Use a 2nd. router as a wifi extender

My son's house has very thick stone walls and he is struggling with his wi-fi in one of his rooms.
He uses his phone and a bluetooth speaker in this room and the signal is a problem.
He has some TP Link powerline units and I have a couple of spare routers, a Netgear DG834G v2, and a Technicolor TG582n..
If he connects the primary router, a Sagemcom 2704N to a powerline plug could he connect the extra router to a another powerline plug in the problem room and use it to extend his wifi range?
He's tried a wireless repeater but had the usual problem of things failing to connect to the network.
He has fibre broadband with Plusnet.

The Powerline plugs may work but it id not a certainty. A wired ethernet connection would be better but no doubt more awkward to install.

The second router, should work fine. Let us know how you get on

He's tried a wireless repeater but had the usual problem of things failing to connect to the network.

That is not a usual problem with a wireless repeater, just so you know! I personally find powerline sucks, but it will work. My powerline has always dropped often, the only ones that worked of for me were the Devolo ones.

If the extra router is configured to not be a router but a wireless access point then this can work

The theory using different kit is walked through at http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/wap/configuring-wap.html

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

That is not a usual problem with a wireless repeater, just so you know!

If you search for "Huawei ws320 problems" you will find a few, we certainly did.

In reply to a post by anotherbob:

If you search for "Huawei ws320 problems" you will find a few, we certainly did.

But you don't have a Huawei ws320

Repeaters are generally ok, but they can zap the speed out of your wifi, and then you also need to be mindful of where they are placed. The same repeater can probably be used off a powerline adapter with a ethernet cable, and then configured as a access point, in the same sort of manner as a second router. This will provide faster wifi speeds, and a powerline and connected wifi access point can be freely moved for best location set up...

Had and used one of these they are horrendous.

We can offer you a bunch of decent ones. Namely get a Netgear AC wireless repeater, they stay connected months on end. I had one with over 6 months uptime.

Placement is key, it needs to be in a good signal area which also reaches the not-spot area. It usually makes sense to place them halfway between the no signal area and original router.

I think I had this, was over a year ago now so might have been a different model:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GV504BC/ref=cm_sw_r_c...

I manually set mine up to be one unified SSID - out the box it adds _EXT5g on the end of the SSID

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sun 10-Dec-17 02:34:10)

Having looked at lots of advice on how to configure a spare router to do the job I need I'm not sure I have the necessary expertise. Looking at alternatives I saw this
I would be grateful if anyone could advise me on whether I could solve the problem by connecting one of these to a Powerline plug in the area where the signal is weak.