Different router for a stronger 802.11g signal?

N

Nugget

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 27, 2005
Messages
107
I'm trying to set up a workspace for my older laptop (an Averatec 3225 with a generic integrated 802.11g adapter) but the Belkin F5D7230-4 router I picked up seems to have trouble powering through the 1930s adobe walls of my house. The workspace is only 20-30 feet away from the router, but the signal has to pass through a floor and a wall. My laptop registers the signal as "low," but I've been able to speed test the internet connection (not just the wi-fi connection) at over 4Mb/s. (My desktop, wired straight to the router, pulls around 16Mb/s.) That is, sometimes. Other times, for no reason I can determine, I am unable to so much as resolve a website.

Anyway, my question boils down to this: Would a different router, maybe this guy, put out a stronger signal? Or is the signal strength governed by the 802.11g specs?
 
The signal strength is governed by the Federal Communications Commission in the USA. Its a federal crime punishable by jail time and hefty fines to increase the effective radiated power from that device beyond that which is laid out in Part 15 of the FCC rules.

Your best bet is to find a wireless device that has an external antenna, then get some consumer grade antenna with a bit of gain - such as:

http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/802.11g_antenna.php

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50002010&Description=802.11g+antenna&name=Hawking+Technology

BTW you can get Hawking Technology stuffs at CompUSA.

It works both ways, a cheaper way might be to replace the 802.11g device in your host with something that has an external antenna.

Just keep in the back of your mind that you can't exceed the Effective Radiated Power (I think they dictate a field strength not to be exceeded). It's very easy to go over with some of the higher gain antennas.

By law your supposed to turn DOWN the power if your using a high gain antenna.
 
As much as I hate buffalo products we have installed their high powered router on site at a clients and get better range then any of the other solutions we have tried. Works really well.

Maybe look into one of their routers. Just an FYI we have to reboot these things all the time if we want to make changes to their configs. Other then that they seem to be stable.
 
Yikes, those are a bit expensive. [edit: referring to the external antenna, not the Buffalo gear] I'm holding off on any major purchases as I plan to move in a few months.

So you're saying that a different router, one with multiple antennae, wouldn't make for a stronger signal? What about a MIMO router, or one of those 802.11g "plus" parts? Wouldn't those duplicate or boost the signal without exceeding applicable radiation limits?

These may be stupid questions. My apologies if they are. I've done a fair bit of wired networking, but I know dick about wireless setups.
 
Gah. I've been reduced to taking measurements and doing middle-school trig to find a signal path, but so far all I've determined is that I've forgotten a lot since seventh grade.

I've also found by walking around, laptop in hand, that I can get a perfect signal everywhere except my newly built workstation area. God only knows what's in these walls. Lead paint, solid stone, kryptonite. I'm resiting the router by a few feet in any direction, with no success.

I had figured that I could get better performance by trading up from the cheapo unit I just bought, but the longest reply to this point indicates that that isn't true. I'll try just one more tack here: Would I be better off, all things being equal, with a Linksys WRT55AG or D-Link DI-634M?
 
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