Top 5 Tricks to Extend your Wireless Network

If you have a large building or a sprawling piece of property and need internet access throughout, you may need to extend your wireless network. This extension will allow to maintain a strong wireless signal. There are several ways to expand the coverage if you are not getting the range necessary in your home or office.

Here are a few ways to increase the range of your wireless network.

1. Use a Spare Router

802.11n routers offer a high Wi-Fi range but even if you get them, wireless signals may not reach certain areas of the home owing to physical obstructions.

What should you do to ensure the Wi-Fi signals are available in full strength in all the corners of the house including the lawn?

You can extend the Wi-Fi network with networking hardware like Wireless Access Points and Wi-Fi repeaters.

2. Opt for Boosters

You must be aware of the little antennas connected to the router. You can replace them with the bigger antennas or the more directional ones.

There are ways to improve the existing antennas as well. You can do this by making it directional. You just need a few household materials and a few minutes to get the job done.

If you need to enhance the signal in multiple directions, consider purchasing a generic antenna.

3. Include Wireless Range Extender

Using the wireless range extenders is one of the best ways to improve the range. These products help to repeat the existing wireless signal, making a provision for better Wi-Fi range without using physical cables. To get the best results, you need to place your extender halfway between the router and the place you are getting poor reception in.

There are two different types of products you can use. There are several routers that support the WDS or Wireless Distribution System. This will allow you to create a great wireless network. This can work in two modes. The first is wireless bridging that makes a point to point link and does not allow the wireless clients connect. This mode is helpful for businesses to join two separate buildings on a given network. The second mode is wireless repeating. Here, the wireless signal gets repeated allowing the wireless clients join.

If you don’t want to use WDS, you can use a wireless range extender. During the setup, you connect the extender to the existing wireless network as if it is yet another wireless device. You will then create a wireless network on the extender.

The beauty of the system lies in the fact that the wireless range extender would work with any router and is easier to configure as compared to WDS. However, as you are ending up with two wireless networks, so it is vital to ensure, chiefly for the 2.4Ghz networks, that the new network is not overlapping or interfering with the old network.

4. Add Wireless Access Point

You can extend Wi-Fi coverage by adding a few wireless access points. This ensures better connection speed as well as performance. However, this needs running the Ethernet cable from the router to the additional access points.

While shopping for the access points, remember that this is different from the wireless routers. You need only one router in a building or a home. So, make sure that you are purchasing an AP instead of routers while extending Wi-Fi coverage. Your router is chiefly the network controller, and it connects to the internet modem or remains integrated with it.

APs do not include network control abilities; it simply connects to the router, thereby offering additional wireless access.

5. Turn Cable or the Electrical Outlets into the Wireless Access Points

If you are eager to increase the range of the wireless network, you can try to add a few additional wireless access points. The traditional as well as the more reliable way is to buy access points as well as run Ethernet cables from the router to the additional APs. In case you don’t have Ethernet cables around your office or home, you can try to utilize the electrical outlets and existing cables.

These are some of the basic ways to increase wireless range. Just choose the one that suits your need as well as budget and enjoy better connectivity.