Network range expander

[holy god of nil]

I need a cheap and cheerful access point to extend the coverage of my wireless, only needs to be G rather than N, emphasis on the cheap as has to be acceptably priced for a house of stingy students. Any recommendations?

[pipTheGeek]

Extend?
You will be able to easily set up a NEW wireless network, obviously if you position the new access point away from the existing one then you will have more overall coverage but you won't be able to seamlessly move from one network to the other.
This also assumes you can run a cable to wherever it is you want to put the new AP.
There are some devices that can act as a wireless repeater but most don't seem to work with WPA encryption and compatability seems hit and miss.

What is your current access point? Can you change the antenna on it? Relocating, changing the antenna or upgrading your AP to something with more range may be a more satisfactory solution. What sort of problems do you have with your current coverage?

If you still want a cheap and cheerful AP then I suggest one of the tp-link AP's. I know of three in use, all perfectly stable. One is one end of a link from my house to a house 3 doors down the road. The other 2 are both used (by different people) to connect their house to their parents' house.

[Agent]

Extend?
You will be able to easily set up a NEW wireless network, obviously if you position the new access point away from the existing one then you will have more overall coverage but you won't be able to seamlessly move from one network to the other.

Yes you can - it's called WDS (Wireless Distributed System)

If going down this route though, it's always best to stick to the same brand (and model if you can!) as it's not a standard as such. This means you can't be certain different vendors hardware will play nicely with each other, although a lot will.

[spoon_]

Homeplug + AirportExpress?

[MaddAussie]

I use one of these http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Edima...-%28Realtek%29

It can also be used as a wireless adapter for on xbox with a little giggery pokery

[peterb]

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ign=Barker3607

Might fit the bill.