Can anyone recommend a WiFi booster?

Frank Smith

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Virgin Broadband struggles to get past the room it's in. Need something to help get the signal upstairs. Ideally something that does not create a new hot-spot.

My budget it around the £30 mark and I live in a small terrace house.
 
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If your wifi barely makes it out of the room then wireless extenders are going to be useless too - then only work well if they are receiving a reasonable signal to extend.

Are you wanting to avoid running new ethernet cables to allow for wired distribution to new locations where you can add additional wireless access points?

Do you also want seamless transfer between these new “nodes” rather than simply using the same SSID and password as your main wifi?

If you do then you need a more formally managed wi-fi system rather than a collection of standard wifi access points. For a wired solution you could go down the Ubiquiti Unifi route, adding a CloudKey controller if you want the most flexibility. If you want to try wireless then look at BT While Home Premium ir similar “tri-band” systems if you want the best wifi performance - the tri-band units have a dedicated radio just for the worelsss links so don’t compromise your wifi speeds.

If none of the above matters then go for any basic wifi extenders, or look at powerline units too (which use your existing mains wiring as a carrier for their signals).
 
@neilball

I had one I put in the upstairs corridor and it did work decently well but my son broke it. It also created a separate WiFi network which I didn't want. So basically I'm looking for anything that I can just plug into the wall and works well.
 
Well pretty much any wireless extender will do in that case although you may need to use the accompanying app or the web page to alter the config settings so it exactly matches your existing SSID and password.
 
I bought a refurbished TP Link RE450 on ebay for £45 (usually around £65 I think). It is in a completely different league to the circa £30 models. It does help of course if you are getting good speeds from your router in the first place - the extenders can only amplify what they are receiving.
FWIW I dumped my homeplugs/powerlines - they do work but were injecting nasty RF noise into my audio system - this is well known in audio circles.
 
...FWIW I dumped my homeplugs/powerlines - they do work but were injecting nasty RF noise into my audio system - this is well known in audio circles.

I believe radio hamms hate them too, for similar reasons.
 
I bought a refurbished TP Link RE450 on ebay for £45 (usually around £65 I think). It is in a completely different league to the circa £30 models. It does help of course if you are getting good speeds from your router in the first place - the extenders can only amplify what they are receiving.
FWIW I dumped my homeplugs/powerlines - they do work but were injecting nasty RF noise into my audio system - this is well known in audio circles.
I got this based on your recommendation and so far so good. In fact, I got it for £30 on Ebay so good result.

There was an issue with some of the devices connecting to it when it was closer to the router. I solve this by blocking the devices that are permanently downstairs. However, my Fire Stick upstairs is not connecting to it for some reason. Do you know how to make it so it connects to the extender and not the router downstairs?
 
All I can think is that the distance might be having an effect. If your router is dual band the 2.4Ghz band is better for longer distances, the 5Ghz for speed & quality. TP Link have an app called 'Tether', this shows which of your devices or 'clients' are connected. Have you placed it in an optimum position for transmission around the house?
Alternatively google firestick connection problems and someome will almost certainly have encountered the same problem.
 

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