Budget ADSL router with decent range?

I'm trying to help out a retired couple locally who are having problems with their wireless signal in their bungalow. They have the ISP (TalkTalk) provided Huawei 802.11g box which basically can cover about 50% of their house on a good day.

They don't do much aside from web browsing and email, so it doesn't need blistering throughput but it does need to have a good range. If money were no object I'd drop in a Draytek but realistically we're looking at <£50-£60.

Anyone know of any budget gems?

Thanks,
Jason.

The Huawei is not that bad in range terms.

I would suggest a wireless repeater unit, particularly as this also means the adsl modem remains exactly as supplied, i.e. making support calls simpler in the future.

Outside Budget but was great
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/74-as...

In budget but never used it so no idea on how good £23
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007SU0BJU/

Same manufacturer so fingers crossed work well, and the plug form looks nice and tidy

Already spent several hours banging my head against a brick wall trying to extend their wireless this way. Unfortunately the Huawei in question is a very poor Echolife 521 (v1) which doesn't support WDS. Most of the references to this in the TalkTalk forums are in a thread called 'Wireless Hell' which I think says it all for this router

Jason.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The Huawei is not that bad in range terms.

I would suggest a wireless repeater unit, particularly as this also means the adsl modem remains exactly as supplied, i.e. making support calls simpler in the future.

Outside Budget but was great
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/74-as...

In budget but never used it so no idea on how good £23
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007SU0BJU/

Same manufacturer so fingers crossed work well, and the plug form looks nice and tidy

The EA-N66 did not use WDS repeater mode (am sure on that one) and that Huawei repeater appears not to.

So have you tried WDS only units, or the ones like this.

If so, then I'd suggest a wireless access point that is hung off an ethernet cable from the Echolife and just position it to give better coverage.

if the problem is signal attenuation then you need a directional antenna to send more of the power in the direction of the intended target. 802.11g goes as far as 11b or 11n if we're talking about ultimate signal range.

Can you do something with the receiving end - what is it ?

In reply to a post by jarthurs:

I'm trying to help out a retired couple locally who are having problems with their wireless signal in their bungalow. They have the ISP (TalkTalk) provided Huawei 802.11g box which basically can cover about 50% of their house on a good day.

They don't do much aside from web browsing and email, so it doesn't need blistering throughput but it does need to have a good range. If money were no object I'd drop in a Draytek but realistically we're looking at <£50-£60.

Anyone know of any budget gems?

Thanks,
Jason.

I would steer clear of wireless repeaters they tend to reduce the network speed. Go for the Devolo dLAN® 200 AV Wireless N Starter Kit to extend the wireless network.

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/Reviews.asp?Pro...

Watch the videos http://www.devolo.com/consumer/77_dlan-200-av-wirele...

http://www.devolo.com/consumer/dlan-mains-supply-net...


If you have a spare wireless router configure it as the wireless access point and connect it to the Devolo starter kit. Real easy!

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?...

http://www.devolo.com/consumer/72_dlan-200-avmini_st...

Don't bother with WDS, instead get a cheap TPlink or flash an old router with DDWRT and set it up in wifi repeater mode

http://www.tp-link.com/en/article/?faqid=442

http://lifehacker.com/5563196/turn-your-old-router-i...

Don't even think about repeaters.

Go on ebay and find a new (BT) 2wire 2700 hub. They can be found new for £5-10.

Install an Rj45 socket near to the current hub and another in the area lacking coverage and link te two with Cat5e cable. Connect the existing hub and 2700 giving the 2700 a fixed IP and turn off its DHCP and there you have it. Done and installed for £20 or so.