Internet/WiFi Questions

[richardf77]

I have a couple of queries about home WiFi and networks that i need answering.

The first is about other peoples wifi and hotspots and how they can affect your home wifi. When any of my wifi enabled devices scans for availabel networks it naturaly picks up neighbouring secured networks. This i am used to and accept, but recently i have been picking up a local hotspot (BT Openzone) that seems to have such a strong signal that at times it seems to overpower my home wifi and devices want to connect to it rather than my own secure network! This is not only annoying but concerning from a security point of veiw (and potentialy expensive at £5 per hour!).

Anything i can do to stop this happening? Would changing channels on the router help and if so which? What channels are best avoided re: hotspots?

My second query is about WiFi repeaters/extenders. My main router is located in an upstairs room where i have my main desktop PC so that the desktop has a LAN connection. WiFi devices are mostly used in downstairs rooms or the garden and there are a few 'blindspots' where the signal isnt as good.

I decided to try and fix this with an inexpensive extender device, which seems to work well but i cant tell how much it is helping or even if i have it in the right place. i have located it were i think it will provide the best coverage, but i cant be sure. This will have to be trial and error i know but i want to ask if i a repeater/extender is the best way of improving my wifi coverage through the house.

I realise now that these devices dont boost the signal only stretch it to new locations. The issue might be the router itself which isnt in a central location, i am wondering whether if it was the coverage would be better, without the need for an extender. The only problem there would be the Desktop PC, which doesnt have wifi and needs a LAN connection to the internet.

Any thoughts?

[camerongray]

You should be able to tell your machine to either forget or to not automatically connect to the BT Openzone network - Changing the channel won't stop your PC connecting to it if it has the network remembered.  Don't worry about the cost, it won't just magically charge you if you connect, you have to actually enter payment details and sign up for an account to use it.

Repeaters are generally fine although I would generally recommend having it wired into your upstairs router if it is at all possible to run a cable to a location downstairs.  As you've said, it's pretty much a case of trial and error.  Also make sure that the channel your extender is broadcasting on is different from your upstairs router.  If you have an Android phone then there's a free app called "WiFi analyser" that shows signal strength of all nearby networks along with what channel they are on which is helpful for finding what channel is most quiet and how the signal strength changes as you move around.  There should be similar apps for iOS and Windows phones.  Another mistake I see a lot of people doing with repeaters is giving it a different name from the main network - You are much better off giving the repeater the same name (SSID) and key as the main network, that way your device will connect to whatever device has a stronger signal rather than having to pick whether you want to connect to the repeater or the main router on each device - Just makes it a lot neater.

You could also consider moving the router to a more central location then either run an ethernet cable or use some sort of powerline network device to deliver a wired connection to the desktop PC.