DH is in IT. He tells me things, and I ask him to simplify it, but it's still Greek to me!

Anyway, we have a router upstairs.

Due to the design of the house, if the router is set up for me to use my iPhone with wi-fi (no 3G signal in the living room) I still don't get a signal in the living room.

To rectify this, he put in a box in the living room which is (I'm guessing!) a wireless access point. And everything works beautifully except for router crashes, but that's another conversation!

But, it's a nightmare of cables down there, and the signal is crap in the garden.

My question is therefore, before I suggest moving the WAP, what does it need? Is it just a phone line and a power supply? (Because if so, it could be shifted into the hall, and then we might be able to use laptops in the garden).

It depends what sort of access point it is. Is it a powerline one? By that I mean does it have a plug fitting? Can you see the manufacturer's name on the device? Is there a model number?

Yep, it's a powered Safecom SWSAPUR-5400. So I know it's powered! Yay!

Oddly enough, I've been thinking of starting a similar thread.

I've been told by an IT/electrical expert that you can buy things called Devolo Plugs.

You can leave your router where it is.

One Devolo Plug, plugs into your router and a normal power socket.

Another Devolo Plug, plugs into your computer/laptop and another normal power socket.

Apparently you can have as many of these throughout the house as you need. The Devolo 'system' boosts the broadband through the power supply, so you don't need to worry about hard-wiring each computer/laptop/TV to the router, or having to move the router so the wi-fi works OK.

This is something that will only 'come to pass' Chez Rapace over the next few months (moving stuff around, but haven't finished), so I'd be really interested to hear if anyone currently uses the Devolo system - and whether they think it works OK?

And, yes, this might be a solution to you also CarpeJugulum.

OK. That tells me that it is not what I thought it was. I think that it isn't a booster for the signal, but is for data storage or for connecting to a printer to turn the printer in to a wireless device.

Take a look at the number of cables coming out of the back of the unit. It'll have one for power. Are there any others, and what do they connect to?

If you're looking for something to deliver a better wireless signal around the house and in to the garden then one of the solutions which is popular for delivering wireless signals in houses which (for whatever reason) aren't great for wireless is a system which sends the broadband through your house's mains electrics.

Here's an example. You have two boxes. The first box plugs in to the plug socket and has a cable which links it to your broadband router. The second box can be stuck in any plug socket in the house, and it acts as a wireless access point.

You can have as many of these boxes as you want, depending upon the size of the house and the layout. I have a client who has converted an L-shaped stable block to a house. The router is at the tip of the long part of the L, and he has two wireless access points, one at the corner and one at the end of the short part of the L which also covers his garden and summer house.

OlaRapaceFru

How funny that I was just writing about that very device!

I use it with a number of clients. Some just have large houses. Others have, like the house I described, problems with layout. Others are small houses but are made from the local stone, which is a bugger for radio waves.

The earliest iteration was a bit uneven. The latest is very new but seems OK. The 200 series is excellent. I've never had a complaint from a customer about them.

I've also used Netgear's devices with one client and they were as good as the Devolo.

Thank you for your further explanation flatpack, I really appreciate it.

Like the OP, I'm not really IT literate at all . And my DP knows nothing (apparently I'm the expert in this house - yeah, right!)

But this is an issue which is raising its head at the moment, so I'm really interested to see how it could work out - in the easiest way for us.

We don't have a large house (ha, ha, if only), but it's a very solidly built Victorian property which is quite 'long' - for want of a better expression.

The router will probably remain in the sitting room at the front, but my (the main) computer will eventually be relocated to the very rear of the house. (DP's laptop could be anywhere really).

I may well return to pick your brains in due course. Many thanks!

This one is apparently plugged into the power and has a (nicely labelled!) sticker on a cable (blue?) saying cat-4?

So I'm guessing I can't move it as I know where the cat-4 is in the house and it doesn't hit the socket and phone socket I'd want to move it to.

DH has been on the phone, I've been bemoaning lack of wifi in the garden, and he has said to turn the wifi on on the router itself as its on an exterior wall - I did give him a blank silence and he's said he'll sort it tonight.

Which is a level of technical I can cope with! (but I do now wonder about how complicated my house really is!)

Thanks for the help folks!

Ok, the first issue is that the router is upstairs. Meaning you will get a pretty bad signal downstairs.

I've no idea what the Safecom device is like. I've only ever come across one device which was Safecom, it was a router and it was an utter utter nightmare. There's not much information online about the one you have but it doesn't look like a wireless extender although it may have those features.

What I'd recommend you get are the following:

Netgear Powerline Wifi Extender

Basically you plug the main bit upstairs and connect it to your router using a cable (usually supplied). Configure it (Your DH should be able to do this) then the range extender part you just plug in as near to the garden as possible.

If you have big thick external walls then any wifi will struggle but at least with this device what you can do is throw an extension cable out into the garden and plug it into there. It's like a portable booster then!