My router is in the living room since that’s where I need my wired connections. But the living room is all the way on one end of the apartment. There’s no wifi in the dining room/office and it’s spotty in the kitchen. We’ve tried a wifi extender but that doesn’t really work. I was wondering if something like the TP-Link TL-WPA8631P powerline kit would be a good solution. I would place the other end in the the dining room. Would it provide wifi to areas that normally have no coverage?
If you have coax ports look into MoCA, it’s a great way to an Ethernet hardline by the way of your already existing coax. MoCA + an access point at the far end should do the job
If you got carpet, you may be able to stuff ethernet cable under the baseboards.
Ideal solution imho is a modern mesh router solution with ethernet backhaul. Alternate solution is the same thing but with wireless backhaul.
Don’t bother with traditional extender setup.
WiFi extenders have to be placed where the WiFi is still good, unless you’re running a cable from the extender to the router. People putting it where the WiFi is bad and expecting it to connect, over WiFi, and provide good results just confuse me.
Powerline could help, but anytime the fridge turns on or the microwave or TV or any number of things they’ll knock it out.
I was wondering if something like the TP-Link TL-WPA8631P powerline kit would be a good solution.
Yes, although you may want to put it somewhere in the middle so that it strengthens the coverage across the entire apartment.
Why’s that? The middle already has good coverage. I’m only lacking in the far end. If I put it in the far end, wouldn’t that give the best coverage for where I need?
best solution is to run an ethernet cable and add a wireless access point
any other solution eg powerline or wifi boosters may or may not work.
Apartments are small and easy to cover.
Just get a more powerful router to start with. Maybe one with swappable antenna jacks.
Position the antenna perpendicular to the direction you want to aim them. Maybe replace one antenna with a flat panel directional antenna aimed where you need coverage fill.
If that doesn’t work, you’ll want to run ethernet (apartment, so tuck under baseboards) to the dead zone and install a wireless access point (WAP) at the end.
I had your exact same problem in my old brick house that is hard to cable and not so great for wifi range. More powerful wifi wont add much as the wifi power is all limited to what the connecting device can also send back, and that wont change. You need to re-shape the wifi coverage of your home.
I run a second router configured as a dumb access point that shares the same SSID, and the connection between runs over a powerline type extender. You device will shoose the best signal to attched to automatically. Another option is mesh networking products.
google dumb access point to get started…
Yeah the ‘TP-Link TL-WPA8631P’ setup might work for you, unfortunately there is no way to know for sure without trying it.
Just make sure to review the stores return/refund policy for electronics before you buy, so that you won’t have any problem in getting a refund.