View Full Version : Boosting radio output from a wireless router
Flypuppy
2nd May 2006, 21:46
Have a small problem with my wireless router. Moved house recently to a bigger house that has much much thicker walls. I am limited to where I can site the router to one room, and as such the signal only reaches 2/3s of the house. Pulling additional cables is not an option either.
Is it possible to download/update dodgy firmware to boost the radio signal? If so can anyone point me in the right direction? Any other options anyone can think of will be welcome.
Many thanks.
Buy a repeater (50 quid or so). Problem solved.
airborne_artist
3rd May 2006, 05:50
Or you could experiment with ways of improving your reception. If you have external USB adaptors then get a USB cable and wave the adaptor round the room to get the best signal. If that fails then you could experiment with a parabolic metal shape such as a wok!
Search on "wifi antenna" to find what people have made.
Install an directional antenna at your workstation(s), if you have an antenna to begin with, or give your USB wireless workstation adapter an extension cord (several meters) and check if any other place in the room is better for reception. The recent 108 Mbs wireless routers are often better at establishing connections, even when used with older 11/54 Mbs workstation adapters.
Jinkster
13th May 2006, 08:44
Try ebay for a bigger aerial or remote one.
spannersatcx
13th May 2006, 09:05
I fitted a directional booster antenna from Maplins (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=wifi&SD=N&doy=13m5)
Flypuppy
14th May 2006, 10:31
Thanks for all the suggestions :ok:
I accidently came up with a solution. Was shopping for a repeater when I stumbled across a power line WAN system. It was cheaper than the repeater and I have a spare WLAN router so combining the two has been the easiest and most cost effective way of doing things.
Was impressed with powerline LAN system. It really is plug and play, with no faffing around or software needed. The one I got provides 85Mps data transfer, which isn't too bad and extending the system is simply a question of buying another adapter and plugging it into the wall. It all seems to be too good to be true, am I missing something fundamental here?
airborne_artist
14th May 2006, 13:58
It all seems to be too good to be true, am I missing something fundamental here?
Is it encrypted? If not then your neighbours might be able to share your WAN connection, and your data?
Flypuppy
14th May 2006, 16:20
It is encrypted, there was some software that allowed me to set that up, but according to the manual, it is unlikely that anyone can access the system from the other side of the electricity meter. They would also have to have the same power lan adapters.
Setting up the encryption took all of two minutes, including installing the software. So far I am impressed.
Yes there's a snatch. I'm speaking now from a Finnish perspective, but your house should be receiving several (3) phases from the power company. At your house, these phases are distributed around the house to different wall outlets for a better overall balance across the phases. In my house, to determine which wall sockets are quaranteed to belong to the same phase I'd just remove the fuse at the fusebox and check which wall outlets then become dead.
This prologue I gave is because the signal is typically unable to connect from one phase to another. If one wing of your mansion is receiving only phase X, the other wing phase Z, those two will have trouble communicating (without a bridging device of some sort).
But in the UK, it's most unusual for a house to be connected to more than one phase. The tendency is to put each house in the street on the next phase from the one before. Hence it's not likely to be a problem.
OT: we have a small cottage by the lake in the countryside, and we get 3-phase @ 25 Amps each. That's in fact the "entry level" contract.