extending wireless router range

kenny1 · 01-18-2009, 10:38 AM

Hello all,

I am in a room at the top/front of a large 3 story home and the wireless router is located (by necessity) at the very bottom and in the very back of the house - basically as far from me and with the most material in between as possible. Consequently the signal I'm getting up here from the router is very poor to non existent. It works intermittently, but is tragically slow and cuts out regularly. I'm actually able to get a slightly better signal from one of the neighbors unsecured routers, but that's unreliable too.

Can anyone advise me as to the most effective (and affordable) range extension or signal amplification or repeating devices? Any feedback appreciated.

Cheers,
Kenny

DavidHB · 01-18-2009, 02:43 PM

Repeaters are certainly available, but not cheap. Have you considered an ethernet powerline adapter (or, rather, a pair of them)? Again not cheap, but, from all the reviews I've seen, quicker and more reliable than most wireless connections.

**johnwill** · 01-18-2009, 03:00 PM

First off, personally, I'd forget power line networking. My experience with them has been abysmal with them.

You can start by orienting the wireless antennas horizontally, since the greatest signal propagation is perpendicular to the axis of the antenna.

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

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.

FaBriC · 01-20-2009, 10:48 PM

Or maybe try a router with multiple antennas or get a 802.11n router (they have two antennas)
Multiple antennas allow the radio signal to follow multiple paths and get further converged. (elimination multipath distortion)

Cheers
FaBriC

Mod edit: remove advertising

01-18-2009, 10:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
kenny1 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 7 OS: xp	extending wireless router range Hello all, I am in a room at the top/front of a large 3 story home and the wireless router is located (by necessity) at the very bottom and in the very back of the house - basically as far from me and with the most material in between as possible. Consequently the signal I'm getting up here from the router is very poor to non existent. It works intermittently, but is tragically slow and cuts out regularly. I'm actually able to get a slightly better signal from one of the neighbors unsecured routers, but that's unreliable too. Can anyone advise me as to the most effective (and affordable) range extension or signal amplification or repeating devices? Any feedback appreciated. Cheers, Kenny

01-18-2009, 02:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
DavidHB Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: UK Posts: 151 OS: Vista x64 SP1; XP Pro; Ubuntu 8.10	Re: extending wireless router range Repeaters are certainly available, but not cheap. Have you considered an ethernet powerline adapter (or, rather, a pair of them)? Again not cheap, but, from all the reviews I've seen, quicker and more reliable than most wireless connections.

01-18-2009, 03:00 PM	#3 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,623 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: extending wireless router range First off, personally, I'd forget power line networking. My experience with them has been abysmal with them. You can start by orienting the wireless antennas horizontally, since the greatest signal propagation is perpendicular to the axis of the antenna. 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 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. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

01-20-2009, 10:48 PM	#4 (permalink)
FaBriC Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 6 OS: Vista Sp1	Re: extending wireless router range Or maybe try a router with multiple antennas or get a 802.11n router (they have two antennas) Multiple antennas allow the radio signal to follow multiple paths and get further converged. (elimination multipath distortion) Cheers FaBriC *Mod edit: remove advertising* Last edited by johnwill; 01-23-2009 at 01:34 PM.