Wifi "extender"

[u/fettoter84]

Oh yeah its delightfully chaotic isn't it?

This is my half-baked solution to getting a better network in my appartment.

You see my landlord lives upstairs, and has a mesh network setup. I got a wifi7 router but it doesn't have a basic extender function, and the Aimesh can't fint any supported devices.

So, I had a raspberry pi 3B lying around. Popped in raspbian and set up a shared commection with NetworkManager, which was surprisingly quick and straightforward. I was prepared to do ip masquerading manually like the olden days.

First test is amazing. I can cast my VR headset to my pc, play steam games (finally) and my plex server plays media on my ps5 without any stuttering. Online gaming is also less lag free.

I will be tidying it up tomorrow

[u/Capable-Yellow-1943]

ok this is giving me flashbacks to when i moved in and my building's wifi was so bad i literally duct taped my router to the top of my bookshelf thinking height would fix it lmao. it did not.

[u/fettoter84 → u/Capable-Yellow-1943]

My first attempt to get a better signal was extender cables for my antenna. It only got slightly better, still packet drops.

[u/olliegw → u/Capable-Yellow-1943]

There was a time when wifi to my bedroom was really spotty for some reason, so i bought two USB extenders off amazon, and daisy chained them together, including the extender i got with the wifi adapter, i ran this wire behind my computer, behind everything in my room, out the door, onto the hallway and dangling over the stairs where it had LoS to the router.

And guess what? it still didn't work lol, in the end i stopped using it, whatever the problem was got resolved, then a few years ago i cleaned out my bedroom, pulled everything out and was greeted by this stupidly long USB cable running along the skirting board and i was instantly reminded.

[u/sierrabravo1984]

Can't fault the tech ingenuity. I got a new 5g home Internet ("sorry we don't offer anything else lol get fucked"). I had to install a 5g antenna extension to my router's antenna connectors (which stock antenna is only a 5" piece of 22ga wire from the factory). Thanks at&t!

[u/fettoter84 → u/sierrabravo1984]

Thats a pain, nice you solved it in the end!

What pissed me off is that there is an ethernet plug in my wall, but my landlord wont let me troubleshoot it. I have network testing equipment at work and a ethernet connection to his fiber router would be the best.

I see i have about 50mb download and 38mb upload on a speedtest, and Discord doesnt report any ping over 35ms so I think I'll call it a win for now

[u/ice456cream]

"less lag-free"

So more lag? /s

[u/fettoter84 → u/ice456cream]

Lol, bad typho there

[u/UtahIndy]

Looks just like mine 🤣🤣🤪🤪

[u/fettoter84 → u/UtahIndy]

One of us, one of us!

[u/it_fell_off_a_truck]

The Ai Mesh needs to be connected via wired Ethernet to the main router for it to be setup as a node initially. After that you can move it. I have the same router pictured.