WiFi question

[Stevens]

I have a Cisco Linksys E2000 WiFi router in my "office" at home. It works fine in there, but, the walls in the house are pretty thick and the signal is weak in some of the rooms farther away.
Are routers avaiable in different strengths, if so how is that measured, Are there 'boosters" to ampilfy the signal and pass it on to the other areas where the signal is weak?
Thanks!
Steve W

 

[Dragon88]

You could get a router that allows you to attach an external antenna. Then attach a high gain omnidirectional antenna, or even a directional if that would work for your floor plan. Gain is measured in dBi or dBd.

Another option is to add a Wifi Range Extender to your setup to cover the areas with weak signal.

 

[DesertFox]

Best way is to attach an additional WiFi access point (wireless router) connected via a cable. Repeaters or boosters are mostly snake oil as they will cut overall throughput in half by the nature of their design.

 

[MrAmbassador]

You need to add a wireless access point in the area where your signal is weak. There is a little bit of addressing to do, your wireless router is 192.168.1.1 transmitting on channel 1 most likely. Your access point would be addresses 192.168.1.2 and set it for channel 6 to avoid overlap and you're good. Repositioning the existing router is an option. Make sure your antennas are parallel to each other, spreading them like TV rabbit ears will cause problems.

 

[J Rich]

Yes routers have different signal strengths. I have not had good luck with Cisco or Belkin. My 8 year old Dynex performed better than a new Belkin at twice the speed. I'm now using a Netgear 4000 that is located on the second floor and I still get good signal across the street and 2 houses over at the pool/clubhouse.

Routers are measured in mega bytes per second. I have not used a range extender so I can't recommend a good one for you.

 

[quneur]

The Linksys E2000 is a dual band N300 router. Meaning it delivers 300Mbps (middle of the road 802.11n standard). Make sure you are receiving the 5Ghz band instead of the 2.4Ghz. Also make sure your security is set up with either WEP/WEP2 or Mac Addressing. One uses 26bit/52bit(?) key the other only allows certain machines. If someone(s) unauthorized is using your Wifi, it could slow down as it has to feed all users - more users, more it has too work. That's the reason most home routers limit the number of people.

 

[cmort666]

Where in the home is the router located?

I had a customer once who had one on the top floor of his home that couldn't deliver a signal to the PC in the basement. I had him move it to the living room on the ground floor. That gave him just enough signal for the systems on the top floor and in the basement to work.

Wireless can be EXTREMELY tricky. I once had a customer whose PC could get a signal when the router was in the same room, but if you moved the PC a foot into another room, on the other side of a wall, it completely lost the signal.