WiFi Question
 

Hey guys.

MIL lives in a retirement home. The building is about 100 years old. The wifi router is centralized in the house so when she goes to common rooms to read her kindle she has a nice strong signal. In her room, which is maybe 50 yards away from the router her signal is so poor that it's almost non-existent. What is the best way to boost the signal to her room? TIA

a utp cable and a booster

surely somebody can pull a cable somewhere?
They really have to get with the times, having more users on a single box with radio signal boosters will just be chitty internet for everybody

There are small repeaters that you can plug in and configure, but I wouldn't leave one out and about for others to find and anyone who is potentially managing the network will be perturbed.

The "correct" way would be for the retirement home folks to run a few more ethernet cables and add access points to provide better coverage.

If all else, get her her own personal hotspot from T-mobile or similar.

This would be a great solution...something 5G, if available

Thanks guys. The personal hotspot was how I was leaning but I needed to make sure there weren't any other options.

Yep, either the retirement home is going to have to add new gear or you're going to have to install something or get her a better service.

https://www.waveform.com/pages/wifi-booster-repeater-extender-differences

There are ^devices^ that will receive a signal and then amplify that signal. That might work. They usually have better antennas than phones, pads, etc... so they get better reception than those devices. Also, you may be able to place them in the ideal location (possibly up high, closest wall to the main wifi device, etc...). So that might be an option. I'm not recommending any specific device, and I don't know if that link that I posted does or does not. I posted it because it seemed to have a decent description of the devices. The nice thing about ^that^ route is that you don't have to worry about recurring costs, just the one time cost of the device.

A hotspot would probably work, but then there's a monthly recurring cost. Plus, make sure that you figure out what cell provider has good service in her room too. You don't want to sign up for carrier XYZ and find out that they have bad service in that corner of the building but someone else has great service.

I have two of these scattered around our house. Easy set up and works a treat.

NETGEAR Wi-Fi Range Extender EX2700 - Coverage Up to 800 Sq Ft and 10 devices with N300 Wireless Signal Booster & Repeater (Up to 300Mbps Speed), and Compact Wall Plug Design
$19.99 on Amazon

Getting the nursing home to spend any money on more wifi gear is likely impossible. You might get a repeater to help her signal, but it the connection is slow, make sure you make sure no one else is sharing the repeater's broadcast.

The hotspot is likely your best bet. I doubt she does a lot of downloading or streaming. Finding a carrier that has a good signal in the area is your hardest challenge. Maybe look at coverage maps and where the cell towers are to see if your signal is good.

Instead of paying extra per month for an additional node hot-spot....

Is it possible to:
Building router--> Room router--> Cable or wifi--> Computer?

If you are willing to spend a little bit of money ($229) and do the setup for the Nursing Home, everyone will have excellent coverage. This will be cheaper in the long run than a Hotspot.

This is an older model, but this AC3000 level system will work just fine. The two "remote" units do not need to be wired in.

https://amazon.com/NETGEAR-Orbi-Ultra-Performance-Whole-System/dp/B085HZDM3B

We improved ours by putting in 165 Aruba APs, replacing the Xirrus units that were there.

Well, not ours any more as we didn't get along and I work elsewhere, but the point remains. Some will do the right thing.

If not a hot spot, does she have her own phone line? DSL?

I'de offer to spend the money on the device (its next to nothing really) if they can get the cable pulled

I bought eero 6 when they were on sale on Prime Day. Relatively easy set up. And of course now Amazon has more of my data...