Wifi solution for bigger house?

Question

I have a 200 m2 (2150 sure feet) big old house (read thick walls etc) divided into three floors. I need good internet access on all floors as I use it for streaming movies (both from local storage and internet) and music etc all over the place.

Today I have one single Apple Extreme but there are a few places in the house that don't have access at all and really just a few places with good access.

1. What kind of performance could I really expect from such a device as a Apple Extreme? Should it cover the whole house if placed better for example?
2. Are there other access points devices that does a better job and could cover my needs?
3. I'm thinking of a HomePlug system with for example a few Apple Expresses spread out over the different floors with same SID - good or bad idea? And what might be a better idea?

Answer 1

I'm not really familiar with Apple extreme but here's what advice I can give you:

1.) With thick walls almost any router won't be able to do a whole house that is large. Some suggestions: It might not be best to use extreme or any other one without internal antenna. IDK if Apple has a different design but usually routers with antennas outside perform better. Also, if it does have them outside some routers allow you to change them to get different antennas that should work better. Read reviews on Amazon. Some routers can give 300+ feet (which will be much smaller with thick walls but still). (See #2)

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2.) A good alternative:

ASUS ROUTER

Not sure where all the less than 5 star reviews are coming from. I set the router up yesterday (and I'm not an IT guru) in 15 minutes. Secured wireless on both frequencies with different SSID's for each and unique passwords. Range is at least 50 ft better than the Linksys e2000 that it's replacing. And I'm getting great speeds throughout my 2 story, 2100 sq. Ft. Home and at least 75 ft. into my back yard. Entered this review from my iPad 2 while drinking an adult beverage from my patio. Highly recommend this router to anyone that wants great range and fast download speeds!

Despite the no antennas (ironically) it seems to have 300mbps wireless and 900mbps over Ethernet. Seems like a nice alternative with fairly good range but you'll have to read through many more reviews with your house to make a wise decision.

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3.) That is a common approach... you don't have to use that brand although. They are genericly a powerline adapter. MAKE SURE TO DISABLE DHCP ON SECONDARY ROUTERS IF USING SAME SSID. You may also consider adding routers that are designed to pick up the original WiFi signal and repeat it ("repeaters").