Low-cost fixes
If you have tried all our free tips and your Wi-Fi still isn’t satisfactory, it’s time to spend some money – but that needn’t mean a big investment. A low-cost Wi-Fi range extender such as the Tenda A15 Dual Band AC750 Wi-Fi Repeater could make a huge difference to your coverage, and it’s currently available on Amazon for just £24 ( pcpro.link/294a15).
As with all repeaters, it works by connecting to your existing network and creating a second network to extend the signal. You can use the same name for both networks, for a completely transparent extension, or give it a different SSID so you can choose which network to connect to. This model has a quoted maximum speed of 433Mbits/sec, and, when we tested it back in issue 294, we were impressed to see its 5GHz performance rivalled extenders from other brands costing twice as much.
If you need to stretch the network beyond the point where an extender can help – perhaps to an office at the end of the garden – you can also get a powerline networking kit with a wireless access point built into the remote plug. TP-Link’s TL-WPA4220KIT is such an option, and can be bought online for a very reasonable £40. However, the performance of powerline connections degrades with distance, so if your shed is a long way from the house, you may find the connection isn’t as fast as you’d hoped. And data won’t pass through a fuse box, so if you have a separate box for your outhouse or end-of-garden office you won’t get any connection at all.
In this instance, your best remaining option may be a MiFi connection – a standalone wireless router that connects to the internet via a built-in 4G modem, instead of a fixed broadband line. You can pick up an entry-level MiFi router for less than £30, but you’ll need to factor in the cost of the data connection on top. We’ve had success with a pay-as-you-go SIM from Giffgaff both in the UK and abroad, allowing us to top up as needed, with no ongoing commitment.
Another option is to use an old router as a wireless access point