Topic: Extending wireless signal

[Ex-airbalancer]

I am on Sympatico and using one of their wireless routers
In my office in the basement about 25 ft away the signal keeps dropping out
Short of moving the router, what else can I do?

[UmroAyyar]

The easiest way is to move the router to your main floor. You'd have telephone line connection on every floor. Thats all it needs.

[DockMan]

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1130267578138&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

With this you can keep your router in the same place and maybe get your neighbours to split the cost of internet access with you!

[tpl]

The easiest way is to move the router to your main floor. You'd have telephone line connection on every floor. Thats all it needs.

Unless there are also machines in the basement with wired access to the router...

[Ex-airbalancer]

The easiest way is to move the router to your main floor. You'd have telephone line connection on every floor. Thats all it needs.

I would probably have move to the basement or different room on the main floor so it will be closer to the office

[Dante]

25 ft. for the Signal Strength to drop out indicates that there is a problem in your environment that prevents the signal to propagate (most likely in the building construction - duct work, pipes etc.).
It is possible that the Signal Quality is what makes you think that the "signal drops" and this would be usually caused by interference (noise in the environment).

Normally, to extend the coverage area, you would use a higher gain antenna. However, I'm not sure if there is one for your wireless router (most likely not) or if this would help at all in your case. If the small coverage area is due to building elements that prevent the waves’ propagation, than a higher gain antenna wouldn't help.

Are those 25 ft. of coverage in the horizontal plan or vertical? In other words, you have good coverage in the basement (everywhere on that level), but it drops when you go upstairs? If this is the case, relocating the wireless router on the main floor and running a cable to a switch in the basement, might work for you.

Implementing wireless networks is not a cookie-cutter solution as it's highly dependent of the environment and this is true, as you could see, even for an extremely basic installation.

[wing]

It's the bell modem / router -- guaranteed!

I had one of those -- the range is pathetic, I plugged in my wireless router too it and voila no more problems.  The Bell router only worked if I was in the same room, anywhere else and the signal was way too weak.  My wireless N Dlink router is in my basement in a closed room I get full strength 2 floors up and outside in the garage even no problem.

[Dante]

Crappy radio/antenna makes a lot of sense for the cause of the problem. I use a Linksys in one corner of the basement to cover all my house (2 floors) and the outside.

[initial_D]

Easiest way, IMO, is to disable the wireless feature on the existing router, add a good Access Point, like the Linksys WAP series. Or a good router, and disable DHCP on it, if working with those all-in-one modem/router units. I don't like them.  

[tpl]

I upgraded from a Linksys Wap11 the old one ( B only)  with barely 15ft through lathe and plaster ( worse than drywall for attenuation)  to a wrt54G  which now gives whole house and most of the garden.

Supposedly Wireless-N gives better range?   I don't know anyone who has both ends N.

[Ex-airbalancer]

 lathe and plaster is probably part of the problem
I was think of buying a cable and just run it the office from the router
What would be a cheap place to buy a cable?

[safristi]

...Pulling yer Wireless.....isn't half the FUN.................. ....thanks fer tha Sympatico.....

[Dante]

I upgraded from a Linksys Wap11 the old one ( B only)  with barely 15ft through lathe and plaster ( worse than drywall for attenuation)  to a wrt54G  which now gives whole house and most of the garden.

Supposedly Wireless-N gives better range?   I don't know anyone who has both ends N.

802.11n is still a Draft (target publication November 2009) so I wouldn't buy a N device yet although the current N devices are supposed to be upgradable to the final standard.
N is supposed to offer higher data rate and higher range.

[Dante]

lathe and plaster is probably part of the problem
I was think of buying a cable and just run it the office from the router
What would be a cheap place to buy a cable?

Try the solution suggested by Wing and ID first. If it works, it means it's the crappy wireless router provided. If it still does not work, it's most likely related to the house characteristics.
Unfortunately, it's a trial and error process.

[wing]

I have N on both ends it does seem better, G would drop one or 2 bars but N stays full everywhere

[safristi]

..stop it guys yer turnin Mz BRIDGEY ON......

[UmroAyyar]

lathe and plaster is probably part of the problem
I was think of buying a cable and just run it the office from the router
What would be a cheap place to buy a cable?

The other solutions are very good if you choose to use them.

How may computers are connected? anything connected by cable to the router?

If its only the wireless connection to the notebook, move the router to a phone connection in area where you use it the most, won't be sitting in the backyard in this weather.

You can buy cable from a local store or from here
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=105&cp_id=10208

[Ex-airbalancer]

Basically it is the wife and me, and we could be working in different areas of the house
I will try moving the route around
But I may get more work done if the net connection is down

[Wolverine]

If your wireless router has spare RJ45 ports, you could extend a cable to your basement and connect it to an Access Point there. Tho I found that Linksys device very interesting.

[dr_spock]

Does your router/access point allow you to adjust the radio signal power?   If so, you can try increasing the power.  Did you do a site survey before deciding where to locate the router/access point?