The other solution you could consider is expensive and assumes that the house electrical system was put together properly.

With powerline 500 series your could have as many as 4 wireless systems installed to provide proper coverage. The powerline kit I recommend

One powerline would go in the room with the existing cable modem and router being used then you would place another powerline in the other room and attach an Access Point to it and in that way you cold get coverage where you need it. You would need to properly configure the router and access point(s). Do some research on powerline stuff.

Or You could try the R6300 in the current location [where your modem is situated] and see how well it performs in your environment. It may surprise you and me :) with powerline added you then could then very easily extend your network by adding another R6300 in client mode and really have a dynamic system in place :)

With POWERLINE networing you cannot use power strips -- you must have direct acces to the electrical outlet in each room of interest. If this house is in an area that is subject to a lot of electrical storms then I would discourage the use of powerline networking.

If you hired a professional they would be able to hide the wires so the the wireless router can be placed properly. If you cannot place the R6300 properly to get whole house coverage like I suggested earlier perhaps you should consider some other solution.

Can this model use third party firmwares? I hope this one can reach farther and better than a Linksys WRT54GL router.

If you plan is to cover the whole house wirelessly then I would suggest you follow my placement advice and get a Netgear R6300 router which should easily cover the entire area of Interest.

The Cathedral-Vaulted Ceilings would work to your advantage with the kind of wireless router I suggested --- again if placed properly.

I have 2 of the R6300 wireless router in service in Homes slightly bigger than yours [5500 sq ft and 7300 sq ft] with Cathedral-Vaulted Ceilings. My clients are very please with the coverage they are getting.

You can try a "N" router. Just remember, they greater the distance, the lower the speed.

Why are they against running a cable for another access point? This pretty much guarantees success.

Not to be a jerk, but I think you should sub this piece out. It doesn't sound like networking is your expertise? Please take no offense.

General usages are: Surfing the web, e-mailing through webmail, watching streaming videos, one online gamer, downloaders, etc.

So no HD streaming videos, fast local copies, on the wireless? It will be like slow 10mb/sec wireless? I assume wired connections will be OK. I think at most, it will be just one or two wireless connections.

What is a dual-band router? Is that G and N together? What would I do if I got one in the future (e.g., WRT54GL dies).

A range extender will do a nice job to EXTEND your range however it will also cut your speed/bandwidth by 50% or more ..... so that means that if you have multiple people and devices actively using your wireless network and due to the fact that most [not all] wireless networks are shared medium each active used will get very poor performance --- so if performance is not an issue because you will not have multiple users or devices active then extenders work. FYI multiple users would include people and devices like printers, ipads, iphones anything thst uses your wireless infrastructure.

The new wireless AC technology like the Netgear R6300 utilizes Multi-user MIMO so each user who is AC compliant and actively using the wireless network will have maximum speed/bandwidth allocated to them MUCH like a switch works in a Ethernet wired network.

This Range Extender should work:

»homestore.cisco.com/en-us/adapte···prod.htm

I used this range extender before for something and it seemed to work well. All you need to do it plug it in towards the center of the home. No wires. :)

If you have an Android phone, there's a WiFi Analyzer app.

If you're going to try to test it "live" you'll need to go into the setup on the 2nd device and set the IP address to something different than the one by the modem. You also need to set DHCP to DISABLE.

You can use the WRT54GL as either the router or access point. Ideally, you could use a ceiling mount POE access point. The CAT5 cable would carry both the signal and power to the access point and then you could just mount it in the ceiling in a place most central. I really don't recommend putting a unit in the attic. It is a powered device and sometimes the A/C adapter gets hot and you don't want a fire up there. Let me think about a ceiling mount A/P that's easy to configure.

So run a CAT5 cable from the existing router to a more central location via the attic and connect an access point. Pretty easy solution.

No attic either?

I was talking about running a cable to another location for a second access point. You can try a wireless bridge but your client probably won't be happy with the performance. There's really only one way to obtain good wifi coverage and unfortunately, that involves running cable.

The 100 ft is probably diameter and that's pushing it. Just remember, as the distance between the PC and the access point increases, speed decreases. You can buy an access point or another router and configure it as an access point. Do you have the ability to run a cable between the existing router and other locations say via the basement?

The ability to cover a large area is primarily dependent on where the wireless router is placed. If you paid attention to that aspect your wireless coverage would improve significantly.

The rules for proper placement is as follows;
[1] As Central as possible in the location
[2] As High as possible in the Location

In a one floor house like you show I would place the cable modem on a wall shelf 2 feet from the ceiling and as close to 45 feet being the central distance between the points of interest.

If you paid close attention to placement it is possible that your existing Linksys would provide the coverage you are seeking.

You're going to need more than one access point. My rule of thumb for a residential access point is 40ft. radius.