How to extend WiFi?

[Frank Rizzo]

Hello, this is probably the wrong newsgroup to post, but I couldn't find
any other ones, so maybe someone can point me to the right place.

I have Wi-Fi 802.11g setup in my house and it works very well, except
for 1 room, which is the farthest away from the wireless router. In
this room, the signal is workable for very weak (things take much longer
to download). How do I extend the range of the wireless setup? Can I
install another wireless router in the room? If that is the case, how
do I make the laptop automatically connect to the strongest wireless
signal as I shuttle my laptop from room to room?

Do wireless repeaters actually work or not? I've tried one (from
airlink) and it actually made things worse.

Regards

 

[Wowbagger]

Repeaters can work extremely well - especially if the same brand as the rest
of the equipment. Some mfr's (LinkSys, from personal experience) have a
powered antenna that attaches to some of their wireless routers that made
all the difference in the world at one site. In some cases you can also get
powered/improved antennae for the remote system as well.

So basically you have five options:

1. Physical wiring (which includes networking through powerline)

2. Replace entire wireless infrastructure (at one 8,000 sq ft house where I
set up a wireless the only thing I could get to work were Belkin pre-Ns -
lots of guilding, leaded crystal light fixtures/windows, metallic paints...)

3. Powered antenna addon at wireless router

4. Improved antenna at remote system (or a new network card... the wireless
USB adapters that came from Dell didn't work in less-than-optimal conditions
very well)

5. Repeater somewhere in the house.

 

[Richard in AZ]

Repeaters can work extremely well - especially if the same brand as the rest of the equipment.
Some mfr's (LinkSys, from personal experience) have a powered antenna that attaches to some of
their wireless routers that made all the difference in the world at one site. In some cases you
can also get powered/improved antennae for the remote system as well.

So basically you have five options:

1. Physical wiring (which includes networking through powerline)

2. Replace entire wireless infrastructure (at one 8,000 sq ft house where I set up a wireless the
only thing I could get to work were Belkin pre-Ns - lots of guilding, leaded crystal light
fixtures/windows, metallic paints...)

3. Powered antenna addon at wireless router

4. Improved antenna at remote system (or a new network card... the wireless USB adapters that came
from Dell didn't work in less-than-optimal conditions very well)

5. Repeater somewhere in the house.

I had a similar problem with computer located out in a back-yard shop. I bought a Linksys Wireless
Range Expander and now the signal in the shop is excellent. The Range Expander is located in the
kitchen which was the closest room to the shop. The Linksys Range Expander did not require any setup
(plug it into a wall outlet and push a button on the box). The wireless router is a DLink and had
no problems. Note, I do use MAC filtering on my router so I did have to add the MAC address for
the Expander to the router permission list.