gthomson50 Posted July 2, 2012 Posted July 2, 2012 Hi All i moved to a new flat wih an older laptop, wireless card is a/b/g the router however also runs N. my bedroom is upstairs directly above the router in the living room but signal is poor and there are dead zones upstairs. Should i get a USB N adapter for the laptop or a more expensive signal booster/repeater? which would increase my signal strength/connection speed best? The boosters run at about £50, but the usb N adapters at 300mbps are roughly £15-£30 so i want to know how much i should spend. I don't want to buy one, find out it doesn't do the trick and have to fork out for the other. Appreciate your help. Thanks Gordon Quote
KenB Posted July 2, 2012 Posted July 2, 2012 Hi and welcome to ExTS there are dead zones upstairs If the signal is that poor upstairs I would be inclined to invest in the repeater. Quote There is an email going around offering processed pork - gelatin - and salt in a can ......this is simply SPAM !! MiniToolBoxNetwork TestWireless Test
gthomson50 Posted July 2, 2012 Author Posted July 2, 2012 Hi ken, thanks for your help! Networking is not an area I'm overly familiar with (as you can probably tell) so my question on the booster/repeater is, does it just spit out what it receives or will it amplify a weak signal? I'm trying to figure of I should position it upstairs or downstairs to get the best results Thanks again!! Gordon Quote
BeeCeeBee Posted July 2, 2012 Posted July 2, 2012 It seems that Ken is not here at the moment so if you will appreciate that he, I'm sure, knows far more about networking than I do, I will try to move things along. Where you put the repeater is a matter of trial and error to determine what is best in your environment. I would suggest that you position the repeater as close as you can to where you intend to use your laptop. Find a place where you are getting a strong connection from the router to the laptop and as long as it is a reasonable distance to the desired location you should be fine. One thing that has not been mentioned is your broadband speed. From what I understand, a repeater will eat into that somewhat but if you have a good broadband connection it should not be burdensome. Also you have not actually said that the router is wireless N. I think that is being assumed by the way you phrased your post. Have you considered borrowing a friend's laptop that is wireless N and seeing how it works at your location. Maybe invite him/her over and buy a pizza. Quote "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." Mark Twain
KenB Posted July 2, 2012 Posted July 2, 2012 Hi again BeeCeeBee has made some good points. This may help - it is Netgear - excuse the ham acting at the beginning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw8qaomfcTg Quote There is an email going around offering processed pork - gelatin - and salt in a can ......this is simply SPAM !! MiniToolBoxNetwork TestWireless Test
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