advice request: wireless coverage ideas

[dangit]

hello all,

I need to improve my wireless signal strength in my house without moving furniture, wired devices, etc..

My primary considerations (in order of importance) is signal strength, uptime, link durability and price.

I would like to hear what people suggest before I plunk down any more cash, so that I can 'get it right' and move on to other projects.

I am weighing the following:

• router types
• powerline ethernet to connect an AP to the main router
• manufacturers
• draft n vs. b/g

Currently, I live in a 3 floor house (basement, main & second). The house is not wired for ethernet. The house is rectangular.

I have one D-Link DIR-655 in the basement at one end of the house. It is in the room all way to the back of the house on that floor. We have a telco closet in there and an office with a printer and a desktop pc with a wired gigabit ethernet port. I have two mac laptops and two dell laptops, plus a tivo

The wireless coverage is good in the basement and on the main floor. On the second floor directly above the router, the wireless signal is good. However, the signal drops in the middle of the second floor and is gone from there to the opposite end of the house from the router. So, net effect is a large wireless dead zone on the top floor at the opposite end of the house.

I have put together the following possible solutions and am open to more.

• 
  [*]wireless and wired - add a router turned into an AP via powerline ethernet. currently considering staying with d-link for this. I would use their powerline devices and maybe a dir-625.
  [*]100% wireless - get an apple airport base station for the basement and an apple airport express to plug in as a wireless range extender.
  [*]all of the above - use the powerline ethernet and go with the apple airport gear.

I really don't want to call electricians to rewire my house or start drilling through walls, myself. I'll use the power or wireless, but that's about it. Once I get it up, I don't want to keep rebooting the devices because they lose connection between each other. I'd like this thing to work and stay working.

I'm really looking for detailed analysis of my proposed solutions as well as any detailed alternate plans (including make/model, band, key specs).

Thanks!

 

[msabo]

Well if you want to try something quick and cheap, you could construct a parabolic reflector for your wireless router. It takes 20 - 25 minutes. Here's a template and instructions for one with 9 dBi gain.
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html

I enlarged the template and built one for my wifi network. From my office to the family room in my home is 4 walls (dry wall) and a fireplace which has a tile surface. I now get 85% - 90% signal strength whereas before I was getting 25% - 40%.

 

[Tamarin]

A more conventional approach would be to get a second router/AP device set to be an access point and place it in the dead area. Since you can't/don't want to run a network line, it sounds like linking them w/powerline is the best bet. As for which individual model device to use, I'd suggest checking the reviews on this site, as well as doing general searches on specific models you're looking at.

Tam

 

[thiggins]

The simplest thing to do is to move the router. First try to move it to a place more central in the basement. I had a similar situation in my home and just moving the wireless router to a more central room gave me whole-house coverage.

If that doesn't work, try moving it to the main floor.

Invest in a long Ethernet cable to try the moves temporarily.

Next best would be to use powerline to get Ethernet to where you need it.

 

[msabo]

So given your requirements, "I need to improve my wireless signal strength in my house without moving furniture, wired devices, etc.." It sounds like moving the wireless router to improve signal strength is not an option in your case, correct? D-Link sells a higher gain antenna for your .n wireless router. It goes for about $25 on the Egg. http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=545&sec=0

You also said, "My primary considerations (in order of importance) is signal strength, uptime, link durability and price." To me that means the easiest thing to do first is to simply increase your signal strength. For $25, I would suggest you start there.

 

[msabo]

This just occurred to me. Are you aware that the dipole antennas on your AP are adjustable? The signal is actually strongest in a plane perpendicular to the axis of a dipole antenna. So imagine you drilled a hole in the center of a Frisbee and slipped it over your dipole antenna. The Frisbee then indicates the strongest pattern for your antenna. With that in mind, you may want to try angling your antennas to reach that dead spot.