I hope you can help me with this. I have spent hours on the internet researching and just cannot decide which is the best way to go with thisw. We have a neuf box and the signal is not bad but just does not travel far enough. Our house is old and part troglodyte,a nd this is where the neuf box is installed downstairs, brand new three stories up and 20metres away from box. Using a long cable I have moved the modem upstairs and get a decent signal in the old part of our house and one room upstairs. Sadly though not in the room we need it in. It is no good using longer cable to move the modem as then the situation will be reversed and there will be no signal in the area we need it downstairs. So my question is am I best to buy a router, or one of the boosters that plug into the electricity system, or something completely different. Money is bit of an issue so I don't really want to buy something that doen't wotk.
Have tried the electric plug ins and after a few hours of trying modem in various locations in house and toing and froing up and down stairs, in and out of various stories of house, they are now packaged up to send back as they don't make any difference at all. So next stop is an on line shop for a very very long ehernet cable, this seems to be the one reilable solution.
You're correct Mike, they just emulate a wired network over your mains wiring. I use the one Ethernet port devces to drive distributed wireless access points. All works seamlessly.
@Briony Doing a bit of research, the adaptors I have that are badged Orange are identical to some of the older Devolo models. The Devolo site has some videos that show you how the Ethernet/Mains system works ( http://tinyurl.com/bwuhp8b )
Some of the faster but more expensive models actually have 3 Ethernet ports which is good but I can't see the WiFi repeater version.
Briony, If you do decide to go with mains adaptors I suggest you check out these on Amazon.fr...
Devolo - 1373 - pack de 2 adaptateurs CPL 200Mbp/s Homeplug AV avec price integree
They seem to cost around 30 euro less that the Orange ones and I think the Orange ones are just these rebadged. Certainly Orange doesn't make there own (and if the did they wouldn't work). I use Devolo all around our house and I'm very happy with them.
A router connects 2 different networks, eg your home network and the internet, a repeater increases the coverage of a WiFi network.
If you are worried whether the Ethernet over Mains solution will work, is there a friend or neighbour who already has them and would let you borrow theirs so that you could do a test ? That's what I did for my neighbour. A lot of people subscribed to Orange TV will have them.
I am a bit with Barbara as I am a complete nonce when it comes to repeaters, routers etc. What is the difference between the two or are they the same thing? And as the part of the house I wish to get a signal to and has it's own fuse box, though not a meter, does that mean it is on a seperate electric cirtcuit? How do I find out? Sorry to be so thcik in these matters, the more I search the internet for info. the more confused I become!
I have suggested to a neighbour that he tries these http://tinyurl.com/bnrr4xa , they use Ethernet/Mains (aka CPL) to transmit a signal to a remote location which is then broadcast as a WiFi signal. Interest for him is that more than 1 PC can be used in the remote location. Am not sure if he has received them yet though.
An 'Access Point' like this from ebay will totally solve all of your problems IF you can fit it. LINK or LINK
Wireless G access points (not the really old wireless B) are cheap and reliable and just like much more expensive wireless N gear will NOT go through thick stone walls and difficult floors!
Remember, Nothing goes through difficult walls and floors. You have to go around them somehow.
You would need to get an ethernet cable to it from the router but IF you can manage that you'll be a very happy bunny.
Setting up a few access points (we have 5 covering our 1 acre site) with the same SSID's and passwords will give you a wireless network capable of roaming. This means being able to walk around the site without ever loosing your connection.
If an ethernet cable is totally out of the question then a pair of these 'powerline network adapters' LINK to link the access point to the router will get you out of a hole.
I use a pair of them myself to link up a security camera to the rest of the network and have had no bother what so ever in the 12 months they have been running.
One option is a wifi repeater that you place at the edge of the range of your modem router and it extends the coverage. Installation is easy and it's under €40. I use one to extend the coverage into my kitchen for my wife's iPad. As others have said a LAN cable is the best option, but not suitable for the iPad and its use and it's hardly an attractive addition to the décor.
I have a signal extender and it works quite well, the issue is the signal passing through thick stone walls, it will generally travel better through a wooden floor but will have to bounce around a more solid wall. Ethernet cabling is always a better, more reliable, faster and cheaper solution. Can you run a cable back from a spare port on the neuf router to the second pc?