Nursing Home WiFi

[Stars101]

Hope someone can give me some guidance.

My FIL (age 80) is in a nursing home after pneumonia. It looks like it will be a permanent situation. He gets very anxious not seeing my MIL since they've hardly been apart for 50 years. calls aren't cutting it.

The nursing home has WiFi in the opposite wing from FIL. Imagine getting off the elevator - go left and that area has Wifi. Go right and you are in my FIL section. No one can answer if the wifi reaches in his area.... it may, but I haven't been able to verify.

Thinking ahead - is there anyway I can boost a Kindle Fire HD7 so he can Skype with my MIL? I'm not sure this is possible with a cheapy tablet... but he's able to hold the Kindle in his lap and adjust it. He can't manage to adjust a laptop sitting on his tray table b/c he's too weak to move much.

does an antenna even work with a tablet? Can you recommend something that could get the job done? they don't need HD quality, just seeing her face and hearing her voice would be fine.

Please don't suggest an Ipad. I have access to a Kindle, and MIL's laptop and that's all I can afford now b/c I also have to help her get wireless in her house.

Thanks.

[Stars101]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I learned some new info to tuck away for another day...

It looks like if he stays (probable) he would need to have a phone line run from Verizon. So I am assuming that we can get internet access right to his room at that time. I see many private networks from my computer when I'm in his room, and they all have a strong signal. The only one that is too weak to pick up is the nursing home's network. I think they'd both like it, but it might be a waste of money since he will only be able to access it if someone helps him. We will play it by ear. I can always cancel it.

I did set up a router at my MIL's house. I grabbed one from Walmart. But I appreciate the Securifi Almond option if I ever get really stuck sometime 🙂

[1492]

Smitty77 wrote:
Not sure of the bandwidth needed for Skype'ing? Be aware that most 'extender's', cut the bandwidth or throughput speed in half.

Single radio extenders or repeaters cut the router's rated wireless network speed by half or more depending on the model, but not necessarily internet access speeds. It depends on how fast your internet connection is to whether you will see any reduction.

[Smitty77]

Not sure of the bandwidth needed for Skype'ing? Be aware that most 'extender's', cut the bandwidth or throughput speed in half.

Very cool that you are trying to help give them some regular face time together!

Best to you, them, and all,
Smitty

[Bumpyroad]

all that is needed is for the nursing home folks plug in an extender $69 at walmart, someplace at a nursing station, storage room, etc. into a wall outlet at the closest location that provides an adequate signal to bounce. then it will serve everybody in that wing/area with wifi. it will benefit everybody, not a single USB plug in device.
bumpy

[1775]

Try to see if you get any bars at all in his room from the wifi. A range extender will only work if there is a signal to grab on to extend. Even one bar will do. If he will use a laptop, you may also find that a different wifi adapter will pick up the signal where the internal laptop wifi receiver (and likely older version) won't. These are inexpensive and run through a USB port - but not for a tablet just a laptop. Sorry to hear your FIL has to go through this - hopefully if you can get the slightest signal you can extend it - OR demand he be moved to a room in that other wing - for his emotional health just for this reason.

[Stars101]

Thanks again everyone.
!!!

[wa8yxm]

There are two authentication problems (Well 3) that are common.. i will list them

1: Wrong password (you typoed it)
2: Wrong encryption protocol (yes, on some devices you have to manually select)
3: No room, no room, no room at the inn (This has only been a problem for oh, around 2,000 years that I know of). Story follows, no not that one.

I was at a campground,, they had taken a Linksys router out of the box and plugged it in, the SSID was still Linksys in fact.

Well I was helping folks get connected when they could not connect and I kind of got tired of it.. how did I do it.. I manually set the IP address for the Wi-Fi adapter and showed them how to re-set to auto.

Finally I realized.. Hey, I know the default admin password for Linksys routers,, I tried it,, Yup, they had not changed it

Router could only hand out 50 IP addresses,,,, I upped it to 100

Next day I'm helping a young lady connect.. She ask why So I logged in and pulled down the user log.

