Usually Wi-Fi signal can reach as far as 100m radius of the router, which is even lower in indoor conditions in which signal gets weaker and weaker as it passes through wall/s which also means low bandwidth hence you cannot access the internet at its full.
If you have your old WiFi router lying around you can put it to work as access point by following this article.
I've been using following trick at my home since last 3 years, in which I have used more than 4 WiFi routers (using WiFi as access point).
Prelude :
WiFi is a technology for wireless local area networking with devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards - since WiFi works on radio waves to transfer the data from one point to another it does not require any physical connection; which is really cool.
The Problem :
If you live or work at area where you have multi-story building or home while you only have 1 WiFi router at home which is connected to your internet connection.Regular use routers comes with area coverage from 100 meters in regular WiFi routers ranging under 2000/- INR - while using them in home or office place where range becomes weaker at some part of the room where you require the most or to extend the WiFi in another room to maintain the high bandwidth and high signal strength here is what you can do.
Fact :
You can use as many WiFi routers in your network as you wish - there is not such limit.How? basically only first router (connected to internet) talks to the internet while other routers just acts as a access points in the network, these extra routers acting as access point are connected to main WiFi router via CAT5/CAT6 cable or WDS bridge (Wireless Bridge).
Method 1 (wired):
This method is quite complicated but it delivers higher bandwidth and seamless connectivity with advance features, & most importantly cheaper.
Requirements :
- WiFi routers (1 Main + WiFI router/s) - Linksys Wi-Fi E1200 Wireless-N Router , TP-Link TL-WR841HP High-Power Wireless-N Router , TP-Link TL-WR841N 300Mbps Wireless-N Router
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- Cat5 cable - depending upon distance.
- Laptop with WiFi or LAN port
Preparation :
Understand your environment - do a research where you are having low signal. If your house already has the RJ45 jacks with CAT5/6 cable running in each room or the place you wish to place your 2nd router.
Extending network :
Using your existing wifi router (manufacturer does not matter) as a main internet gateway set at 192.168.1.1 and new wifi router as access point. I have been using 3 TP-Link TL-WR841N 300Mbps Wireless-N Router as a access point at my home but as long as you are planning to use wire to connect it you can technically use any WiFi router and make it access point.
Configuration :
- LAN to WAN : Connect the RJ45 to LAN port of MAIN router & another router's WAN port, you can use this for more routers and router will automatically become the access point.
- Do set : NAME of wifi and PASSWORD as per desired name.
- In this method you can set the Same NAME of access point while channel of 1st router and access point should be different but name & password can be same, this enables to automatically connect to highest signal wifi in your network while you transit through different rooms and you don't need to switch the network manually everytime.
Advance setup :
- LAN to LAN Port connection can also be done while extending the network for those who are looking to manage the entire network centrally can do this setting.
- You need to turn OFF the DHCP Server of all the extending router devices while only main (1st Wifi router) will have its DHCP server hence every time any device tries to connect to network will get IP address from main router.
Email : me@devendra.one
