Thanks! I'm going to check online for the best option among these—we're definitely far short of 10k square feet, so we probably don't need a mesh network.

JZ, I think you'll be fine with one extender, which is why I wanted to know the model of your existing router.

javachik, Netgear N300 (I was out until just a little while ago and only just got a look at it).

I have one network extender and it allows my Xfinity router to cover my whole house. The one Vonnie linked to should solve your problem.

There is a two node Orbi that would probably be excellent for you place.

We're starting out with the one Vonnie recommended, because... well, it's in our budget. It arrives on Thursday, and we'll see if that does the trick or if we need to scale up.

It's really not a large place at all; it's just long and narrow and all the outlets are weirdly placed.

Thank you so much!

We're starting out with the one Vonnie recommended, because... well, it's in our budget.

Same. If the cheap one doesn't work I'll probably get an eero but my house really isn't that big and it's just this one corner (where the desk is, of course) where the wifi doesn't always reach.

ARGH. It arrived today and I think it could work (the signal is nice and strong even in the front bedroom), except that it seems to think it's an extension of our old network, not the new one.

The old one still shows up as a phantom network periodically in our list of available wifi networks, even though the router it was tied to is long since dead, the new one has a new name and new password, and all the devices that ever connected to that old network are long gone. The new extender is persistently telling me it's called "[Oldname]-EXT" and it fiercely repudiates the password for the new network.

Of course neither Hec nor I has any idea what that old password was, how to exorcise that phantom or how to convince the extender (just a box with antennae) that it's actually extending the new network, not the phantom.

eta: HOLY MOTHERFORKING SHIRTBALLS IT WORKS NOW! I went online, registered the extender, declared my sole ownership of it, and BOOM, it coughed up the ancient password. It still thinks it's connecting to the phantom network and not the actual one, but I don't care. It can think whatever it wants as long as it works. I'm typing this from my bed AIFG.

Thank you, Buffistas all, and thank you, Vonnie!

Yay! I'm glad that it worked for you.

One thing I've noticed with this extender is the fact that it extends the coverage under a new wifi network name. So with my FIOS router, I have "FIOS_something" for my living room, and for my bedroom, the network name is "FIOS_something_2GEXT". The issue I'm seeing is when I carry my wifi connected laptop from my bedroom to the living room. It's supposed to effortlessly toggle between the two network (I mean, it's really one network, but extender makes it behave like two overlapping ones) but it... kinda doesn't. If I carry my laptop to the opposite corner of my condo from the bedroom while I'm connected to the "2GEXT," it loses the connection. I usually manually have to go to the list of wifi networks and select the main one for it to start working.

It's more of an annoyance then a real issue, but sometimes a girl likes to move around the house while holding the laptop on one hand and a coffee cup on the other, you know? Well maybe I should quit doing that...

Oh yay -- I also now have this need! Am ordering now. Coming soon: wifi on the back porch.