Where should I put my broadband box?

[kwaker5]

We've just moved to a bigger house and I can't get wi-fi reception everywhere. Should my box be on a higher floor or do I need to get 2 to cover the house better? If I get another one, do I just plug it into a phone socket or do I need a filter thing.

I'm with BT, so if I just get a second box from them, should I just be able to plug it in and go?

The broadband box "should" be plugged into your main phone socket, that is the primary point from which other extensions might run.

You can try plugging it into an extension but you might not get the speed that you should, it depends on how good that extension is. I've worked off extensions before without problems, but they can be tricky.

"If I get another one, do I just plug it into a phone socket or do I need a filter thing."

Do you mean that you're thinking of getting a 2nd broadband box and plugging it in as well as your current one thinking that that will extend the wireless coverage.

If so that's not the way to go.

You can only plug one broadband box onto your phone line at any point in time. That box is the link between you and the internet and you only want one of those.

The first thing to do is to try and site your broadband box better. Having it buried away behind cabinets isn't a good thing, trying to have it fairly open can help. If you've got two aerials on it then I know some people who swear by standing one straight up and the other at 90 degrees to it.

In an ideal would you'd try and run a cable from the main box to your computer. Cables are pretty cheap, but fitting them can be tricky and/or unsightly.

One option would be a wireless repeater. You'd place this roughly halfway between your current box and where you want your machine to be. In effect it listens to the WIFI from the main box and then shouts it out again so that it can be "heard" from further afield.

You can get information on those here:
www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopSearch.asp?CategoryID=259

A final option might be "ethernet over powerline" or what is known as HomePlug. In short that turns your home power cables into network cables. You plug a gadget into a powersocket near your broadband box, another one next to your PC and then connect that gadget to your PC.

You could even conncect that second gadget to another wireless router and have an entirely new wireless network upstairs.

There's more information here:
www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/default_ShopGroup.asp?ShopGroupID=61

There are many ways to deal with this so don't worry about coming back to ask more questions.

As BP says, a second ADSL router is not the ideal way to go (only one can 'talk' to the exchange, plug in two and most likely neither will work properly).

I wouldn't worry about where in the house you plug in - lots of houses have the 'master socket' in a position that's far from ideal (sometimes in the hall, for example, or not near a power point). If you do have some other room and it gives you enough signal for wi-fi to serve the whole house (or the laptops in areas where they are most likely to be used) then that's great. You may then need to use a cable or data-over-mains to get your main PC connected to the router.

In my case there's about 19,000 feet of wire to the exchange so an extra 30 feet inside the house is not something I worry about (*). However you do need to be sure every phone socket has an ADSL filter so that noises from the router don't interfere with voice calls.

I've used Solwise for ADSL filters, and other equipment, and recommend clients take a look at their website before deciding on wi-fi. They have data-over-mains adaptors, but I have to point out I once saw new Solwise 'starter kits' (a pair of adaptors at a lower price than buying two individually) cheaper on Amazon (bit of a shock).

Use any search engine and look for HomePlug and you should see a number of results - I just found a twin pack for 33.50 at www.faculty-x.net - there are a number of firms making them now, most popular for PC use will be the 85 Mbps units. (200 Mbps are aimed at audio and video signals - eg to allow satellite TV to go to another part of the house.)

(*) based on near 7 years of use of an extension cable and getting 7 Mbps 'despite' the extension, at my old home.

Thanks for those replies - very helpful.

I've just had a look round and I think the main phoneline into the house is actually in the hallway but not next to a power socket (how helpful!). I've got all the phone stuff plugged into the living room extension. Do you know why sometimes it seems to work OK in another room then other times will not pick up? Does the signal fluctuate at all?

Sounds as though I may need one of the wireless repeaters or HomePlug that you mentioned then just to make the signal travel a bit further (and not another box!). Which one works best?

Do you know whether either of these will interfere with a Magic Eye? I think the Sky TV installer mentioned putting one of those in so we can control the receiver in the living room while watching in another room.

The signal might be being interfered with by all sorts of other things that are going on. I think I've discovered that my hair dryer breaks mine if it's used sufficiently close to the machine.

It might also be a neighbour on a similar WIFI channel that could be causing trouble. If you know how try switching the channel you use, you should be able to do this using the admin software/web page for your BT device.

Do try plugging the box into a phone extension, WebDude seems to have had the same experience as I've had in that plugging it into an extension socket seems to work fine.

I've heard good things about those HomePlug gadgets but I've never actually used one myself....

I "think" the Sky Magic Eye thing works by being plugged into the "aerial" cable that you connect the Sky Box to the remote TV with so it shouldn't be affected by any of this at all.

"Do you know why sometimes it seems to work OK in another room then other times will not pick up? Does the signal fluctuate at all?"

There are lots of possible causes for signal strength variability. It's quite possible that things like full-length mirrors (silver or aluminium coated backs) and even plasterboard (with a metal reflective backing) can cause changes to wi-fi signals (in one property a device [Sonos music system] was fine after it was moved away from the mirror which had probably been screening it from another Sonos box further along the house).

At the frequencies involved, moving a laptop an inch or two can make a difference - if you imagine the wi-fi signals like the ripples on a pond, then you know that if there's an object already in the pond, reflections off that object mean the resulting waves can be 'boosted' or cancelled out. In a house many obstacles can have an effect on the signal strengths, so there's no really easy answer.

Added to that, we in the UK perhaps have more (solid) internal walls than in some places and whatever they do for the USA (where homes are larger, generally, but perhaps have fewer thick dividing walls and maybe just a couple of floors) seems not to work as well over here.

Without knowing the layout of your home, or where there will be laptops (which are currently unable to access your router) it's a bit difficult to know what would be best.

You'd only really need to use the data-over-mains units if you choose (for example) to put the BT router upstairs (where laptops might be in use) to link with a PC in another part of the house (eg lounge or dining room/ etc) on another floor.

We're only mentioning the data-over-mains as a last resort or if you find that you have to move the router to somewhere really awkward for some existing PC.