Yet another Wifi extender article

I am writing this article because I found many articles on Wifi extender but most of them were about upgrading the router or buying an active extender. In my case I preferred to opt for a passive solution: moving my antennas.

My router is in the basement which is handy because most of my computers and my internet input are there. However transmission of signal from the basement is not optimal as the wave has to go through the ground or bounce off until it can escape from it. The key was to extend my antennas cable so that I can install the antenna in a closet on the first floor.

So the first thing was to get the cable. You will need one RP-SMA or SMA cable per antenna with female and male connector. The shorter is better as these cables attenuate significantly quickly the signal over distance.

In my case I had to go through the floor to pass the cable. For that I use the good old fishing method, where I attach the new cable to an existing cable with tape. Make sure to tape the connector to protect them as well. The existing cable as to be long enough to be pulled from the destination without falling into the hole.

For the support I have drilled 3 1/2 inch hole in a piece of wood that I have attached in a closet. For the spacing I kept the same distance between antennas as the original manufacturer which was 3.5 inchs between each of them.

As you can see from the main picture, I had labelled the cables prior to install them. This made it easy to respect the antenna connection order. For the labelling I use white electric tape and black permanent marker which remain clear for many years.

I have measured about 10 dB SNR increment while accessing my Wifi outside the house (Measured at two spots before and after). In the basement, the signal is about the same, slightly lower now, but still very strong so it is not an issue. For measuring the signal I used Net Stumber for Windows and Wifi Analyzer for Android.

Overall this small investment uniformized my Wifi coverage without extra power usage.