brick walls

I just set up a wireless network at home--I've got a Linksys Wireless G Speedbooster router and a Wireless G Speedbooster USB adapter for a second desktop. I also have a Dell notebook with a built-in Wireless B adapter.

I get good signal strength in most parts of the house. But there are certain spots where the signal drops or dies altogether. And I think that may happen because of brick walls. My house has a brick exterior and one room with a brick wall interior. Whenever the PC or notebook is near a brick wall (so that the wall lies somewhere between the PC and the router) the signal strength weakens and often craps out.

I've tested this all over the house, and it's consistent. Assuming this is the problem, are there any products I can buy (e.g., a range extender) that could help boost the signal to compensate for the brick walls?

Thanks for your help.

All sorts of things "can" affect wireless performance, i,e., wall

thickness, some cordless phones, microwaves, etc. Make sure, if

possible, that your current wireless router is set atop a high shelf or

other item, preferrably, in the center of your home. Try to keep it

away from other electronic devices. Make sure the antenna is pointing

straight up. If you still experience dropoffs, then I would recommend

that you purchase an access point. Many access points double as

repeaters, bridges and AP clients. Common sense would dictate that you

use the same brand. Still, I'm a tinkerer and thus, don't follow that

rule. Anyway, adding an AP should solve your dilemma. Take care.

You could run a length of CAT5 to somewhere else in the house and put a 2nd AP in. Thats what I did. Works fine - XPPro even autoswitches between the two APs when I'm walking around.

Or you could fit a directional antenna to the exising AP to focus the coverage. For this to work you would need to put the AP in a corner or at one end of the house.

You could also theoretically do (1) but using wireless instead of the CAT5. This would require TWO extra APs over and above the one already mentioned, in repeater mode (I think thats what its called), talking only to each other, one linked to your existing AP with cable, the other to your new AP with more cable. This gets expensive. .

Hi,

You might want to change the channel from the usual default of 6 to 1 or

2. Sometimes there can be interference from other devices or ap's. Also the wireless modem company claimed that somtimes the other channels put out a little more power. maybe impedance differences. I did that and gained an additional signal bar in a weak signal area.

It's free to try.

Dave

LPW wrote:

I had a similar situation with a WRT54G. I purchased the Linksys hy-gain replacement antennas and everything is working much better.

Dave G

I had a bit of a problem of this nature and I think it is caused by the aluminum skin on the roof sheathing. My access point is upstairs and my wife's desktop computer is downstairs, in the single story part of the house. The signal has to pass through the downstairs roof, and this aluminum skin on the roof sheathing attenuates the signal quite noticeably. The setup works, but the signal to the downstairs computer is weak.

This roof sheathing I'm talking about is particle board (like plywood) with an infra red reflecting aluminum skin on it. The sheathing is covered by fibreglass/asphalt shingles.

Gordon, I can't attest for this but I've read many posts that suggested

that for, two story homes, one ought to place the AP on a high shelf on

the first floor making sure that the antenna(s) is/are pointing

straight up. The people who suggested this setup swears by its. Give

it a try. It can't hurt.

(of using APs in bridge mode)

According to the spec, the WG602 can indeed be used in repeater mode. However I recall seeing reports that it was relatively useless like this.

If anyone has any experience of it, it might be interesting. I'm unaware of any other (consumer) units offering this feature, tho there may be some now.

Netgear US also now seem to do a Powerline version of this, which looks quite cute - wireless AP at one end, plugged into the power ring, powerline-to-ethernet bridge at the other. The description is pretty minimal tho - f'rinstance it says its a 54Mb AP, but I thought powerline networking was limited to 5Mb.... ????

You might try reorienting the AP antenna. Straight up is probably not the best solution in your circumstance.

The antenna's radiation pattern is perpendicular to the long axis of the antenna - ie. it radiates outward around the middle. If you angle the antenna to be perpendicular to the straight line path to the desktop you might get a better signal.

I have my 54G router on a shelf in the basement at the end of the house where the cable enters. The stock, omni antenna is oriented so the radiation pattern sweeps upward across the house at a 20 degree angle. The result is excellent signal on the first floor at that end of the house covering kitchen, family & living rooms, and good signal in the 2nd floor bedrooms at the other end of the house.

The reason for this odd arrangement is the layout of the house which is similar to a ranch with a partial second story. The AP had to be placed at one end or the other (open hallways in the middle) and it proved very difficult to put the AP high and cover the 1st floor family areas due to shadows from kitchen appliances. The current placement in the basement covers those areas from below and bypasses the kitchen shadow to cover the upstairs.

I don't have problems like your aluminum roof, but at the farthest extreme the signal goes 60ft through 2 floors and 5 walls and is still quite usable (though speed is reduced to ~11B).

George

If the desktop location is fixed you could use a directional antenna.

I have a desktop in one of the poorer reception areas (a small office nook in one of the bedrooms) which is connected through a 54G bridge with an aftermarket 6db directional antenna. After some careful aiming, the bridge has a 100% full strength signal whereas my laptop in the same location gets a 20-25% signal (usable with XR but just barely).

George

Thanks, George. Someone on this group already advised me of this, and reorienting the antennas did improve the signal strength. But it is still pretty weak. The connection seems stable, so there is no immediate problem.

I posted this just in case the person who opened this thread was also trying to pass the signal through a roof made with this material. It is a pretty effective rf shield.

I may have to do something like this if the neighborhood noise level increases and the downstairs computer begins to drop the connection. So far it has been steady and reliable, so I have chosen to leave good enough, alone.

Free antennas are free. EZ-10 is easy to make, and good for 10dB.

Free antennas are free. EZ-10 is easy to make, and good for 10dB.