Question Regarding Range Extenders

[TheMusketeer]

Hi guys,
So I have an extremely annoying problem with my Time Warner modem (Motorola). I am like literally 15 feet away from the modem/router. Yet I only get like 3 and maybe sometimes 2 bars. I bought 20mbs dl / 2mb up. Yet I consistently get 6 or 10 mb download on speedtest.net. So the only thing that I think will solve this is to get a Range Extender ,(Amped Wireless High Power 600mW REC10) <------ pretty good reviews,. So my question is if I am already getting not good signal, how in the world will this range extender better my connection. Doesn't the range extender still need a good connection from the actual modem to transmit a bigger range?

 

[bds1904]

Range extender won't help anything, you have a interference problem.

Use a tool like "inSSIDER" to scan for overlapping wifi networks and then change your wifi channel to a less congested channel.

Don't forget that 2.4GHz phones (even when they aren't being used) can cause problems too.

 

[TheMusketeer]

Hey thanks.
I actually installed wifi inspector instead because inSSIDER was giving me a .net framework error. So changed my channel to 9, the channel that no one is on according to the program. I am getting 4 bars now; however, I'm still not getting the 20mbs I have for the modem. I understand wi-fi will generally be slower, but I can't imagine it to be more than half the speed slower. I'm getting like 6mbps sometimes. Sometimes I get 23mbps. Do you think it's interference and I should get a range extender?

Thanks

 

[Hoan Kiem]

Assuming 2.GHz, Channel 9 still overlaps with adjacent blocks, IIRC. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

The best bet would be to choose a non-overlapping channel. Not sure about nowadays, but during the 802.11b/g era many wireless routers and APs were pre-configured for Channel 6, so you should take that into account when you're mapping the nearby APs with a WiFi monitoring utility like inSSIDER.

In the USA, AFAIK, Channel 14 is not allowed... so that leaves you with Channels 1, 6, 11 that do not overlap.

Apparently 5GHz's standard is different so you don't have overlapping channels there.