Wireless access point experience

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm considering getting a wireless accesspoint for in my rooms. We live in a very old building with thick walls and in my rooms (2 floors up from the router and 1 floor up from the extender/repeater) wifi reception often fails.

The computer store advised me to get another repeater/extender but the only place on my floor with a decent wifi reception is two foot thick walls away from my bedroom and I think that won't solve my problem. An access point I could put in the doorway between my two rooms.

The only thing that's holding me back is the difficulty of setting it up. I've looked through the manual of one access point and it seems to me that it's not easy to set up. But I also know some manuals make things look more difficult than they are.

Has anyone got experience with setting up an access point? Is it easy to do for someone who doesn't know much about setting those things up? Is there any brand better or easier to set up than others?

[CRussel]

I don't believe you want an access point, but rather a bridge/repeater. An access point must plug in to an existing wired network. If you've got a wired network, then pretty much any router or access point will work. (Most wireless routers can be run as simple access points.)

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I don't believe you want an access point, but rather a bridge/repeater. An access point must plug in to an existing wired network. If you've got a wired network, then pretty much any router or access point will work. (Most wireless routers can be run as simple access points.)

I have a wired network switch in my room, so I had planned to hook up the access point to that. The reason why I don't think a repeater/extender will work is that the only place on this floor where there is a somewhat reliable wifi connection is two walls each at least a foot thick away from my rooms. Considering I can hardly get a good connection from the extender one wooden floor down and, in the nearest of my rooms, one wall away I expect two thick walls on the same floor will also cause problems.

If I understand it correctly with a bridge you can hook up wired computer equipment to a wireless network, which isn't what I need (that's why I have the switch). I figured that I can put an access point it in the doorway between my two rooms and have good coverage.

I'm going by the computer store tomorrow to see if I can pre-order the new Asus tablet (one of the reasons why I want to get the wifi sorted) I'll ask about it when I'm there.