# Wireless Signal & Speed are Strong in Some Parts of my House & Weak in Other Parts



## aga87 (Aug 27, 2010)

*Wireless Signal & Speed are Strong in Some Parts of my House & Weak in Other Parts*

I have wireless internet connection in my house and in certain parts of the house the connection speed and signal strength are low - presumably the weakening signal strength is lowering the connection speed. I think the answer is that I am going to need to get some kind of booster or accept that there are areas in the house where I am not going to get a strong signal. What I want to do is share what steps I've taken to make sure that I have done everything and then if it is time get a booster figure out what my options are:

*This is what I have:*
Computer: Dell Latitude D610 (laptop)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
ISP: BellSouth / AT&T DSL
Maximum Transmission Speed: 54 Mbps 
Wireless Equipment: D-Links DSL 2640B - it is being used as both the modem and router. 
Wireless Card on Laptop: Dell Wireless 1450 Dual Band Mini PCI Card

*This is what has been checked and done thus far:*
My drivers are up-to-date.

The channel setting was changed from 11 to 6 on the modem / router and then changed back to 11 because that made the problem worse.

The modem / router is located on the top level of a house and I do much of my work on the main level below in two separate spaces. I get a strong signal (med to very high / 48-54 Mbps) in one of the spots that is below the modem / router - actually it is not immediately below but about 10-20 paces away from that spot.

In the second space the signal strength ranges from low to very low and the speed usually ranges from 11 to 18 Mbps, occasionally it gets to 24 Mbps. In the past I had a problem with the disconnections, what is a more common occurrence now is that when the page does not load or is slow loading it will show a speed of 1.0 and the indicator light on the connection icon does not flash. I "fix" this by moving the laptop over a foot or two hoping that it will pick up the signal, disconnecting and reconnecting to the wireless network or turning off and turning on the D-Link device.

The second space is one level below and 35-50 paces away from the router / modem. There are walls and doors in between the two spots and I live in an older house so the walls are substantial but they are not concrete. I have tried to open all the doors between the router and the laptop and that has not helped. It's been a while so I can try again - I don't think I was looking at the speed that closely, just looking to see if the reported signal level improved, e.g., jumped from low to medium.

The modem / router was on a metal cabinet / metal desk drawer, I put two boxes on the cabinet, so now the modem / router is 2-3 feet away from the metal. I can't really move the modem / router any further because I am constrained by the Ethernet and power cords, although if someone thinks that is an issue I can look into getting longer cords. Additionally I don't have a lot of options for moving the modem / router too far away without the cord being in the middle of the floor and also having to build some kind of shelf for it, now if that is the silver bullet and will get me from 11 to 48+ Mbps, I will try to figure something else out, but if all it will get me is more stability or just a slight boost in strength and speed then it is not worth it. The situation is that the modem / router is in a home office that is used by another family member so I don't have free reign to change things around. Again if this is the silver bullet and will get me to 48+ Mbps then it may be worth trying to negotiate or ask someone to be possibly inconvenienced because I may need to rearrange the office. One other thing, the office is not continuously occupied and will not be occupied for the next 3-4 days, so I can and am willing to experiment.

The modem / router is in a room above the kitchen which has a microwave. I was told that the microwave may impact the signal - is that true even when the microwave is not running? Will unplugging the microwave help? I am kinda iffy about this because I think the microwave is also "in the way" of the spot on the main level that is getting a good signal. There is a cordless phone in the office that is near the modem / router but that was ruled out because the phone is a 900mHz and is also "in the way" of other places where there is a strong signal. I was told that TVs aren't a problem unless they are LCDs. I was also told that things like light fixtures and appliances should not be a problem. Again is there a problem if the appliance is plugged in but turned off? I have not tried unplugging things but I am willing to do that.

*Is there anything else I need to troubleshoot, rearrange, check settings on or whatnot?*


*If needed, what are the options when it comes to Wireless Signal Boosters?*
From what I have researched there are devices called repeaters that may help out. I have heard the word extender used, is that the same as a repeater?

Also antennas seem to be another option - there are omni-directional and bi-directional antennas which I am still trying to figure out. Do these go on the modem / router, the client (my laptop) or is it mounted somewhere along the path between the modem / router and the trouble spot?

I have seen USB in some of the descriptions so does that mean that there are cards or other accessories for the laptop that address this issue.

Do any of the homemade solutions work - although I am not mechanical enough nor do I have the materials to do anything complicated?

I apologize if this has been covered in other posts and if it has please provide a link or a search term. I have been researching this matter on this and other sites and the information that I am finding is dated (2 or more years old) and perhaps that is still valid, but I want to check and see if there are different options now?

Thank you! :smile:


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

*Re: Wireless Signal & Speed are Strong in Some Parts of my House & Weak in Other Part*

Hawking Tech has a number of products that will help you increase your wireless range. The root page is Hawking Hi-Gain™ WiFi Range Extending Products.

Some of the more interesting products are this Hawking [HSB2] Hi-Gain WiFi Signal Booster, which can be used on either end of a wireless connection to boost the signal power.

Another way to increase your signal strength is by the use of hi-gain antennas. You can choose from omni-directional or directional models, here are a some examples.

Hawking [HAI7SIP] Hi-Gain 7dBi Omni-Directional Antenna

Hawking [HAI15SC] Hi-Gain 15dBi Corner Antenna

[HAO14SD] Outdoor Hi-Gain 14dBi Directional Antenna Kit

For 802.11n applications, this ZyXEL ANT1106 6db omni-directional antenna can be used.

For really long range outdoor applications, this 24dB parabolic WiFi Antenna may be a good choice.

If you have a wireless adapter that doesn't have provisions for an external antenna, one adapter that I've had good luck with is a Rosewill RNX-G1 USB Wireless Adapter. It's feature is that is has a removable antenna and will accommodate replacement antennas.

This is just a sample of available products, many people have hi-gain antennas with similar specifications, but I haven't seen any other suppliers of signal boosters.




Another option is to run an Ethernet cable from the router to a remote location in the house and configure a secondary router as a WAP to increase the signal coverage. I use a combination of hi-gain antennas and a secondary router here to get full coverage in this 5000 sq/ft house.



Connecting two (or more) SOHO broadband routers together.

*Note:* _The "primary" router can be an actual router, a software gateway like Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing, or a server connection that has the capability to supply more than one IP address using DHCP server capability. No changes are made to the primary "router" configuration._

Configure the IP address of the secondary router(s) to be in the same subnet as the primary router, but out of the range of the DHCP server in the primary router. For instance DHCP server addresses 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.100, I'd assign the secondary router 192.168.0.254 as it's IP address, 192.168.0.253 for another router, etc.

_*Note: Do this first, as you will have to reboot the computer to connect to the router again for the remaining changes.*_

Disable the DHCP server in the secondary router.

Setup the wireless section just the way you would if it was the primary router, channels, encryption, etc. Note that you should use the same SSID and encryption key for the secondary router but a non-conflicting channel. I recommend channels 1, 6, or 11 for use for the best results.

Connect from the primary router's LAN port to one of the LAN ports on the secondary router. If there is no uplink port and neither of the routers have auto-sensing ports, use a cross-over cable. Leave the WAN port unconnected!

This procedure bypasses the routing function (NAT layer) and configures the router as a switch (or wireless access point for wireless routers).

For reference, here's a link to a Typical example config using a Netgear router


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