Extending the wi-fi signal

[Dracoro]

Fair enough, I thought they all had to be on the same ring (hence how the devices communicated with each other).

[wfo123]

ewenm said:

Another option is something like an Apple Airport Express that you put near the edge of your current coverage and set it to extend the wireless network from there.

So, out of interest, the Airport Express can talk directly to the home router (in my case Virgin Hub) and there is no need for an Apple base station?

[zcacogp]

Dracoro said:

Fair enough, I thought they all had to be on the same ring (hence how the devices communicated with each other).

I think they used to, but the products have improved.

I suspect you'll also get a rather better data transfer rate if they are on the same ring main.


Oli.

[mosstrooper]

Been using mine for over 6 years. Absolutely no problem. Has always worked on different rings without any discernible difference in performance.

Why should using it inter-ring make any difference anyway ??

Come to think about it, if you put a socket on your lighting circuit, it would still work.

Great bit of kit.

[tank slapper]

FlossyThePig said:

Bleah said:

tank slapper said:

Homeplugs are bloody awful devices and should be banned until such time as they conform to radio emissions standards.

Couldn't agree more.

Searching the internet only seems to return hearsay evidence and not that recent either. Are the newer forms as bad as the original?

wikipedia said:

Newer versions of HomePlug support the use of Ethernet in bus topology. This is achieved by means of OFDM modulation that enables several distinct data carriers to coexist in the same wire. Also, HomePlug's OFDM technology can turn off (mask) any sub-carriers that overlap previously allocated radio spectrum in a given geographic region, thus preventing interference. In North America, for instance, HomePlug AV only uses 917 of 1155 sub-carriers.

OFDM is orthogal frequency division multiplexing. All it means is that you can use more than one of them at a time. The claim that they can turn off subcarriers to prevent interference is a crap argument - there is a general principle that with radio you do not operate in such a way that you cause interference on frequencies other than those you are directly using. These devices transmit on a very wide frequency range, and so saying they will use all the spectrum except the few bits someone complains about is a very poor way of going about things. In the US the ARRL (the radio amateurs association there) had to fight very hard to force the FCC to act in making the manufacturers notch out their frequencies - the government here have largely ignored the problem.

The fact is these are radio devices, and so there is no reason they should not have to conform to the same emissions standards as anything else that transmits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfUEEhmHYY

200bhp said:

Some more complex homeplug type system manufacturers provide filters to fit in the incoming supply to prevent date from leaving your property.

That is laughable considering they use the entire mains system as an antenna that broadcasts it for a considerable difference anyway.

[stemll]

tank slapper said:

The fact is these are radio devices

Except they aren't are they? They transmit data down unshielded cable (which probably radiate that signal) but they are not radio devices.

[tank slapper]

stemll said:

tank slapper said:

The fact is these are radio devices

Except they aren't are they? They transmit data down unshielded cable (which probably radiate that signal) but they are not radio devices.

They most definitely are radio devices - watch the video in the link above. That they happen to use a cable as a transmission medium for their intended use doesn't change that. They broadcast into a mains cable rather than through an antenna into free air. It might not be intended for them to act as broadband localised jammers, but that is what they do since an unshielded cable will act as an antenna. The designers know this, or they wouldn't be talking about notch filters and the like.

Any other electrical device has to conform to interference emissions standards, so I don't see why these shouldn't also. I don't object to using mains cabling for this type of communication, providing it is done in such a way that any radiated signal is kept to within a specifically allocated band (which could be selected to minimise their effect) or that any emissions are of a low enough level not to impact anyone else.

[stemll]

tank slapper said:

They most definitely are radio devices........They broadcast into a mains cable rather than through an antenna into free air.

Doesn't make it a radio device. Radio being the transmission of a signal through free space which is not what they do. They transmit down a cable.

[tank slapper]

They use RF technology to do it, and radiate a lot of what they transmit. Pedantry doesn't make them any less st.

[MissChief]

To be honest before you buy anything download INSSIDER and run that on a windows laptop. This will show you all the wireless networks running, the signal strength and most importantly the channel. If your network is running on, say, channel 6 and there are 3 others including your neighbour then your signal is going to suck. A simple channel change may help and save you money.

[Rowan138]

i would just cable the whole lot as wifi extenders are just a pain in the arse and those homeplug things are hell for radiating noise, so much as to interfere with a radio ham who lives on my street! i now have a nice cabled network which is so much more secure than wifi and faster too

[alex.tvr]

Rowan138 said:

i would just cable the whole lot as wifi extenders are just a pain in the arse and those homeplug things are hell for radiating noise, so much as to interfere with a radio ham who lives on my street! i now have a nice cabled network which is so much more secure than wifi and faster too

Won't help the OPs iPad though.
As far as the apple airport express option, it will work for one area - might not do garage and upstairs and buying 2 would be expensive. I tried to set one up recently and struggled, something to do with wireless extending only working for g band. I gave up in the end (don't really need to extend), so Apple saying it just works was stretching the truth - I was using an App on iPad and Time machine base station.