How to fix this low signal strength problem

Hi, I have a Dlink DI-524 in my basement. The signal strength to the outside and to the second floor is weak.

I added a DLink antenna and that helped a bit but the antenna cable is only 5 feet.

Would it help if I bought about 20' of the antenna cable and moved the antenna to the center of the first floor. I think I could run the cable through some heat ducts.

Am I going to lose the signal strength over 20'?

Thanks

Alex

Reply to
alex
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Depending on your antenna cable, you may lose a lot or a little over

20'. If it's not LMR 400 (thick) or equivalent coax cable, then 20' is too lossy.

Most cables that come with antennas are so lossy that most of the antenna's gain is lost.

The smart thing to do is move the D-Link to the middle of the house and connect the antenna directly without any coax. Run ethernet cable to it instead.

Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

Hi I have network drops throughout my house. I have a non wirless DLInk hub that I can plug the coax in. I contacted DLink and asked them if there was any way to connect the wireless router to this non wirless router and to connect to the internet wirelessly and they said no.

Are you saying that in my basement I can connect a non wirelss router to the coax cable to connect to the internet and connect a wirless router to the non wireless router via ethernet cable. And then have all the computers connect to the internet through the wireless router? Thanks

Alex

Reply to
Alex

That's not what I was saying, but it's a possibility.

First, is it a router or is it a hub? What is that connected to - a DSL modem in the basement? Does it do DHCP? Does you DSL come in the basement or where?

I know that a router will work in that position, I believe a hub might, depending -

What I was suggesting is simply this: Instead of an antenna extension, do a router externsion with ethernet cable. Wherever your DSL/cable comes in, run an ethernet extension from that modem to your wireless router placed in the optimum transmitting place in the house you can reach by cable.

steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

Thanks I understand what you are talking about. I thought of doing that but the problem is that while that would improve my wireless connection all my network cables drop into the basement. So my wireless gets better but I can't use my other computers which are not wireless and depend on the router which is in the basement.

Makes sense?

So what I'm trying to do is move my wireless antenna or router to the second floor but somehow keep a router in the basement so that the other compters work.

I have an extra non-wireless DSL/Cable router and an old DLink switch that I can use. My cable comes into the basement. And the router is currently not set up for DHCP, just static.

So, is it possilbe to connect the coax cable to my non-wireless DSL/ Cable router in the basement, wire all my drops to it, move my wireless router to my first floor, connect it to my non-wireless DSL router via ethernet and still have internet and network access?

Thanks

Alex

Reply to
alex

Yes. You are set up!

Run the non-wireless router as a gateway in the basement and distribute Ethernet from there. At one or more places in the house that you want wireless, wherever there's a drop, you can run a wireless router as an AP.

You will probably want to set up the basement router to give out addresses (DHCP). Then on the wireless router(s) running as AP, you typically turn off DHCP and definitely firewall. All addresses are assigned from the gateway.

Connect your Ethernet drop to one of the router/AP's LAN (not the WAN) ports.

Using WPA security with strong password is recommended for any AP in your LAN.

Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

Hi,

I followed these instructions and it worked well. I'm getting a 90% signal strength now.

Alex

Reply to
alex

Thanks for reporting back Alex. It's more fun when we know it worked!

Cheers, Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

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