I need advice on a WiFi extender / repeater.

[JohnnyRingo]

I live in an apartment attached to my son's ranch style house. My apartment is on the south side but my garage is on the far north side. That puts his house, his breezeway, and his garage between my (Spectrum) router and my garage stereo.

I want to use my Kindle to listen to internet radio and rock the garage when I work on my summer car, but while the Kindle can "see" my router from there and allow me to log on, the signal is too weak to connect to the internet. I imagine I can use something to greatly boost the signal but I don't know what to buy. If I have to, I can put the device in my son's house or his breezeway, but would rather not.

I noticed prices are widely ranged between $30 and $200+. These are two I was looking at on Amazon. I don't know if this will solve my problem or if there's something else to consider. I'm in my '60s so it's not unlike me to rig something out of tin foil. hahaha

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RHD97QY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR90E3A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

[Red Raider 85]

1. I've had Eero for several years; works fantastically good.

I have 3 of them boosting my signal, and I've got coverage all the way to my pole barn, which must be over 150 feet away from my bedroom, where my cable modem is. Not sure what the current cost of their system is though.

[padfun]

2. I got one off of Amazon for $25 and it works fine.

It's one of those with four antenna like in one of those adds at the bottom.

It did help me pick up a stronger signal in my backyard last year and I have it if I need it again.

Oh, it was an extender.

[gohuskies]

3. Re-purpose an old wi-fi router

If you have an old unused wi-fi router you can make some pretty simple config changes to turn it into an access point to extend your wi-fi signal. Or you could go to a local thrift shop and find an old router to act as a wi-fi range extender. There are youtube channels that can step you through the process and do it very cheaply.

[taxi]

4. I used one in a similar setup

It was like the $32 one and it worked well enough for anything I wanted to do. I could stream to a laptop or watch a the small tv I had using a firestick. Because the repeater was less powerful than the router the best placement for it was where its target is more directly in line with the device accessing it - the more powerful router will be less affected by a weak signal from repeater.

eta: see post 3 above. That is your best choice; getting a router (not a modem). New routers are about the same price, are more powerful, and depending on what you choose can have access control and other perks.

[OneBlueDotS-Carolina]

5. We have been using a D-Link

for the past couple of years, bought the D-Link as our router is a D-Link. Works well. Have a TV & laptop in the shop, the laptop was spotty before, no problems now. Added a smart Tv when we upgraded one in the house. Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/D-Link-AC1200-Wi-Fi-Extender-DAP-1620/dp/B00PVCW212/ref=sr_1_11?crid=2XUI2D70UWASD&keywords=d+link+wifi+extender&qid=1683822478&s=electronics&sprefix=d+link+wifi%2Celectronics%2C920&sr=1-11

[WheelWalker]

6. I have a similar situation.

My detached studio is off the end of the house. The modem and router are roughly in the middle of the house. I run 1 gig fiber optic all the way to the modem.

When I first moved into the studio my signal was too weak to be reliable. I started out getting an extender, the TP-link 1200 AC. For the most part that worked pretty well for a couple of years, but more and more I was having to re-boot the extender after having lost the signal. It got to where that was happening nearly once a day, more or less. A friend (who was upgrading the security system at his Washington State outdoor pot farm) brought down a few nodes from his old Deco Mesh network. Leaving the TP-Link extended network (Dharma Gardens) intact, I plugged the first Deco node directly into my router creating a second network (Gaia Zendo) and placed a second Deco node in my studio. Although I left my TP-Link extender in place, I have been running for nearly 75 days on the Deco Mesh network. Not a single drop or even buffering lag during that time. I judge the mesh solution to be superior for my application. With a third Deco node on the front porch, and by relocating my TP-Link extender to the opposite end of the house from my studio, I can now reach to the entire perimeter of my .75 acre property including the barn, vineyard and orchard on one or the other of the two networks.

Hope this provides some perspective.

Blessings.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. Thanx, but one more thing.

If I get an extender, can I just use it in the same room as my router, or do I have to put it at a remote location closer to the garage?

Also, does this better wifi mean I can tell my son to cancel his internet and use my extender? I don't mind sharing if it save him a buck.

[WheelWalker]

8. You will have to find a "sweet spot" between

the router and the devices in son's apartment. I'm guessing that sweet spot will be in the garage? Placing the extender next to or very near the router will gain you nothing I'm afraid. I had the same question at first. Look for the sweet spot.

I would expect your son could chum off your internet account with the extender, but I'd wait to see the performance before canceling. He'll be using some of your band width if accessing your network/internet account, however, so depending on what your band width is you might see a degraded performance under some circumstances.

On Edit: My detached studio is about 75' from my modem and router in the house, and the signal has to go through at least 50' of interior and exterior house wall before it enters my studio. Entry to the detached (10') studio involves the signal passing through another exterior wall and traveling 20' more and through another interior wall to my devices. Presumably your attached apartment has less distance and fewer barriers and if so the TP-Link 1200 extender should adequately boost your wireless signal in my experience.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. Thanx!

You covered my questions very well.

My son said he didn't that would work out because he games online, but maybe we could give it a try before he cancels