I'll be moving to my new house soon and I need wi-fi access throughout the house. I have an old Linksys b/g, which has served me well for the last few years. The problem is, my new house is much bigger, almost double the sq ft, and is two levels. I have the house wired with CAT5, but it'll be primarily used for our mobile phones, laptops, and guest computers, which will need to work throughout the house. All my devices currently use wireless b/g connections. In my current house, connectivity drops at the other end of the house and I'm afraid it'll be worse in the new one.

Would a new wireless b/g/n router help with the range or are all the connections predetermined based on their frequency? Would an antenna extender work?

I'm stuck between upgrading my access point, which may not help with my connectivity since I can't take advantage of N yet. Or, is it worth investing on an antenna to extend the range? I've even considered simply plugging in an additional access point downstairs.

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Arnell

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Minion #865
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Check out http://www.dd-wrt.com/

It's an alternative, open-source firmware for Linksys routers. It basically unlocks much more powerful options inside the router instead of sticking to the fairly conservative (some might say hobbled) limits from the factory default firmware options. You can crank the radio output up much higher--on the default Linksys firmware, you usually have no option at all on how much juice is going into the antennas.

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Thanks Elix. A bit confusing as to which should be downloaded, but I'm sure with some reading I'll figure it out. Can't do this option right now, for the risk that I could brick my router. I have mission critical things this week, so I'm going to hold off till after.

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if you are going to be there a while i say check out a new n network, your backbone will be strong and the devices you connect to it from now on will be able to take advantage of it. especailly with the emerging trends of sending video all around the house multoplie channels and all you will eventually need it. i personally like and always have belkin. i am running a g+ network and contemplating upgrading to N. belkin has a lifetime warrenty on a lot of thier stuff. your going to need a big fat network around the house eventaully so why not go off and do it. run a smaller g+ for work and an N for your household needs. belkins routers can often be configured as access points and they are more readily avaialble and cheaper than access points i have found.

okay so i need to explore spell check, forget i am not on an iphone or a mac

I've had both good and bad luck with repeaters. The worst experience I had was having half of a wireless network go down because some guy two houses down had an old microwave oven that didn't have any RF shielding - he would knock out entire wireless networks for a good mile, which made the repeater utterly useless.

Another problem I've run into is proper configuration. Some repeaters are easy to set up because they simply propagate anything on the 2.4GHz wavelength. Others are more specific and require a lot of tinkering to get right.

Of course, I've had good luck with repeaters. One repeater was able to extend the range of a local network from ~60ft to over ~180ft (and beyond, we didn't test how fast the signal dropped off).

If your network is really mission critical then skip the repeater step and setup a second access point. It sucks jumping from one network to another, but if you really cannot afford downtime then the redundancy of a second access point is priceless.

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Thanks guys for all great suggestions. I think I'll take advantage of all your points.

I'm thinking of investing in a new (N) router, and at the same time centralize it somewhere on an upstairs room (centered somewhere in the middle of the house). This hopefully will cover everything downstairs as well as up. If coverage doesn't work, I'll take my old router and use it as a secondary access point.

I've considered the effects of having two access points and as for our phones, they will jump seamlessly over each network. If work needs to be done, we'll have to stay in one place. Hopefully, we won't need to do this.

'Bliv, you made a good point, since I'm spending the money, why not invest in the new technology now.

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Arnell

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Minion #865
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"Don't judge me, because I'm a hypocrite!"

Google "DD-WRT" and the exact model (and I mean exact) of your router. There's a wiki page somewhere (or, there was) with exact instructions for each.

Also, Arnell, it's usually possible to recover bricked routers, but not particularly easy.

You should also be able to daisy-chain access points over ethernet on the router and have some act as repeaters that way. Remember, standard CAT5 ethernet cable has a range of 100m/300ft, so you should be able to run it through the walls clear across the house unless you're moving into an aircraft hangar and you haven't told us. If a router's going to be against an outside wall and you have no use for wireless outside, put foil or something against the wall behind the router so that its signals are reflected back into the house. Note: I am not a network infrastructure engineer.

Also, never underestimate the power of a Pringles cantenna.

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Thanks Elix. I found the correct instructions for my particular router. The website was pretty straight forward in pointing me in the right direction.

Unfortunately, I'm not at the point where I can risk the router going down if I fuck shit up. I the router/access point keeps my office running to everything I need. Plus, my sister-in-law will be here working as well. Therefore, I'll have to wait until I get a new one, then take the chance if the coverage isn't good enough.

I'm aware of the limitations on ethernet connectivity, so I have no worries that it can be done. That being said, I had the whole house wired for CAT5, so each room has an outlet. I would just have to make sure it's wired correctly at the box, where I'll have my switch. As for the "Pringles Cantenna", that shit is priceless!

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Arnell

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Minion #865
ArnellTheBlaster.com
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"Don't judge me, because I'm a hypocrite!"

My old WRT54G finally fucked up and stopped forwarding ports to certain things (despite it being set up to do so), so I put WRT-DD on. Worked perfectly. Just a tense two minutes of "Fuuuuuuck, please work, please work..." However, it didn't fix the failed port forwarding, and I'd bought a new router like 18 months before (when the router fucked up hard and was needing reboots every 2 hours until I applied a firmware update that made it a lot more stable), so I tossed it and put the new one in anyway.

I'd suggest buying a cheap one, then try flashing the firmware after hours. If it fucks up hard, just pop out the other one and swap it in while trying to unbrick it. If it does work, use it for the main router and then hook up the new one at the other end to act as a network bridge.

Don't disrespect the Cantenna, bitch. You wouldn't believe what sort of range you can get out of directional cans. I'm talking a thousand feet and better over open air.

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