Basic tweaks:
1.) Relocate your current wireless router in your home. One thing to note is that putting the wireless router in a central location will provide you with a more balanced coverage (as opposed to the basement). Of course, you will ultimately be tied to where you can place, because of where your internet comes into your home.
2.) Wireless signal best operates in open airwaves and less through solid materials. If you remember back to your physics class, you’ll remember that the more solid materials (and types of materials) that your wireless signal has to go through, the weaker it’s going to get. So place your wireless router in a higher location where it won’t interfere or have objects in the way of its wireless signal.
3.) Other wireless interfering devices can affect the strength and quality of your wireless signal. Keep your router away from things like cordless phones, microwaves, florescent lights, and other wireless culprits.
4.) Over time, the older model may not be as good as a newer model router. Also, wireless signal standards and breakthroughs occur which allow for better wireless speeds and signal distance. These days, you can get into a decent, new entry-level wireless router for cheap.
5.) You can purchase a wireless signal range booster or extender. You don’t have to be a computer whiz to work one of these, because these days they make it so easy and straight forward. First you will usually go through a CD setup and then it will have you find a viable “sweet spot” location (usually about 50%-75% of the distance from your wireless router)
Technical tweaks:
1.) Choosing the right channel makes all the difference. Wireless signals in North America have 11 channels and only 3 of the 11 are non-overlapping channels (1, 6, and 11). When wireless routers first came out, they all defaulted to the middle channel, 6. Most products these days are smart enough to choose the least congested wireless channel during initial setup, but usually the router won’t scan again. Over time, other wireless routers in your area could have shown up and now that initial install channel that your router chose isn’t so ideal. Imagine 11 different rooms and everyone is chatting at once to get in their two cents. It’s going to get pretty noisy and very soon it’s going to be very difficult to understand another person. So what do you do so you can hear that other person? You leave to another quieter room. The same goes for wireless routers. Either have the router choose the least congested channel, or you can scan the airwaves yourself with some tools (netstumbler or inssider) and choose a channel that best suits your area. Usually a safe bet is channel 1 or 11.
2.) Update the firmware for your router. Newer software usually will come out with performance and signaling tweaks that can help give your old dog new tricks. If you really want to, you can flash your router with third-party firmware that will give you more control and granularity over the settings that you can tweak. Check with the third-party software developer to ensure your router is supported with their software. A good start is DD-WRT. You can search online for other third-party software that will meet your needs.
3.) The new N standard can operate at both 2.4GHz (20Hz) and 5GHz (40Hz). By far, 2.4GHz wireless signal goes much farther than 5GHz, because of the way the signal wavelength is (more physics anyone?). When N routers first came out, they were set to automatically select which frequency it would operate at. Nowadays they have defaulted back to 2.4GHz (or in most consumer routers it shows up as 20Hz).
4.) The wireless antenna or software driver/firmware that your laptop has will also make a difference on how well you pick up wireless signals. If you have an older laptop, it will be cheaper to just go buy a USB wireless stick. If you are about to buy a laptop, best to research it a bit. If you are really picky, choose a laptop with a better antenna diversity as some are better than others. For the most part, newer laptops have decent antennas so it’s not something to overly worry about for daily usages.
5.) Most routers ship with a standard omni-directional height antenna. The height and gain of the antenna also makes a difference. Check out your local electronics store and find a bigger antenna that will work for your router.
So those are just some of the many avenues you can explore to extend your wireless network range. Remember, the more you spend on the devices you invest in, the better quality, full-featured, and long sustaining use you will get out of it. If you ever have questions or would like to discuss your wireless needs and what can be done to help get more use out of your network, call Northern Computer and a certified technician will be more than happen to assess your wireless needs. Happy networking!
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#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca
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