There are a few ways to accomplish whole house wifi.
Extra router hardwired at other end of house
I have an ATT dsl wifi gateway that was installed when Uverse internet went into my neighborhood, which left me with my original Wifi router (Asus RT-N16 running tomato) unused. I already had my house wired for ethernet whenever I built it, so I installed my Asus router at the other end of the house opposite of my ATT router by hardwiring to a LAN port on the Asus. On tomato, I turned off the WAN connection and set a static address on the router LAN side. I then setup wifi with the same Wifi SSID and password as my ATT router. Now I can walk through the house and the PCs, kindles, phones will jump from one access point to the other seamlessly.
Easy way - Wireless extender
My inlaws got this: TP-LINK TL-WA850RE $30.00 on Amazon. Just plug it into the wall, somewhere in range of the original router and after setup, it will receive and boost/retransmit the wireless signal. They had one bar of wifi on his laptop on one end of his house. He installed this unit in the center of the house, and now he has full signal throughout the house.
quote:
Also, what are the general thoughts on placing the router in the attic setting on the gypboard.
If you are in the southern US, I think a router in the attic will die fairly quickly as most consumer electronics are not rated to run at 120+ that an attic will get in the summer. Stick it high in a closet or a bookshelf.