Need Wireless Router Suggestions!

[omaroserna]

I have a three level townhome with the main Linksys N router on the first floor. I have a renter on the third floor who doesn't get any signal between the hours of 8pm-11pm. I'm assuming the signal is getting lost due to the other wifi signals from surrounding houses, and heavy internet traffic at that time. What is my best solution?

1. Buy an Airport Express as an access point on the second floor. It will be connected via Cat5 in my office because from what I've read, it only works as an extender/repeater with the Airport Extreme.

2. Buy an Airport Extreme to replace my 2 year old Linksys N router and see if the simultaneous bands and better range helps in signal strength.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, there's a Cat5 connection in my renter's room, but she wants the flexibilty to roam around and not have to have her laptop always wired during those hours.

 

[Hellhammer]

Just grab a cheapish router and put it to her floor. AP Express is nice but you can get one for 30$ nowadays. Like this for example

 

[waw74]

which version of N are you running (2.4 or 5GHz), the 2.4 is better with going through things like walls and floors/ceilings. although it does run slower.

dual band extreme, may or may not help you, no way to really tell with out trying it out. (differences in building construction, unit placement will all have an impact on performance)

unless you want the airtunes or the printer functionality, you'd probably be just as good with another brand.

and mostly yes to the "only works as a repeater for apple base stations." It can be done when running dd-wrt firmware, but it has limitations.

 

[omaroserna]

Thanks for the quick replies and link.

I'm running a 2.4GHz N. I don't need Airtunes nor the printer sharing, so I guess a different kind of router will do. Will any wireless router do, or should I look into "access point" specific routers?

 

[skorpien]

You can go for either. While a wireless access point is desiged to do specifically what you need, most wireless routers can have their DHCP servers disabled to allow them to act as WAPs. The choice is yours, though if you do get a wireless router, it can always be set up as a router again in the future if you so choose.