Extend the range of WiFi signals with Hardware
If your router is placed on the ground floor of your home, the Wi-Fi
signals will be very weak or may not even reach the basement computer or
the printer upstairs. The situation will be no different if you work in a fairly large premises or if there are too many walls in the area.
In that case, here are some hardware device that you can consider to extend the reach of your Wi-Fi network:
Option #1. You can attach a WiFi Repeater
(also known as Wireless Range Expander) to your router and quickly
expand the coverage of your wireless network without using any cables.
The Repeater should be placed within the range of your existing
router and it will reflect the signals to other areas where the wireless
reception was earlier poor (or totally absent). The Repeater can
connect wirelessly to both routers and access points (see #3 below).
Option #2. (This is my current setup) You can get
another wireless router and connect it to your existing router using an
Ethernet cable. The advantage is that this setup comes pretty cheap and
the Internet speed stays almost the same even for computers that are
accessing the web via the new router.
You can get a 100 feet long Ethernet Cable (also known as Cat5 or LAN or RJ45 cable) for less than $10 and wireless routers start at $20. Here's a detailed guide on how you can connect two routers together.
Option #3. You also have the option to use an Access Point
instead of a router to extend the WiFi range but that's often not
required because Wireless Access Points can be more expensive than
equivalent routers.
The other advantage with a router is that is has extra LAN ports so,
in future, you can connect more wired computers for sharing files or you
Internet connection.
Option #4. If you have an old desktop or laptop computer, you should consider adding an external (USB based) wireless adapter or upgrade the internal network card to improve the wireless reception (and thus Internet speed).
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