What's my best home network solution?

[sck451]

My home network is a bit of a mess. I live in a mixed-use building and use the general building's WiFi, from a router on the floor below. This is OK, but not amazingly secure. In my flat, the signal is inconsistent. In some places it's fine, but in others it's quite weak, especially on my laptop and phone. (My desktop, with its big chunky WiFi card and antennae, works just fine.)

I am wondering about whether I should create a network just for my flat, so I can connect all my devices to each other securely, and strengthen the WiFi signal in the flat itself. In an ideal world, it would also be great to have a wired connection for my desktop; I'm also aware that many routers these days come with a USB port, so I could attach an external HDD and get an easy NAS situation.

Does this sound plausible? What's the best way of achieving it? I realise a WiFi extender is the simplest solution, but I'm wondering if I can do it better. Is there a way of getting a router to take one WiFi signal with connection to the outside world and create a private network with both wired and wireless connectivity?

 

[Scott]

I may be wrong but I believe the only way to do what you are suggesting is by using a hardline to the current network.... either that or having broadband installed in your flat in isolation.

If you connect via a hardline to the downstairs router, you can then setup your own router from that connection with your own infrastructure, DHCP & security settings. You will be limited by the bandwidth of that hardline connection though.

 

[sck451]

I may be wrong but I believe the only way to do what you are suggesting is by using a hardline to the current network.... either that or having broadband installed in your flat in isolation.

If you connect via a hardline to the downstairs router, you can then setup your own router from that connection with your own infrastructure, DHCP & security settings. You will be limited by the bandwidth of that hardline connection though.

Some WiFi extenders have an ethernet port, e.g. this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi-Range-Extender-EX2700

Could I connect a router to the ethernet port on that, maybe?

 

[Scott]

Possibly, again you would be putting more traffic on a further reduced bandwidth though.

If the key is security then you definitely can, I would be concerned about client and bandwidth limitations though.

Pretty soon I'm going to be upgrading my house to a full mesh system as I have so many devices connected to my Wifi now.

 

[sck451]

Possibly, again you would be putting more traffic on a further reduced bandwidth though.

If the key is security then you definitely can, I would be concerned about client and bandwidth limitations though.

Pretty soon I'm going to be upgrading my house to a full mesh system as I have so many devices connected to my Wifi now.

The speed to the outside world isn't so crucial because the router itself only gets around 40Mbps speeds. It's partly security, partly wanting speed between devices, partly wanting a stable WiFi connection even if the speed isn't amazing!

Will carry on digging, but this does at least confirm I'm not missing an obvious easy solution...

 

[SpyderTracks]

The speed to the outside world isn't so crucial because the router itself only gets around 40Mbps speeds. It's partly security, partly wanting speed between devices, partly wanting a stable WiFi connection even if the speed isn't amazing!

Will carry on digging, but this does at least confirm I'm not missing an obvious easy solution...

Mesh for me would be the best solution. I wouldn't use extenders or anything as they are just poor these days and you'll be limited to connections.

 

[sck451]

Mesh for me would be the best solution. I wouldn't use extenders or anything as they are just poor these days and you'll be limited to connections.

Yeah, that's what I'm a little afraid of. I don't really want to do a mesh (indeed I'm not sure I can as I'm not in control of the building's WiFi) and I'm more concerned about speeds within my flat rather than with the outside world. It's all an awful hack!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yeah, that's what I'm a little afraid of. I don't really want to do a mesh (indeed I'm not sure I can as I'm not in control of the building's WiFi) and I'm more concerned about speeds within my flat rather than with the outside world. It's all an awful hack!

Ah, I see, that's a different matter then. Sorry, I didn't read the initial post properly.