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Originally Posted by Lex Luthor
Dane, what Fish described is by far the best option.
However, if you want a quick and dirty option, you could always go with a power line adapter. It uses your home power lines as the physical network cable. I know, it sounds like a horrifically bad idea. When I first read about these things I thought it was the dumbest idea I'd ever heard, but later I decided to give it a try. I have used them successfully to get decent network speeds on the second floor of my house (my Internet service is in my basement). You plug in the power line adapter close to your cable modem, and run an Ethernet cable from the modem to the adapter. Plug the matching power line adapter in on the second floor. Then you can either run an Ethernet cable from it to a cheap switch like Fish described for use by devices with Ethernet ports, or you can run it to a cheap wireless access point for use by wireless devices.
The main difference between a wireless access point and a router is that the router often acts as a DHCP server (it assigns dynamic IP addresses), and it can be connected directly to your ISP connection. The wireless access point doesn't do that. It just extends your existing network to wireless devices.
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Hey Bud, I tried the TP Link power line adapter in my wife's office but it was essentially the same as the Extender, between 20-25 Mbps.
The nice thing about the Extender is that we get 5 bars on the top floor, which provided a solid signal for our Roku equipped TV's but without it, the signal is very weak.
It sounds as if the best course of action is to hire a company to run Ethernet cables under the house and to rooms in the opposite side of the home, then set up the Netgear extender as an Access Point, while adding a gigabit switch to my wife's office.
The other issue is that we're paying $29.99 a month plus tax for a second VoIP line but if we can achieve a fast, reliable signal to my wife's office, we could drop that expense, as she would be able to make calls on her iPhone in her office, which she's unable to do at this time.
If so, I'd have no problem bumping up to 300 Mbps, which should be more than sufficient for the time being.