Computer Wi-Fi help

[hound dog]

Ok, this is for all u computer swavey guys. My wi-fi in home system does not reach throug-out the house. I have a D-Link system, but its upstairs and i have an open floor plan, so its on a lofted area. My downstairs around the corner master bedroom gets no service.

Is there a booster i can plug in, Im not familiar with them.
I may need a whole new wireless system, if so, what is great but won't break the bank.

[Neck]

There are wifi boosters. Some are as simple as plugging into a wall outlet and letting it find an boost your signal. There are a ton of them on Amazon.

Might read this as well...

http://lifehacker.com/5931743/top-10-ways-to-boost-your-home-wi-fi

[BigPigSticker]

Is it possible for you to put your wifi device downstairs instead of upstairs. Signal carries up better than down.

[sportsman]

Another option is piggy backing off the original. But you would need to run more wiring to the second location from the original.

[Loneaggie]

Odds are you could add a booster, or simply upgrade your router if its an older model. Dual -band N routers with beam-forming have a pretty big footprint. Mine is in the SW corner of the house downstairs and I have service throughout the house upstairs and down, the pool on the North side, and even the garage which is separate. D-Link is meh. For range hard to beat Asus.

[TimH]

A lot of factors go into WIFI performance. It's possible your access point has a menu option where you can setup the range of your signal.

[hound dog]

thanks guys I appreciate the help.

[buckmastertexas]

If you can run a cat 5 Lan cable from your router to the attic, run it the area above where you need coverage and put another wifi access point there. You will nee to power it up, though.

[doppelganger]

could always use a range extender, you can just google for them.

[ItsLeo]

Like others have said. Dual Band N is a good way to go. And there are boosters that can help.

The higher frequency channel will carry farther than the lower frequency channel but not all wi-fi N-devices are dual band capable! What this means is they won't pick up the higher frequency even if the signal reaches them. They don't have the hardware to do it. The high frequency signal is invisible to them.

You absolutely need to be aware of your wi-fi devices capability.

If a device only works with Wireless-G your router may automatically kick down to wireless G mode. That will reduce the signal speed for all your devices. If one device connects in wireless-g mode than all devices will have to. The only way to prevent this is to change the settings in the router to lock it into N-mode only. You'll have to log into the router through a hard wire connected computer to do it.

Also experiment with fixing the channels of the signal so that they don't hop automatically. Go through each channel one by one and see which one gives you the strongest signal at the desired location. It's takes so time but you might find out you don't need the booster.

Setup two separate networks with each band on the dual band router. Connect the slower speed ones to the low frequency network and the higher speed ones to the high frequency network.

[Playa]

It could be as simple as mounting the router facing down rather than right side up. Maybe mount it on the celing so that the signal transmits down.

[Jtrage]

If you can run a cat 5 Lan cable from your router to the attic, run it the area above where you need coverage and put another wifi access point there. You will nee to power it up, though.

This is going to be your cheapest option. Buy another cheap router that can be set up at an access point. How old is your house? Most houses in the last 10-15 years actually have CAT5 cabling for the phone lines. You just have to go in and change the 'plugs'. Not hard. I did it and am hardwired in every room since we don't have a landline phone.

[hound dog]

New house. Has cat5. I do have another router. A netgear-G. Could I use that one in anyway?

[TimH]

New house. Has cat5. I do have another router. A netgear-G. Could I use that one in anyway?

No reason you couldn't at least plug in your your netgear-g as a stand alone device and see what kind of coverage it has compared to the current one. I doubt you'll be able to use it though to to extend the range of your existing WIFI network.

Another thing, are you locked in to keeping it where it's at, or can you move it to another jack somewhere in the house? If you have to keep it where it's at, what all is in the room with the AP and is it close to anything that could be a source of interference?

[blacksunshine]

No reason you couldn't at least plug in your your netgear-g as a stand alone device and see what kind of coverage it has compared to the current one. I doubt you'll be able to use it though to to extend the range of your existing WIFI network.

flash it with dd-wrt....