Router, Homeplug and WiFi advice please

Hello,

Please can somebody offer some advice on this.

I'm having dreadful issues with my internet and wifi. the house is spread over a large footprint (not big, but has a large footprint), is very old and has very thick walls. I'm in an area that is classed as Market 1 by BT (only BT kit in the exchange). Also, we only have ADSL Max available. I doubt we'll see ADSL2, but you never know . What I've decoded to do is to look at:

Replacing the existing router with a good quality one, preferably one that offers excellent wireless (next gen?). I also need 3 wireless access points throughout the house to cover all my dead spots. I was thinking on some kind of homeplug type arrangement as I can't get under the floor, or into the attic to run cabling. So, what I'm looking for is a new good quality router with good modern wifi. A homeplug kit that will take an input near the router and then three wireless access points to go into my mains wiring to cover the whole house. I'd like for the wifi to be seamless, ie as I moved into a stronger signal area the wifi would automatically change to that one (does that mean the same SSID?). This is what I'd like to do Does that sound like something that's feasible?

Please can you make some recommendations. I'm looking for good quality kit too please if you could.

I'd be very grateful for any help you can offer.

Thank you very much for your time in advance

What are your current router stats? It is possible that you are going as fast as you can ADSL wise. So solution may actually be not change the ADSL router, but add wireless access points configured with the same SSID and encryption keys.

In terms of Home Plugs take a peek at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/70-de...

If you are sure that ADSL only type speeds will be available for some years then the AV200 which will be cheaper should be sufficient, otherwise usually recommend AV500 to allow for better LAN and faster broadband in the future.

This Devolo dLAN 500 Wi-Fi Network Kit is interesting as essentially two wireless access points and a 500 plug you can place near ADSL router.

Not used that set, but believe you can add extra single WiFi units (seem to be £50 each).

By using an access point in the plug you avoid yet another box in a room.

If on a budget there are some cheap 200 units currently £30 a pair and this TP link access point/bridge £15 is another method.

One advantage to standalone access points is the Ethernet cable lets you place it where ever you like and at £15 you could spread them around where ever there is a dead spot.

The additional question is are the homeplugs only needed to allow devices Internet access or is there any requirement for internal connections (network storage, transferring files between PCs, etc). If there is an internal network requirement then the faster homeplugs may well be worthwhile.

As the other have said Homeplug with a WIFI link. I use this in my house and it works very well. Use the link from MrS, that's the sort of thing your need. I have 1 of these Wifi devices to run the other end of the house linked to the normal unit shown in the picture. Not looked back yet.

Thank you everyone for your kind help.

I've now bought 2 packs of these

My plan is to use one cabled plug to feed into the mains and use three or four of the wireless plugs to broadcast a strong wifi signal where its needed.

To ensure 'seamless' transition between access points (or plugs) do I just need to use the same SSID and passphrase? This would be the same passphrase as the router? Do I need to worry about channels at all? There isn't going to be anyone else near with WiFi, the nearest house is about 500 m away.

Thank you all for your kind help

If you want to switch between the router and the devolo's seamlessly then yes same SSID and security settings on all devices.

Thank you MrS, much appreciated. Do I need to do anything with the channels too? Do I leave them on Auto, or set to channel 1 for everything?

Auto should be fine, the joy is juggling the plugs location to get the absolute best coverage

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Auto should be fine...

That sounds like a bit of a cop-out to me!

What would actually happen if there were (say) three WiFi homeplugs set to Auto?
Would they carefully choose to set themselves at Channels 1, 6 and 11 to reduce interference?
And what if more than three?

This thread is the first time I have found a discussion on the matter - which probably reflects my search 'skills' rather than anything else...

Without having had access to the three home plugs and seeing how good their auto channel hoping is then hard to say with 100% certainty.

Wifi is very much a plug it all in and try technology. Setting manual channels of 1, 6 and 11 might be the thing to do, but then if interference occurs on one of this you will need to reconfigure it yourself, so letting Auto do its work may be best.

Looking at the spectrum plot from Fritzbox I can see my Sky connection is overlaying my IDNet on channel 1, but they both work fine (at least with the 6 to 7Mbps connection I have) and the neighbour with BT has three channels from their hub all on the 6 channel, and then another neighbour with TalkTalk at the 11 channel.