It depends on the NIC's you have in the computers in the other part of your house. If they can receive an adequate signal from the wireless router you are using in your existing net, then you will not need a wireless access point. I used to connect two computers on the upperfloor to the wired LAN on the ground floor using a Buffalo wireless access point. My LAN now uses a D-Link gigabit DIR-655 802.11g/n wireless/wired router. With the new D-Link router, both computers on the upper floor get a strong enough signal so the Buffalo WAP is no longer needed. Those computers use an HP NIC which has an external antenna that is much better than the little stub antennas on most NICs. There are some relatively inexpensive NICs with external antennas with modest gain. I'd suggest trying that first.