My family and I have just moved into a new house in the country. It's old, so it has really thick walls. Now, the downside of this is that my 802.11g router (and the wireless cards in our PCs/Laptops) doesn't have enough range to reach upstairs, since the floor is so thick.. I mean, it works, but I keep getting intermittent disconnections, and they get even worse when I close my bedroom door or move too far away from the router.. I know upgrading to 802.11n would be costly, so I thought there might be some alternatives to boosting signal range.. My sister told me about her friend who has some sort of signal boosting device.. but I can't find any anywhere.. Anyone have any ideas?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=487774 - just one example of a repeater. You can use most wireless "routers" as repeaters, tho a dedicated one, is often a little easier to set up. Other options include Home Plug (networking through the mains), or wiring up the house!
The repeater looks like a good bet.. How does it work, exactly? Does it connect to the router via Ethernet? Or Wirelessly? or either?
repeaters tend to be quite unreliable. if at all possible, run some cable to the top floor and set up a new wireless access point there. use the same SSID and WPA key and the devices should be able to do seamless handover between the two access points.
Cable is the best, or if you just need it to your room, a directional aerial is best, you can make them from tin foil and such.
i've been meaning to try one of these at work, dont see why it wouldn't work. kind of ghetto looking though. http://www.instructables.com/id/Uni-Directional-WIFI-Range-Extender/
Sounds like the best plan as far as what my dad will go for.. I'll suggest the idea to my dad tonight, see how he feels about running a cable upstairs.
If you want to stick with wireless without the extra cables, it can be done. Downside? It costs more. Go for some more high-end wifi hardware, and you'll find the range extends quite dramatically. For instance, the Netgear Prosafe WG302 access point performs much better at long distance than the company's Wireless-N stuff. I use these at work, and have tested them against the Netgear WN802T in hundred-odd year old houses when setting people up at home. The Prosafe always wins, no matter what wireless adapter the client is using (b/g or n).
