{"id":6172,"date":"2014-06-09T00:01:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T07:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=6172"},"modified":"2014-06-07T21:37:44","modified_gmt":"2014-06-08T04:37:44","slug":"wi-fi-all-over-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=6172","title":{"rendered":"Wi-Fi All Over the House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people set up a home network that includes a Wi-Fi base station. Smart move: Given today’s portable gizmos, it makes sense for them all to gang up on the local network and eschew those mobile data surcharges.<\/p>\n

When the Wi-Fi network doesn’t reach everywhere in the house, extend it with a Wi-Fi extender.
\n
\nFirst things first: Always ensure that you’re network is using the latest, bestest Wi-Fi technology. I just replaced my old router about a year ago, and after the initial ordeal<\/a>, it’s been working fantastically.<\/p>\n

The latest router technology uses the 802.11a\/b\/g\/n standard. If your Wi-Fi hub doesn’t support that standard, or if it’s at least 3 years old, consider an upgrade. Yes, a new router costs more money, but it’s worth it over the frustration you’ll save.<\/p>\n

After you get the router setup, you’ll notice that it may not reach every room in the house.<\/p>\n

True: The range on a Wi-Fi signal is up to 300 feet. I’m sure that’s in a vacuum with no visible obstacles in any direction. In the real world, the 300 foot limit is hampered by everyday objects, such as walls.<\/p>\n

For example, I can stand in my bedroom doorway and get a Wi-Fi signal on my phone, but if I move away from the (open) door, the signal vanishes.<\/p>\n

To solve the problem, I bought a Wi-Fi extender.<\/p>\n

The extender is like another Wi-Fi hub, but it’s merely designed to repeat the signal, not generate a new one. In fact, you could use an old Wi-Fi router as a repeater, but I strongly recommend getting something customized for the job.<\/p>\n

Because I’m using Apple’s AirPort Extreme as my Wi-Fi hub (and it doesn’t mind the PCs or Androids), I purchased Apple’s AirPort Express as my extender.<\/p>\n

The extender is easy to set up: Plug it into a wall socket, as shown in Figure 1.<\/p>\n

\"Figure

Figure 1. My Apple AirPort Express, used as a Wi-Fi extender.<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s best to find a location where the base station can still broadcast. The location shown in Figure 1 is only about 30 feet from the base station (the AirPort Extreme), but the signal drops because of walls and kitchen appliances.<\/p>\n

After you plug in the extender — and it requires no additional cables — you need to use your Wi-Fi router’s configuration screen to extend the network: Set up the extender’s password and such, then use the router utility or its webpage to extend the network.<\/p>\n

In Figure 2 you see the AirPort Utility, which I’ve configured to extend my network, Imperial Wambooli, to the AirPort Express.<\/p>\n

\"Figure

Figure 2. The Wi-Fi network, extended by using the AirPort Express.<\/p><\/div>\n

With the extender in place, the signal in my house is boosted and covers the entire floor plan. As I have a rancher-style house, and the base station in the office is at one end, the extension ensures that the Wi-Fi signal goes everywhere — even though the bedroom door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why suffer with a poor Wi-Fi signal: Extend the network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,17],"class_list":["post-6172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-pc","tag-troubleshooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6172"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6186,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172\/revisions\/6186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}