[kwlug-disc] Extending WiFi Range

[Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account)]

> On Mar 29, 2017, at 8:28 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
> I want to avoid the move upstairs because of the UPS, and because I need to run more cables. Also, don't want clutter on the main floor.

Perhaps not what you want to hear, but I solved my wifi problems by running a 2” plastic conduit from the basement, through the wall of the hall closet on the main floor, through the linen closet on the upstairs and into the attic. Nothing fancy, just a regular old central vac conduit, a straight run through interior walls. I installed Ts near the wire racking on each floor’s closet, and ran CAT5e from the basement to each closet. Finally, I ran 14/3 and installed an outlet in each closet. The power for these outlets comes from a UPS in the basement with the other equipment. I’m not sure what the *proper* way to do it is, so I have a suicide cord connecting a well-labelled outlet in the basement to the UPS output.

Now I have the wifi router (WRT1900AC) and the DECT base station (DP750) on a shelf in the upstairs closet, powered from the same UPS that keeps the other networking equipment powered. Great wifi and cordless phone coverage, and my wife doesn’t even complain about the small blinking boxes since they’re well out of the way (on an overhead shelf) and there are no dangling wires.

I’m not sure how your house is laid out, but you might be able to benefit from a similar retrofit. If all you need is to get to a main floor closet you wouldn’t even need the conduit.

Why did I go all the way to the attic? I can now run any other wires I want from the basement right through to the attic and then down to whichever upstairs wall I want without having to try to futz about with fish tape. Any upstairs wiring is now a nice clean run.

-A.