Way outside my comfort zone looking to add wifi hotspots for a limited time to two houses at Chautauqua, NY

Hi,  My wife runs a program for young people (19-25) from around the globe who get to spend the month of July at Chautauqua. 

Not the most wifi friendly place in the USA.  Each of the two houses where the young people stay has dsl wifi.  It is weak, doesn't get all the way to the top floor of each of the two houses and is just weak.  

I'd like to give them some strong signals as most want to Skype or whatever home to their folks most days, etc.  I'm sure you follow...  Please don't pile on, I'm doing the best I can!!!

Are their commercially available devices/suppliers who can provide us with a one month's service for two specific addresses?????

I recall a young man on a visit to Italy who pulled out a small "device" and said, you can all sign on this is a hotspot.  We're good...

Please help this "old" guy figure out how to make these young people feel welcomed and plugged in!

Just in case you might wonder, one of the exercises we ask them to do is go without their phones for a full 24 hours.  Should be interesting!  

Best Regards,

Ron Carter

If the house is getting dsl/high speed and you have a wifi router then what you need are probably just extenders.  You can buy inexpensive plug in extenders that will boost wifi range.  We added one in our backyard where we couldn't even run Spotify and now we can stream video.  Same in the far front of the house.

If the speed coming in to the house is too slow to start with that's a different case.

dsl is sllloooowwwww. You need a cell hotspot. Go to each of the major carriers and find the town on each coverage map. Pick the one with the strongest signal.

looks like Sprint may be best according to this map - http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=Chautauqua%2C+NY+14757%2C+USA|coverage

Depending on where on the grounds you are, you may be able to use the Institution's wifi. Hotspots are here:

http://ciweb.org/phocadownload/General/chqwifi.pdf

Nestor Plaza, Main Gate, Hall of Missions, Athenaeum Hotel, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Bratton Theater, the Arts Quad, Bellinger Hall, Youth Activities Center and Smith Memorial Library.

It isn't clear that DSL's slowness is causing a problem, but we know wifi signal strength is a problem. I recently installed a Ubiquiti wireless access point (WAP) to our house for the same reason. I ran an ethernet cable from the router to the WAP. Configuring this thing is tricky if you're not a seasoned network administrator, but I or another consultant could help with that. Is it conceivable to run a cable through the building to an upper floor? I'd charge you $60 for the setup. I'd have it ready to plug and play.

There are signal boosters, but they are troublesome to set up and don't work reliably. You really need a cable between the router and the WAP.

I'd bet one of the "young people" will optimize the connection you have within hours after their arrival .  

Perhaps you should wait for their input.

Another idea: Move the DSL modem and router to the top floor. No new WAP. It might make all the difference you need. All you need is a phone jack.

Tom, any thoughts on eero?

kthnry said:

Tom, any thoughts on eero?

Never heard of it. The commercial is excellent, and the product looks promising at least. I hope to hear reports of it, because they clearly know the problems they are addressing.

God, I love this board.  Duh, Ask a Young Person, Duh!

There are several new ideas at least to me here so I hope to read some!

Best Regards and as always Thanks,

Ron Carter

God, I love this board.  Duh, Ask a Young Person, Duh!

There are several new ideas at least to me here so I hope to read some!

Best Regards and as always Thanks,

Ron Carter

Ron, let us know your plans and progress with this. It sounds important to get it working reasonably well, so you better start soon.

I don't know when the last time you tried but I was able to simply plug into the wall.  That's it.  No set up.  Also it bumped my wifi in those dead spots from basically 0 to 30-40 mbps (we get 60 closer to the router).

Tom_Reingold said:


There are signal boosters, but they are troublesome to set up and don't work reliably. You really need a cable between the router and the WAP.

I know it's a temporary thing, but maybe replace the current router with a higher performance one, perhaps from this list(?): http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398080,00.asp. A few IT acquaintances swear by the Dlink for range in large office/warehouse combos.

Also, see what flavors of DSL are available at the location.  Verizon has a 15mbps down, 1mbps up flavor, but you have to pay extra for it. 

Hi All,

We won't have access to the properties until quite late in June just prior to the opening of Chautauqua.  Will try to do some more research on your ideas.

For those of you who haven't yet ventured to this little haven in the summer, here's a  great take on it from a New Yorker:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/travel/an-edification-vacation.html?_r=0

And an article about one of our young people:

https://chqdaily.com/2015/08/10/the-front-porch-joe-abi-khattar-breaks-bread/

-Ron