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General discussion

Help getting (relatively) fast internet to my basement

Sep 27, 2009 11:46AM PDT

I have a Verizon FIOS setup in my home on the second floor of my house. I have an xbox and a slingbox in my basement. I do not have an Ethernet setup in the basement. I have tried the Ethernet bridge through the wiring to no avail. I would like to get internet access to my xbox and slingbox at a high rate of speed wirelessly. How do I do this? I am completely willing to buy hardware for this, but I'm not willing to spend the money to have the wires run through the house. Microcenter recommeneded a D-Link N Dual Band Router, but I'm seeing bad reviews on this. I also need to know what to hook the peripherals into. I'm a noob...please help.

Discussion is locked

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Powerline Adapters
Sep 27, 2009 10:20PM PDT

You mentioned "Ethernet bridge through wiring", which I assume is a powerline network. What problems did you have with this? Maybe it was just a poor quality adapter kit. Unless you are having some kind of issue with signal quality through the actual electrical wiring in your home, I would recommend giving this another shot. Either that or pay to have ethernet wiring run down to the basement. The distance and obstacles will greatly reduce your chances of having a good Wifi experience, especially with an XBox and Slingbox attached.

Take a look at the powerline adapters from Linksys and Netgear. Around US$150 for either system, but probably worth it in your case.

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Powerline Adapters
Sep 28, 2009 12:51AM PDT

I actually do have the Linksys model. And while it seems to be working for the XBOX, though slowly, it's really not functional at all for the Slingbox. I can get a connection, but the video comes in exceptionally choppy.

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Wired Is Your Best Option
Sep 28, 2009 2:54AM PDT

My choice would be to run a network cable. It's a very cheap DIY project, or any electrician should be able to do it for a small fee (can't be much more than what you paid for the powerline adapters anyway). You'll certainly get better performance versus wifi.

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Simply turn the antennas on the router
Sep 29, 2009 6:08AM PDT

so they are horizontal (flat with the floor, ground, whatever) then it will be broadcasting your WiFi signal up and down instead of to the left and right. Though I'm unsure reading through your comments weather or not you do currently own a WiFi router. If you do not, any N or N+ WiFi equipped router should be strong enough to give you internet on every floor of your house and the yard surrounding it, because it does for me and mine sits in the farthest corner of the house. Hope this helps some...