Losing wireless signal, what to do?

Question

We have Verizon DSL service using a Westell 6100 modem hooked up to a Linksys Wireless G Router WRT54G and then a Linksys Wireless Extender WRE54G. We have a Win XP computer wired in. We have two laptops (Vista and XP) that are continually losing wireless signal.

We're looking to replace the whole mess if possible/necessary but don't want to break the bank.

Don't know if something like the 2Wire 2700HG-B DSL Modem Router Wireless Access Point is something that will work or if we should break up the modem and wireless portion of our configuration or something else.

We really need the wireless to work as that's where most of the home office stuff is.

Currently the router and modem are in an upstairs bedroom and we're trying to get wireless to work in the rest of the house. It works if the laptops are in the same room. It had been working quite well until this weekend.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

How big is your house?!  One router and one repeater is enough for me to cover most of my grandparents' rural property and a small part of the neighbor's too - about 300 feet by 800 feet of wireless coverage.  My parents have Verizon FiOS and the router Verizon provided (Actiontec) sends a signal part way up our street - about 4 houses up in our subdevision.  One router should cover between 100 and 500 feet range from it in all directions.

I suspect you have some major interference from other networks, electric gadgets, or cordless phones.

Put your wireless router as high up as you can and as far from electrical and metal things as you can, that'll give you the best coverage.  Try to put it in the middle of where you expect to be (usually the middle of the house).  If you have 2.4GHz cordless phones you may want to replace them with 5.8GHz, 900MHz, or the new DECT6.0 phones that won't cause interference.  Also, wireless video senders, or wireless cameras that run on 2.4GHz should be set to the farthest channel from your router (e.g. set video sender to 1 or A and put the router on channel 11).  Channels 1, 6, and 11 are preferable because they don't "overlap" with each other.

If you really need more range after positioning your router as best you can, some companies sell "WiFi Repeaters" that re-transmit the information stronger to boost the signal.  If you can run wires, get an "Access Point" or a router that can be configured as an access point (a second router would cause problems) and set it to the same SSID (name) and Encryption key (security) - then computers will pick whichever is strongest.

I suppose you could always try making one of these, it will decrease the range on one side but increase range wherever it's pointed.  I was able to get from 60 up to 85 percent in my basement.  For free...well ok, a sheet of cooking foil, some glue, and cardstock or photopaper...it's worth a try!

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/tem...

Even if it doesn't help, it sure looks cool :)

Answer 2

Our apple airport express, about $160 two years ago, blasts our dsl out to the patio.

11 computers get a good strong signal from cavalier telephone, and the airport express sends it to the whole house. Straight through cement, plaster and brick.

We put the linksys router in the closet and have had NO problems since.