Router question

[Steve H]

I changed ISP's a couple of weeks ago (from wildblue to a local outfit). Part of the deal was that tyey were to add a wireless router to my system so that I could use my laptop in the other end of the house. They put in a D-Link Rangebooster G. I'm not at all impressed with the preformance (or lack of) of it. If I'm in my living room with the lap top, ~50' away and 4 walls the signal drops tp "low" and the "speed" drops to around 10 mbps..............Anyone reccomend a good router with ethernet for 2 desktops and wireless also that will cover more that 30 feet and not be stopped by walls?


Thanks
Steve

[JM Anthony]

In my experience, walls causes havoc with wireless routers. Three walls within about 25' caused real problems for me. The way I beat it was to install a repeater. Problems vanished.

Good luck.

John

[P Smith]

No, that's nature of low powered WiFi APs.
Move it to adjusted room or into attic if your targeting rooms on same level.

[funhouse69]

Wireless is a very strange beast, pretty much all of the current "G" Routers are the same and have the same power levels so you would run in to the same problem. You could try one of the new "N" Routers but the chances that your laptop will have a card built it is slim. "N" is supposed to offer a much greater coverage which would equal out to better speed within the working distances.

Other options would be as previously mentioned here to move the Wireless Router / Access point closer to where you are usually using the laptop or to the attic. In my house which is over 100 years old and 4 floors I have 2 D-Link Routers placed at opposite ends of the house configured exactly the same (with the exception of their IP Addresses) and that works very, very well. Keep in mind that the routers are hard wired together so they are really acting like a bridge and not a router but you could use one of them as a router if need be.

I have tired repeaters and felt like it did boost the signal a bit but added latency to my network which was very noticeable. You could try a few different solutions while taking advantage of your local Best Buy or other electronic stores return policy.

Hope this helps a little.

[Steve Mehs]

You run the third party firmware from Sveasoft on the Linksys WRT54G or GS, and crank up the power levels way above the default. I forget the max you can go as I purchased a new router and am running the factory Linksys firmware. The higher you go the hotter the router will run, but you will get a nice boost in range. I've also replaced the regular antennas with the Linksys high gain 7dbi antennas. What’s nice using Sveasoft is that you can customize to power level for each antenna.

Flashing the router is a very simple process, but something goes amuck you will turn it into a door stop, so do it at your own risk.

[funhouse69]

You run the third party firmware from Sveasoft on the Linksys WRT54G or GS, and crank up the power levels way above the default. I forget the max you can go as I purchased a new router and am running the factory Linksys firmware. The higher you go the hotter the router will run, but you will get a nice boost in range. I've also replaced the regular antennas with the Linksys high gain 7dbi antennas. What’s nice using Sveasoft is that you can customize to power level for each antenna.

Flashing the router is a very simple process, but something goes amuck you will turn it into a door stop, so do it at your own risk.

You actually mentioned something that I totally forgot to mention. In my setup I also have a external Hi-Gain Antenna's on my Routers. I found that they do make a difference. Keep in mind that no all routers allow the use of external antennas. I know that Linksys and D-Link do and Netgear does not. Other than those brands you will need to do a little research.

[Steve Mehs]

Any router that has detachable antennas with TNC or SMA connectors can have the factory antennas replaced with high gain ones. Not all Linksys routers have detachable antennas though. Not sure if the new N routers have them.

[Cholly]

What is the orientation of the antenna on your router? Quite often, signal strength is improved greatly by simply changing the orientation of the antenna.

[P Smith]

From male type to ... :D

[JM Anthony]

...
I have tired repeaters and felt like it did boost the signal a bit but added latency to my network which was very noticeable. ...

I must have hit the sweet spot with my set up as the signal was boosted dramatically with no noticeable latency.

Whatever you do, good luck!

John

[Steve H]

What is the orientation of the antenna on your router? Quite often, signal strength is improved greatly by simply changing the orientation of the antenna.

Tried both.................vert. is a bit better. Problem is the feed coming into the house is at a far corner of the house (one desk top is there). I would have to run a bunch of cable to move the router. I'm thinking a "relay" may be the answer.

[HIPAR]

Home routers are 'flea power' devices and transmission at 2.4 Ghz with non line of sight is always problematic. I'm amazed Wi-Fi works as well as it does. Things like Rangebooster only work if you have compatible devices at both ends of he circuit.

A home router that always gets rave reviews for connection reliability is the ZyXel X-550.

You can also look into higher power access points such as those offered by EnGenius but you will also need a hub to connect the wired computers. Although the power is higher and receiver sensitivity on these devices is very good, you will still find places where your notebook will receive well but cannot connect because its doesn't have enough power output. I use an EnGenius EOC-2320 outdoor access point and it works well.

I measured the power gain of a DLink 7dbi omni directional antenna. It has no gain over the antenna that is typically supplied with a home router. The antenna element shows about 2 db gain but that is canceled by power loss in the cable. You might get improved performance because you can place the antenna where the signal propagation is naturally better.

A free program called NetStumbler is good for doing signal power measurements.

--- CHAS

[P Smith]

Chas, I could give one hint, but it woulnd't be fair to all ppl who bought home grade AP.
Well, anyway - taking out Cisco MiniPCI board from their AP and using it in NB will give the _compatible_ boost.