How best to get a better WIFI signal?

[gthomson50]

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

[KenB]

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.

[gthomson50]

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

[BeeCeeBee]

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.

[KenB]

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