Sucess Story: getting a better wireless signal at home
...or, how I relocated my router's antenna.
I just thought I could share this in case it could be useful for someone, although it would probably apply to only a few setups.
My router is a D-Link DGL-4300. It's located in one end of the house and the signal drops continuously in the other end. The antenna is detachable and one day I found this stronger antenna at Radio Shack. Now I had a better antenna and was able to place it a little higher because it connects to the router with an attached 1.5m cable. This made things a bit better, but the signal would still drop sometimes.
I went to a local electronics store and got a custom-made 10m extension cable. The name of the connector is RP-SMA I think, but I just took the old antenna with me and showed it to them. So now, using this cable, I placed the antenna approximately in the center of the house and the router is still next to the DSL modem and the rest of the computer equipment where it belongs. The signal is great in every corner of the house, the downside is that there's the cable running through the wall.
Before this I was thinking about getting an access point in order to widen the coverage of the wireless network but this method was a cheaper and better solution for me.
What a great solution!
I have the Verizon ActionTec router upstairs and a WRT54G downstairs, so I just switch between wireless "networks" depending on where I am, since I haven't figured out how to, say, let someone on the ActionTec subnet talk to the printer on the WRT subnet, and the signal for one is clearly better down and the other better upstairs.
Neat solution, though! I love it!
"And my son, too, thinks everything is a launchpad, every bug a meal, and every sunny day a reason to take all your clothes off and roll around in the grass." - rabbit
Thanks!
I live in a one floor only house, so that wasn't a problem to me, but with the extension I was able to put the antenna very close to the ceiling too. Maybe that could be enough for getting a good signal on a second floor. If I get the chance to go to the roof and take my laptop I'll let you know how good the signal is.
Glad you got that working, I had the same exact problem. Wireless signal was frequently dropping at the remote workstation in the house.
Just too many walls in the way, I guess. I tried different wireless routers and different wireless cards to no avail.
Finally, I bought this.
Best $80 I ever spent. Works flawlessly out of the box, no dropped connections.
After the frustration of trying to get wireless to work (changing wireless configuration including channels, etc) the ethernet over powerlines is pure bliss.
"I have not supped of Buffy, nor have I supped in any wise during the absence of Firefly. When Firefly returns again in glory, then shall I sup at the table of Whedon." - Fedaykin98