Help with wireless signal improvement

[nickCR]

I have a site (3 floor house) that I have been trying to optimize the wireless signal in. I used a E4200 for my testing as it has much better signal than the WRT160N that they had installed.

We found that the best place for the router is practically dead center of the house. This provides great wireless coverage everywhere except in 3 rooms on the first floor in the back.

Those 3 rooms get really poor if any coverage. Granted the house is made from concrete cinder block.

I just ordered an Asus N66U for this location since, it is by far the best router I've owned to date. Also the QoS that it provides will help keep browsing speed up as part of the year a few rooms are rented out.

The only other problem is that the place is on the beach in Costa Rica. So they get 40+ degree Celsius weather, plus humidity sometimes of 100% when it rains. The entire home has been designed with an open air concept so really all locations in the home are susceptible to the environment. The plan is to mount the router in a hallway, where it will be covered by a roof and an over hang from a balcony. So really the only thing I'm really worried about is humidity. Any suggestions on dealing with that?

Also any suggestions on getting wireless in those rooms would be helpful. Again since those specific rooms sometimes have guest in them, we don't want to have something in there that they could play with.

Thanks in advance!

 

[stevech]

Suggestion
Place router so it covers half the house, or so.
Use a WiFi Access Point (AP) to cover the rest. Maybe two if multi-floor or basement.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...w-to-add-an-access-point-to-a-wireless-router

An AP can be purchased, or less expensive, re-purpose any WiFi router to be an AP. See FAQs.

Connect the AP to the LAN port of your existing router. Several ways to do that AP to router connection:

Best: Run CAT5 cable
Alternatives:
MoCA - if there is cable TC coax near each location.
Home Plug - uses home AC power wiring to move data. Can be a problem with noise on the power line.

There are a few AP + Home Plug devices, all in one, on the market.

Last choice: A WiFi repeater, a.k.a. range extender. Halves speed.

Humidity: Simply don't put consumer WiFi gear in outdoor/patio type settings where they can get wind-blown rain. Humidity alone won't hurt anything except possible rust on steel components. There are WiFi products designed for wet situations, in a water tight box BUT also with means to get the heat out of the box. Engenious (newegg.com) sells some outdoor AP (and AP/Bridge) devices in the $100 area.

 

[thetoad30]

You really need/want an outdoor AP. Engenious sells them, and if you need something higher end a google search will help.

If you are dead-set against an outdoor AP, you could always put the router in a water-tight box, but you need to remove heat. Dessicant (crystals that can pull humidity out of the air and can be recharged by heating them to remove the moisture) can help with the humidity.

For the hassle, though, I'd still recommend an outdoor AP.

 

[tipstir]

Yeah I second that go with outdoor AP for your house design is open and heat and moisture would damage your network gear.

 

[nickCR]

Hey guys, just want to revive this thread as I see there is a new product on the market from Ubiquiti.

It's called the UAP-LR and is $89 on Amazon.

I still plan to use the Asus but not sure if maybe the Ubiquiti would be a better choice due to it's range, 27db on 2.4ghz!! What do you guys think?

 

[stevech]

remember that WiFi is two-way.
A million watt Access point / router won't cure the problem of the client devices' low power.

 

[nickCR]

Thanks for your reply! From what I understood better antennas not only amplify the signal transmitted but the reception as well. So this should increase the overall range that the device has. If this is incorrect, please let me know!

 

[stevech]

yes, antennas benefit both directions.
But don't get suckered into the "amp'd" WiFi sales pitches - offering an 800mW or some such. The typical WiFi client device in 11g/n mode is about 30mW. Double that to 60mW and it's only "3dB" as they say.

The signal propagation loss from router to client in another room is often like 60dB or so. So you see, 3dB more makes little difference. This 3dB concept applies to transmitter power AND to antenna gain. So going from antennas with 2dBi gain to 5dBi or so, is about insignificant.

So adding one or two Access Points (APs) is the universal answer to better coverage. Adding APs is easy and well explained on these forums.

 

[nickCR]

That makes sense.

The reviews people are putting up seem to indicate that the Ubiquiti system is in-fact getting really good coverage. That's why I asked as I thought someone here might have given it a try.

I've used Ubiquiti products before and it has proven to be fantastic.