How should I go about expanding wireless network reception?

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Tiburon1186

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Jan 17, 2007
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I have a Belkin wireless b/g router which is in my attic where my room is. It gets decent signal everywhere in the house except the kitchen. The kitchen seems to be a dead zone for all my wireless devices even my xbox 360 controller. I want to get wireless access to my back yard, which is on the outside of the deadzone kitchen and don't feel like running ethernet cable across the house. What should I do to get wireless in my yard? Should I buy a wireless range extender? Should I buy higher gain antenna's for my router? I'm trying to spend as little as possible. I found a Belkin wireless g range extender for $40 on newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833314030

What should I do? Thanks in advance.
 
you can try a range extender but in my experience they are not always a easy option. In my home i ran one ethernet line to another spot in my house and set up a WAP to extend my range.
 
you're probably better off to:
1 - move your router to a new location
2 - buy a 2nd router + run cat5 to it... simply turn off the DHCP server in the new router + you'll keep your wireless connection speed up.

The problem with wireless extenders is they generally cut your bandwidth in half.. if this isn't a problem for you, by all means go for it... i personally like the faster speeds.

I have a router in the basement rafters at each end of my house... i get great reception inside, and at the various spots outside that I tend to sit (front porch - deck + chair by garden (so I can visit with my wife - she's a garden freak))
 
re-read your first post - and noticed the attic.... You could try to simply align your antenna correctly. I'll have to explain some things about how antennas work though.

Your router will tranmit at a fixed power - putting a diffrent antenna on does not change this at all!!!! You can only modify the way that signal is distributed. With no antenna, you should theoretically have a perfect sphere. Routers don't x-mit in a sphere though because every router I've ever seen comes with a rubber duck type antenna. They are omni-directional antennas usually between 3-5 db... If you have your antenna pointed straight up and down, this rubber duck antenna takes soem of the signal going up and down + refocues it to outward in a donut shape. The "better" omni antennas (say a 10db unit) take more of the up/down signal and focus it outward. A "better" omni antenna is great if you need to be further away on the same floor, but worse for situations where you need multiple floors covered.

A common mis-conception is to point your antenna where you want your signal... you couldn't do a stupider thing as things on-access with your antenna will have the WORST possible signal. Put what you want signal to at a 90 degree angle to your antenna.

So if you are in the attic + you have your antenna pointed up/down... the floors below you aren't directly in the best coverage path.... you'd be much better to have your antenna straight out or level with the floor.
 
If your attic the only option for mounting your wireless router?

You could try putting an AP down by the kitchen.
 
Well my room has the DSL modem in it, and it's all set up cause the wires are thru the walls from my room already... (ie. CAT5)
 
Tiburon1186 said:
Well my room has the DSL modem in it, and it's all set up cause the wires are thru the walls from my room already... (ie. CAT5)
Click to expand...

I'd maybe try and get a wireless AP that will do WDS. That should help with the kitchen not getting any signal.
 
Tiburon1186 said:
What is WDS?
Click to expand...

An AP with WDS would allow that AP to connect up to the routers wireless connection. Where an AP without WDS would need to be hard wired directly into the router before they can send a signal. Or, simply click the link above for a more in depth explanation.
 
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