Extend wired and wireless network upstairs?

[actx76092]

Hello - new here. . .I am working on improving my wired and wireless access to a far corner of my upstairs. I have limited wired network outlets upstairs.

My current setup is this:
Downstairs (corner of the house where cable lines come in)
Verizon fios (50/50) cable modem
Asus RT-AC87U (provides wireless thru whole house)

Upstairs
There is one wired connection to the Asus router that I use for a NAS located in the upstairs opposite corner. What I want to do is increase both the wired and wireless access to this corner of the house (media room, etc).

Can I just to the following:
Add a router such as N900 Gigabit Router (RT-N66R) upstairs then plug in my NAS and any other devices AND use it to extend/strengthen the wireless signal of my network.

Thanks!

 

[thiggins]

There are a few ways to go:

- Use a Wireless Extender. The top-ranked NETGEAR EX6200 extends on both bands simultaneously and has Gigabit Ethernet ports to attach your NAS or other devices.
Note that throughput to wireless devices will be reduced by 50% of received throughput, due to re-transmission from a single radio.

- Use a combination of powerline and wireless extender. A kit like the TP-LINK TL-WPA4220KIT combines a powerline extender and powerline-enabled mini access point. But you can make your own using any combination of powerline adapters, APs, wall-plugged extenders or routers converted to APs.
Using powerline for the "backhaul" (connection between main router and extension AP) can provide more throughput than using an extender.

- And yes, you can do as you originally proposed, using the RT-N66 as a WDS repeater. Note the 50% retransmission throughput penalty, however.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...nge-extender-av500-powerline-edition-reviewed

 

[actx76092]

There are a few ways to go:

- Use a Wireless Extender. The top-ranked NETGEAR EX6200 extends on both bands simultaneously and has Gigabit Ethernet ports to attach your NAS or other devices.
Note that throughput to wireless devices will be reduced by 50% of received throughput, due to re-transmission from a single radio.

- Use a combination of powerline and wireless extender. A kit like the TP-LINK TL-WPA4220KIT combines a powerline extender and powerline-enabled mini access point. But you can make your own using any combination of powerline adapters, APs, wall-plugged extenders or routers converted to APs.
Using powerline for the "backhaul" (connection between main router and extension AP) can provide more throughput than using an extender.

- And yes, you can do as you originally proposed, using the RT-N66 as a WDS repeater. Note the 50% retransmission throughput penalty, however.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...nge-extender-av500-powerline-edition-reviewed

Thanks for the detailed reply. Regarding using the RT-N66. . if I turned off the wireless and used it just as a wired router for devices in the media room would I still pay the 50% penalty?

 

[thiggins]

The 50% penalty is only for wireless devices that connect to it as a repeater. For wired devices, it acts as a wireless bridge with no wireless retransmission penalty.

 

[sfx2000]

The 50% penalty is only for wireless devices that connect to it as a repeater. For wired devices, it acts as a wireless bridge with no wireless retransmission penalty.

There is impact to all clients within the network - the repeater will throw twice as much traffic onto the channel, and the clients on the host AP will have their throughput also impacted.

Much depends on the AP to Repeater traffic and the number of clients/traffic on the repeater...

it can be fairly significant for the wireless clients across the WLAN - better to do ethernet/homeplug backhaul for a multiple AP home network.

sfx

 

[stevech]

There is impact to all clients within the network - the repeater will throw twice as much traffic onto the channel, and the clients on the host AP will have their throughput also impacted.

Much depends on the AP to Repeater traffic and the number of clients/traffic on the repeater...

it can be fairly significant for the wireless clients across the WLAN - better to do ethernet/homeplug backhaul for a multiple AP home network.

sfx

Agree. But it can work if the data loads are light. Such as moderate web surfing, little or no video streaming.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

If your home logistics support this idea, you will get adequate throughput without a hit on your wireless.

Assuming your top floors use devices that rarely if ever go downstairs, you could attach the 2nd router as a wireless access point and give its 2.4GHz radio a unique SSID. The wired connection will carry the signal to the main router and then to the outside world.

 

[sfx2000]

Agree. But it can work if the data loads are light. Such as moderate web surfing, little or no video streaming.

True, true - really does come down to how many clients are on the repeater vs. on the AP being repeated. Get two or three clients on the repeater, and compared to the other STA's on the AP, that repeater is going to have 2 to 3 times more traffic compared to the others on the AP...