YOu see, when they plugged in the router some of the members had laptops (me for example) but by then we had Laptops, PDA's Tablets and I-Pads, and CELL PHONES all trying to connect.. here's one "Suzie's I-Phone"

yup, she was Suzie.

So what is the moral.. Might have just flat run out of IP addresses for you to use.

I only do widows adapters.

[Stars101]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I visited today with my tablet. I can get wifi about 50 ft. away. I hope a booster would work. But if not he will most likely be mobile enough that walking/taking him out to the elevators. There is a small sitting area there and the signal is strong. So that might work as well.

But the Kindle said "authentification problem". The nursing home gave me the password, and I entered it, but still couldn't connect.

Now what do I do?

Re: smart phones - need to keep this as cheap as possible. If I lose a kindle, who cares? If I lose a smartphone - I CARE! Not many people want to steal a Kindle 🙂

[wa8yxm]

Stopped in at Wal*mart a couple weeks ago and in the CLOSEOUT room they had...

http://www.tp-link.us/products/details/?categoryid=218&model=TL-MR3020

Mine is white, may be a different model, 34 dollars.

Looked like a possible backup for what I use now.. and so it is works great. A friend is using it..

This MIGHT do the job.

Page 2:
I think it is GE (might be Motorola) makes a device where you plug it into a power outlet, plug a Cat-5 into it at one end

Plug another (The mate) into anothe routlet and cat-5 again, to your own private router.. If the home could see their way to do this (if you paid for it) Problem is they may have to shop for a same leg outlet to get it to work

problem 2 is I really do not like those devices

But the TP-link is doing well

it has 3 modes.

Mode one: 3g4G plug in a USB Wireless internet Dongle and it will work like a CradlePoint router (Many threads around here on that)

Mode two, Hook to a computer using Ethernet, log into it's browser page (192 168 0 1) (I left the dots out) and set it up.. NOTE> this was not as easy as I expected but I got it to work. Now you can connect via that same cat cable, or via Wi-Fi to it

Mode 3: Access point

Run a Cat 5 or Cat 6 Ethernet cable back to the home's router and this thin will let you access the router via Wi-Fi.. (Best mode if home will agree)

NOTE: you can use two of them with a run of Cat-5 as a long range repeater

The unit has a battery but uses a common 5 volt USB charger.

[Bumpyroad]

sch911 wrote:
It's an easy test with your smartphone to see if there is a WiFi signal in the FIL's wing. Just turn on you smartphone's WiFI and see if it detects the signal....

reminds me, years back I had a little "sniffer" I think it was called. would show LEDs lighting up as to signal and strength.
bumpy

[Golden_HVAC]

How about this small antenna, it is external to the laptop, and tiny.

http://www.amazon.com/Hawking-Technology-Wireless-150N-Amplifier-HAWNU1/dp/B003SVOR2K/ref=sr_1_1?s=p...

It looks about 6" tall?

Good luck,

Fred.

[hitchup]

FaceTime works much better than Skype for us on the road. We don't even need a wifi connection because we bought it through ATT when we upgraded our iPhones 2 yrs ago.

Best part, a mini-iPad is only an extra $10+ tax a month on our ATT data plan.

[sch911]

It's an easy test with your smartphone to see if there is a WiFi signal in the FIL's wing. Just turn on you smartphone's WiFI and see if it detects the signal....

[Bumpyroad]

1492 wrote:
You need what is called a WiFi Range Extender Router, which is nothing more than a repeater. You'll have to set the WiFi SSID and password into the range extender, and it will receive the weak signal and re-broadcast it for use with your other WiFi devices. You can keep it on all the time in his room as long as they allow him to do so. .

yep, I use one at the lake, picks up the signal and broadcasts it around the house. about $69 at walmart. much more reasonable than a separate smart phone, etc.
bumpy