My wireless internet signal is weak. What device can I buy to make it stronger?

Question

Any device I can buy? And why might my signal be so weak?

Answer 1

The farther you are from your wireless router, the weaker it gets.  Move closer.  You could install an access point to the router and move it closer to the area of the house where you normally are.

What is the make & model of your current wireless router?

Make & model of your laptop?

Answer 2

Directional antennas.  You can probably get this at Best Buy.

You can also get a range extender.  These work in one of 2 ways.  They can act as a repeater going from the wireless router to the wireless extender and then to the computer.  You can also get a powerline range extender that go from the wireless router through the electrical outlets in your home to the powerline access point and then to your computer.  The powerline method is a much simpler way of setting it up, but it also costs more.

You can even ditch wireless completely and go totally with powerline.  Powerline does not work well for hand held devices that need to be totally cable free, but desktops and gaming consoles like the xbox will work great with powerline.

Here are some links to check out:

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7390_1-6274537-...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqLblMpcl...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHmeLQ8zD...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBYr3Ezk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDSVo2ou...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-omrPFb...

If you see any wireless devices here, these go from router, through electrical outlets, to powerline wireless access point, to wirelessly to the computer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...

Here is a range extender going wireless, to wireless, to wireless, to wireless. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...

Again, this is cheaper, but much more difficult to setup than a powerline extender.

Answer 3

How close are you to the Wireless Access Point?

If you are in the same room, you should be able to get a 54Mbps connection.

Things that can cause you problems -

1)  Distance (further you are, the slower you are)

2)  Going thru walls

3)  Going thru trees or plants or water

4)  Cordless Phones operating at 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz

5)  Microwaves, Vacuums, TVs

6)  Having someone connected at a long distance from the WAP (even if you are close).  The WAP is a hub.  So it has to turn the speed down to its slowest customer.  If you have someone mooching your wireless because you dont have security, your not only competing for access, your also slowing yourself WAY down!

There are directional antennas, but I have a feeling that its either a case of #1 or #6.

If its #4, try manually changing the channel on the Access Point to 1, 6 or 11!

Answer 4

Well you can of course get A better wireless modem or you could buy a little usb stick that picks up signals from much farther away.

Answer 5

is it att/sbc???  they just stink

get a better ISP

Answer 6

You can make your own signal booster on the cheap.

http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/bo...