weak wireless signal

[davhar]

I live in a three level townhose with people living in units to the left and right of me. My Verizon Fios wireless router resides on the third floor, where the cable connection is. I have that as my office and have most of my equipment hard wired to the router. Problem is when I use my media center PC or laptop on the second floor. I get an extremly weak wireless signal. I tried to attach a new D-link 655 N router to the fios router, and turn off the wireless on the verizon router. It worked really good, but anything wireless could not talk to anything hard wired, and vice virca. I set all the equipment onto the new router and shut off the DNS,DHCP and gateway from the verizon router and only used it as an internet access. Im a systems admin by trade, and Im completly baffled at what could be wrong. Ive since put everything back and dis connected the D-link router and now everything is happy again. But, Im back to the weak wireless signal. Any suggestions would be great and thanks.

 

[JohnWill]

Try the following configuration for the secondary router.


Connecting two (or more) SOHO broadband routers together.

Note: The "primary" router can be an actual router, a software gateway like Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing, or a server connection that has the capability to supply more than one IP address using DHCP server capability. No changes are made to the primary "router" configuration.

Configure the IP address of the secondary router(s) to be in the same subnet as the primary router, but out of the range of the DHCP server in the primary router. For instance DHCP server addresses 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.100, I'd assign the secondary router 192.168.0.254 as it's IP address, 192.168.0.253 for another router, etc.

Note: Do this first, as you will have to reboot the computer to connect to the router again for the remaining changes.

Disable the DHCP server in the secondary router.

Setup the wireless section just the way you would if it was the primary router, channels, encryption, etc.

Connect from the primary router's LAN port to one of the LAN ports on the secondary router. If there is no uplink port and neither of the routers have auto-sensing ports, use a cross-over cable. Leave the WAN port unconnected!

This procedure bypasses the routing function (NAT layer) and configures the router as a switch (or wireless access point for wireless routers).

For reference, here's a link to a Typical example config using a Netgear router

 

[1stoptek]

Another option that I've had good success with is a wireless range expander. I know people who don't like these, but I've had nothing but great success with these. Linksys makes one here that I've used many times in many client's homes.

 

[JohnWill]

You're right, I have no use for such range extenders, and they're more trouble than they're worth.

I'd much rather increase the signal strength with some of the following types of options.


Hawking Tech has a number of products that will help you increase your wireless range. The root page is Hawking Hi-Gain™ WiFi Range Extending Products.

Some of the more interesting products are this Hawking [HSB2] Hi-Gain WiFi Signal Booster, which can be used on either end of a wireless connection to boost the signal power.

Another way to increase your signal strength is by the use of hi-gain antennas. You can choose from omni-directional or directional models, here are a some examples.

Hawking [HAI7SIP] Hi-Gain 7dBi Omni-Directional Antenna

Hawking [HAI15SC] Hi-Gain 15dBi Corner Antenna

[HAO14SD] Outdoor Hi-Gain 14dBi Directional Antenna Kit


This is just a sample of available products, many people have hi-gain antennas with similar specifications, but I haven't seen any other suppliers of signal boosters.