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Wifi help
- Thread starter Chris4943
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Yes, that’s a real thing. You can use almost any wifi router or access point for that purpose. If you do it with a router, just set it up in “access point” mode (Different names for different brands - “extend network,” etc.). What you are doing is called a “wired backhaul.” I used to do it with Apple airports, but pretty much any router will support it.
Alternatively you can switch to a mesh system like Eero, which is designed to do this, but you’d want to make sure you pick a brand that supports wired backhaul (I currently use Synology, which supports this). The advantage of a “mesh” system is that if you walk back and forth between rooms, it should seamlessly switch between access points, and not lose its connection.
One other way to do it is with a power line extender, if you don’t want to run an Ethernet cable. This uses your existing power lines to extend the signal from one room to another, essentially turning your in-wall power wiring into Ethernet. These typically come with two small boxes. One is plugged into your router and a wall power socket. The other is plugged into the room where you need coverage. Many of these broadcast WiFi in that second room, but many alternatively simply provide an Ethernet jack in the second room (which you then plug an access point or WiFi router into, same as if it was Ethernet). The best of these support about half the speed of a cat5 cable, which is usually good enough for most uses.
