OT: WiFi ranger extender

[sjbraun]

My wifi gets spotty in the furthest reaches of our home. Any recommendations for a range extender? Are the ones that plug into an outlet worth getting?

[1centaur]

Go straight to Amazon and read reviews carefully - some pretty decent tech heads post reviews and you get a much better sample size than you do here.

I did that and was very happy with the range extenders I bought. Set and forget.

[unterhausen]

I just hooked up another wireless router and let it do its thing without worrying about trying to extend the current router's range. Since I had it, it was the cheapest option. I'm sure I'm losing a little speed, but it's not noticable.

[bikeridah]

Check out the Almond.

[Don49]

Apple Airport Express

[shovelhd]

Get a better router.

[buldogge]

Airport Express...or just grab the $29 one from MonoPrice.

-Mark in St. Louis

[jlwdm]

Linksys 300 Wireless extender.

Edit: Make that the RE3000W.

My audio/video guys came out from AZ the end of June to redo my home theater and my audio/video in my current house. They used to recommend the Apple Airport Express, but installed two of the Lynksys for me and they are great. These are people I totally trust on electronics.

Jeff

[gasman]

If you have an AirPort Extreme the Airport Express plugs in and works seamlessly.
Check out Amazon reviews also. I recently bought a new modem since I didn't want to use the new Comcast modem that has an open channel for anyone to use as a hot spot (per my comp sci major son)

[yngpunk]

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-WIFI-Antenna-Reception-Booster/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-and-easy-WIFI-antenna-signal-booster-that-is/

[oldpotatoe]

Apple Airport Express

Plus one for sure...upstairs, downstairs, even in my garage workshop thru 2 walls.

[tumbler]

Get a better router.

+1. My previous router (802.11n) was all but useless in my new home, likely due to the faraday cage (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126221116097210861) issues that plague many older homes here. It could barely reach the adjacent room and was completely useless beyond that. Before adding additional devices to my network, which would probably be hobbled from the beginning by my already weak router, I upgraded to a newer 802.11ac router (this one (http://www.cnet.com/products/netgear-nighthawk-ac1900-smart-wi-fi-router-r7000/)) and bam, problem solved. This thing blasts a signal like nobody's business and covers my apartment and probably a few adjacent apartments with a strong signal. I'm able to stream 4k video on the other end of the house without issues. If you have an older router, you may want to try upgrading before you bother with range extenders, which are also likely to slow the connection along the way.

[jlwdm]

+1. My previous router (802.11n) was all but useless in my new home, likely due to the faraday cage (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126221116097210861) issues that plague many older homes here. It could barely reach the adjacent room and was completely useless beyond that. Before adding additional devices to my network, which would probably be hobbled from the beginning by my already weak router, I upgraded to a newer 802.11ac router (this one (http://www.cnet.com/products/netgear-nighthawk-ac1900-smart-wi-fi-router-r7000/)) and bam, problem solved. This thing blasts a signal like nobody's business and covers my apartment and probably a few adjacent apartments with a strong signal. I'm able to stream 4k video on the other end of the house without issues. If you have an older router, you may want to try upgrading before you bother with range extenders, which are also likely to slow the connection along the way.

Even good routers do not cover very large houses.

Jeff

[jamesutiopia]

Not inexpensive, but Ruckus APs ($599 each) made all my wireless problems go away and support "mesh" (wireless uplink) mode, though I have never used it (we have wires to each AP).

Upgrading the home wifi situation was some of the most satisfying $ I've spend on tech in recent years...