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      07-19-2011, 06:45 AM   #3
briers
Ben
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I just helped my parents extend their VM wifi signal so i will chip in

I think the homeplug solution is the best in this case, i even suggested this to my parents because trying to bridge the routers, 3 in total was a nightmare with me wondering round the house with a signal meter app.

Also as you have pointed out, a wireless G as a client of an N will reduce speeds and bridging in brick houses means a well reduced signal also.

The homeplug method will work fine say on the 2nd floor of your house only if your house wiring for each homeplug connection is part of the same ring circuit. You can test by cutting the power with 2 lamps plugged in for example.

Also, keep in mind, because you aren't bridging the connections wirelessly there will be no automatic handover if you walk from 1 floor to the next with your laptop/phone etc. You may loose wifi signal and have to wait for a reconnection or manually reconnect.

When bridging 2 routers or access points you have to set identical WPA keys, SSID's, Channels and you normally have to enable WDS or bridging and connect the 2 devices from their admin panels. If you go the homeplug route, i would, try and set all the things the same and see if it does hand over (i'm not sure).

If it doesn't it is a small compromise but my mum likes her tech and she wanted no fuss, guess what, she's a mac user.

The one thing i will say with home plugs is get as fast as possible 200mbps, if not more if they do them. The speed will be no where near 200mbps, probably half that and also set you old router up in access point mode, most routers are capable of doing this, it disables all the firewall, NAT etc and gets is DHCP from the main modem/router.
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