Wi-Fi install on 3 floors, 3 rooms per floor

[steve_king_uk]

Hello
I'm just about to buy an historic B&B in Brixham, Devon UK. I want to give my guests free access to Wi-Fi. The building has 3 floors with 3 bedrooms on each floor. Does anyone have any tips for installing Wi-Fi? Many thanks, Steve

 

[Don Draper]

Our building is 3 stories and mostly wood, so one router works fine for the whole house. Our friends have an older home that is all brick and they haven't found a solution yet that will broadcast to the entire house.
I believe there are "boosters" you can buy and install away from the main router that help propel the signal further from the source.
When we had our old PC's we used a Linksys router that did just fine, the install was a bit of a hassle but their phone support was good and we got everything working...it usually takes some working out between the router and your internet service provider.
Since changing to Mac, we have been using the Mac Time Capsule, which serves as both an external hard-drive and a wireless router, install was as simple as plugging our DSL into it and it was up and running.

 

[JBloggs]

The tip would be to test it out after installation, even turning the thing makes a diff in one of our guest rooms. It is accessable all over our property (inside and out) and in all guest rooms. The only room that was slightly iffy when we tested it was DIRECTLY above the router. We moved it to the left and right and turned it and bonza it worked. We have two routers, one for guest wi fi and one for our wi fi.

 

[steve_king_uk]

Thanks for the reply. As we have yet to move in I don't know if a single router will work. my previous experience of Wi-Fi suggests that it won't in this situation.
Our building has thick walls built from stone but I believe the floorboards are wood. I just wondered if anyone has experience of daisy-chaining the access points? I think they call them repeaters, or any other method, perhaps a booster arial mounded in the stair case? Thanks in advance.

 

[Morticia]

Thanks for the reply. As we have yet to move in I don't know if a single router will work. my previous experience of Wi-Fi suggests that it won't in this situation.
Our building has thick walls built from stone but I believe the floorboards are wood. I just wondered if anyone has experience of daisy-chaining the access points? I think they call them repeaters, or any other method, perhaps a booster arial mounded in the stair case? Thanks in advance..

We have a repeater because our building is so long. The base unit is in the inn office and the repeater is about 30 feet away in the common room (same floor). We tested it with several different laptops and it works. The repeater is only going thru one outside wall, but not stone as you have.
That said, guests routinely use the signal from another building nearby because ours is password protected and they don't bother to mention they have a laptop or read the guest book with the password.
Every once in awhile we have to unplug the repeater and let it 'rest'.

 

[steve_king_uk]

Thanks for all the advice. I contacted a friend who installs computer networks and he advises running a network cable to each floor (maybe on the outside of the building) and attaching access points to that. A bit expensive but best realiability he says.

 

[Copperhead]

Thanks for all the advice. I contacted a friend who installs computer networks and he advises running a network cable to each floor (maybe on the outside of the building) and attaching access points to that. A bit expensive but best realiability he says..

No imput here just a welcome to Innspring

hope you stick around! Cheers!

 

[swirt]

Thanks for all the advice. I contacted a friend who installs computer networks and he advises running a network cable to each floor (maybe on the outside of the building) and attaching access points to that. A bit expensive but best realiability he says..

I'd suggest trying one on the middle floor just to see before jumping in and doing all three. You may find it is not necessary.
Especially if the interior walls are stone, you may need multiple on the same floor that would cover the various sections of the house top to bottom. The signal may be the problem horizontally and not vertically if the interior walls are stone and the floors are wood.

 

[Proud Texan]

Thanks for all the advice. I contacted a friend who installs computer networks and he advises running a network cable to each floor (maybe on the outside of the building) and attaching access points to that. A bit expensive but best realiability he says..

Thanks for all the advice. I contacted a friend who installs computer networks and he advises running a network cable to each floor (maybe on the outside of the building) and attaching access points to that. A bit expensive but best realiability he says.

That is is exactly right. We had the situation of having our guests' quarters some 300 feet away from the main house IN THE WOODS.
We were able to get a good signal with a Ubiquiti Wi-Fi antenna. It's connected directly to our router via ethernet cable and it beams the signal from the main house to the cottages with no signal loss.

 

[sonatainn]

My recommendation?
Buy the cheapest linksys routers you can get....the older the better....even buy em used from eBay, or find a friend who replaced his old ones....chances are, they are still useful.
The reason? You can easily upload 3rd party firmware (my favourite is DD-wrt) to turn these cheap routers into powerful and flexible ones.
My current setup at my Inn is a router connected to my modem on the first floor, and then another wireless router on the second floor ( I have three floors) The router on the second floor is programmed to accept the signal from the first router, and rebroadcast it as a repeater using a protocol called "WDS," or wireless distribution system. My wireless works great in all my rooms.
Why use a router, rather than buy a wireless repeater? Because repeaters are not flexible, they do one thing, and one thing only. Routers with the proper firmware can be repeaters, and gateways...not to mention a plethora of other tasks. If you have routers kicking around, install the firmware (you can find instructions here http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation ) and you'll be flying in no time.
Let me know how it works for ya.