WiFi All Over the House

I wanted to get my WiFi signal all over the house.

Structural challenges:

1. Two floors to cover.
2. The house is solid. Mostly concrete and hard wood.
3. Not to many options for the location of the router.

What I have to work with:

1. ZyXel Router ( P-2612HWU-F1) from PLDT (my ISP)
2. TP-Link Router (TL-WR941ND) with three (3) 5dBi antennas
3. DSL (Telephone Wire)
4. Three (3) 9dBi omni-directional antennas

TP-Link TL-WR941ND (Front)

TP-Link TL-WR941ND (Back)

The story: 

The task was to get the WiFi signal all over the house so that everybody can enjoy it--even in their rooms. I cant do so much with the ZyXel Router from PLDT. The antenna (Single 5dBi) is fixed and configuration is very limited. Although signal strength is good when in the open areas, even when at the second floor, but signal was either very poor or lost when in the rooms. Again I cant do so much with the router and wired connection of any type is not an option here.

For the problem above I thought of adding an additional router (thus TL-WR941ND). The TP-Link router would get its internet from the ZyXel which so happens to be the modem also. This connection would be wired from one of Zyxel's LAN Ports (usually color yellow) to the TP-LINK's WAN Port (usually color blue). Under default settings you should be able to get the internet from the Zyxel to the TP-Link Router as soon as you wire them together. No configuration out of the ordinary is required. But remember though for this setup TP-Link's WAN Connection Setup should be set to  Dynamic IP. This will allow the TP-Link Router to automatically get information from the other router.

To address the structural challenges I placed the TP-Link router at a very high elevation (at the center of both floors). Physically this made the router closer to each floor. I then replaced the three (3) 5dBi antennas that came with the TP-Link Router with high gain 9dBi antennas (12dBi antennas or those that come with an externally powered range booster mount would be even better). I specifically purchased this type of router because #1 the antennas are replaceable (thus I can upgrade) and #2 it has three (3) antennas and uses MIMO technology. The antennas are triangularly positioned and are tilted forward. This allowed the center of the doughnut-shaped radio signal to focus on my target "dead spots". Note that the router is placed on top of the wall on one side of the house, thus signal should be pushed forward.

At first I changed the radio frequency of both routers and distanced them to lessen interference and overlapping  (ZyXel channel 1 and TP-Link channel 4). Having other wireless devices operating close to each other in the same or close frequency would affect signal performance. But I eventually just turned off the radio of ZyXel as I didn't need any wireless connection from there.

The results:

Success! I got a stable signal in all rooms even when doors are closed. The signal strength indicator doesn't register a full signal when inside the room but its not low and the most notable part is that its stable. Ping results are also good, I got an extra hop since I have an extra router but its not a factor specially for home users.

My Actual Setup

Failed setups: (Resulted in unstable signal strength when inside the rooms) 

1. Same configuration but TP-Link router was placed at a slightly lower elevation.
2. Antennas are positioned normally (not tilted forward).

Notes:

1. Radio signals are weakened by interference (such as walls and doors).
2. The capacity of the radio signal to pass through infrastructures also depend on the materials used in your building/house/site.
3. TP-Link's firmware (TL-WR941ND) can also be upgraded to DD-WRT. But I didn't try it here. I do have a Buffalo box with DD-WRT and features are good (more benefits for advanced and IT users than home users).
4. I like Cisco (Linksys) routers but didn't use them here since antennas are built-in
5. For those with old TP-Link routers and are familiar with the old web interface, the new one is better.
6. WDS Option is available for TL-WR941ND but didn't use it here to save on the cost of a second router. I did try it (ZyXel + Tp-Link) but failed. I think it was due to some configurations in the ZyXel. Everything was good in the TP-Link box. And WDS is a whole different story.