Did someone mention WiFi repeaters?

I don't know why but I never get results searching for stuff with Thunderbird, maybe i've downloaded too much....

Anyway, i've a WiFi repeater (sub 10 quid cheapo from eBay), since using it having no end of bother. It works OK initially but i'll go away for a time, come back, find that there's no internet and the repeater itself needing a hard reset and as often as not the PC will need a reboot too. (I'm being thick here, but if it's set to repeat, should I still be able to log into it via lan using its IP?)

Are more expensive branded ones likely to be better? Or do I need to learn how to use it properly WRT IPs and DNS and such?

Reply to
R D S
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Provided it has got its own unique IP on your lccal subnet, probably defined by your main router, yes. You can probably either use DHCP provided by the router or set it yourself if you know what IP to use.

maybe

Yes, but you can probably set it to leave all that to your router.

Reply to
Roger Hayter

A LOT of cheap repeater shit is utter crap. I have the same issues with a Ethernet over mains link. Its fine for hours then it just stops working.

IMHO best is to get a wireless access point and connect it via Ethernet

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Yes, I did get that with the medion one I used for years, but I had it under an upturned picking bucket with a brick on it half way down by back neighbour's back yard and the temperature there was way outside the specs.

Never needed to do that with mine.

That varys with the design, you usually can't with the cheapest ones.

Yep. And there are full mesh systems which are even better again but much more expensive.

You do have a choice with its SSID You can have it present the same SSID as what its repeating or a different one. The big advantage with the same SSID is that the more intelligent devices like the better smartphones can connect to the strongest signal automatically.

The big advantage with a unique SSID is that its easier to see when its stopped and needs to be restarted, usually by cycling the power.

Reply to
Chang

Apple kit is a lot more tetchy abut which chipsets it will play with.

If it is in its default mode then it should be accessible. It is only when you start to use the more exotic modes that the thing can become inaccessible once configured. I have mine accepting a wired ethernet feed and passing it one whilst creating a new independent Wifi zone.

Basically I have it intercepting the wired feed to the TV.

Mine is a cheap Netgear clone which I think cost £12 from Amazon and has so far been pretty reliable once I got it configured right (despite the Chinglish instructions). They are usually preconfigured with a simple minded wizard to do basic simple repeater function out of the box.

Some Wifi chipsets are definitely more reliable than others.

Reply to
Martin Brown

I have a couple of TP Link repeaters. Not got a problem with them. I do know that after going into standby windows/10 can mess up the WiFi adaptors.

Go to control panel -> "network and sharing Center" -> "change adaptor settings".

Right click on the WiFi adaptor and disable.

Wait till is shows disabled.

Right click on the WiFi adaptor and enable.

If it then connects to the network is windows...

Reply to
David Wade

A lot of the cheapest home networking kit is crap full stop.

^^^^ This.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

It depends if its actually secure or not. I know some are truly awful, since they can be hijacked by somebody elses wifi, having apparently no security. If it has and has been set up you may actually be having different problems, ie so many people using wifi on both bands that the whole thing is unusable due to interference and not enough clear channels. Remember part of the equation is the signal getting back from your device to the master device as well as just boosting the outgoing channel, if the back channel is seen to drop then you cannot use it can you? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

To say nothing of the radio interference the plug-in units cause.

Reply to
Pamela

The very first Wifi I had was insecure by design. That was back in the

2000's. OTOH the house was practically a Faraday cage full of rebar and concrete intended to survive a nearby nuclear blast so getting signal from room to room was hard enough never mind outside.

I think today you would be hard pushed to find anything that didn't support some form of WPA2 PSK support even on cheap and cheerful kit.

That might be true in a block of flats but I have encouraged my neighbours to choose the cleanest channel so that people on the same channel are as widely separated as possible. It was much worse when every piece of BT kit always sat on channel 11 right out of the box.

The 5Ghz band isn't that busy where I live but its limitations on going through thick Victorian walls makes it less than ideal for me.

Reply to
Martin Brown

That's what i'm doing with the repeater, it has a lan port too.

Wireless router downstairs Wireless repeater upstairs connected to a switch serving a couple of printers and a PC.

Reply to
R D S

It's Ubuntu i'm using.

It looks from (this morning's experimenting) like the router, the repeater and the networking on the pc like to be turned off and back on again in a certain order then all will be 'well'.

I'll probably just make a mess and run a cable.

Reply to
R D S

If you have it in that mode then I think you may well find that it no longer responds to it's own base IP address until you do a factory reset. It makes fine tuning the details more than a little tedious.

Keep notes of the setup and double check everything before you press the activate button or you will go round the same loop many times!

Apart from the router being upstairs and the repeater downstairs that is exactly the configuration that I use. Setting it up exactly right was made more difficult by the inconsiderate way the unit went AWOL once it was put into the rebroadcast fixed line ethernet mode.

Reply to
Martin Brown

I used to have this sort of problem (I have a £15 TP-link box that can hear the Plusnet main box wifi and gives me ethernet and wifi out, that goes to a switch and then to printers and PCs in my office). It would manifest as printers going offline, and shared drives on desktop and laptop no longer being visible over the Windows network. I have lost the link, but a post a while ago explained how to change some windows network settings, sort of like making the desktop the "master" and the laptop the "slave", and since then it has all been more reliable (including keeping the printers online better).

Reply to
newshound

I have a laminated sheet on the side of the equipment rack telling me what order I have to power stuff up. There are 11 steps now!

Reply to
Bob Eager

I think TNP (and myself) were suggesting not doing the link between the two wirelessly.

It sounds like you're not using the repeater as an repeater, but as a wireless client connecting to the router's wifi?

In your case I would either put a cable in between the router and switch, or, if that's a real PITA, use a power-over-mains link.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

I just used my old router, after BT supplied their own one for FTB.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I'd completely forgotten about those, Cheers.

Reply to
R D S

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