Boosting Signal Thru House into Backyard

[Epon]

If I purchase one of those 802.11b booster thingies from LinkSys, will it actually increase the signal enough to go an extra, say.... fifty feet thru wall and outside? If not, can I purchase a more powerful antanea for my access point?

Also, I know by FCC regulations, there's a limit you can broadcast at....but how would I go about doing it anyway? Just need a bigger antenea that'll increase the db thingies higher? Will that work (albeit, illegal)

I doubt anyone from my neighborhood will actually give a damn.

[masraum]

I'd quit worrying about the broadcast limit. There are people broadcasting wifi signals several miles using homemade or purchased antennas and line of site.

You could purchase a repeater, you could use a corner or parabolic reflector to increase your range http://www.freeantennas.com, or you could just buy a different antenna.

I had a problem with the signal in one room in my house. That was no big deal until I had to move my main PC into that room. I like to tinker so I decided to go that route rather than buying lots of pre-fabbed antennas and stuff. I'll list the stuff that I did and the difference it made to my signal

1 6" Corner reflector from aluminum foil on my router's antenna's ~ +10dB
2 Exchange corner reflector for 8" Parabolic reflector on my router's antennas ~ +12dB
3 10' cable to relocate the antenna on my PC's wifi card to a high point in the room ~ +25dB
4 Relocate the Router from a shelf to the top of the closet of the room that it's sitting in ~ +10dB

My pings were sporadic at best, now they are consistently in the 12-13 ms range. A little background, my card doesn't support Noise reporting with Netstumbler so I am only going buy the signal which for my car in netstumbler seems to start at 0 not the usual -100. When I began my signal averaged around 8dB, now it is averaging around 55dB.

A reflector may be a good choice for you. If your AP/router is at one end of the house and you only need the signal to go in the direction of that extra 50' then a reflector will take the signal that you are sending in the opposite direction and reflect it in the direction that you want which keeps you from wasting signal by sending it somewhere that you don't need and also makes your system somewhat more secure.

If you have metal screens on your windows you won't be able to broadcast through the screens, go through a wall or screenless window. The signal will most certainly go through walls.

[Epon]

Alrighty, thanks a bunch. Here's a basic floorplan of what I'm dealing with. Note that bathroom obviously has pipes running thru it, might cause interference. ::shrugs::

http://epon.sepwich.com/floorplan.png

See how the WAP's in one corner and I gotta get it to the opposite side of the house?

[masraum]

Well, you can try this, it's simple and pretty much free
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/. If you go this route then try pointing the open end whatever direction you need, but since you have wireless devices 2 different directions from your AP you may get the best overall orienting the two legs of the reflector parallel to the walls that it is next to. This reflector may not do the trick.

Or you can just buy an antenna.

I moved my router from the shelf it was on to the top of the closet of the room that it was in, maybe an 8' move, this weekend and saw about a 10dB gain at my remotes. You may want to check into moving your AP. Possibly still in the same room, but a different spot like maybe the opposite corner where I can only guess you have bookshelves. Sometimes that can make a big difference.

[Simon_Mackay]

Dear Sir,

Are you dealing with a wireless router hooked up to a broadband modem or an AP hooked up to a router somewhere on the wired network? Whatever way, you could consider moving the AP to the back of the house - other side of the bathroom.

If you are on cable Internet and you run a wireless router, move the router and cable modem to Office 2 or one of the bedrooms and try "spurring" the TV and cable modem off the one CATV (cable TV) point using a CATV splitter. If DSL, move the DSL modem to another phone point in the other office or a bedroom. It may be worth trying HomePlug Powerline networking and setting up another AP as an "extension" - Infrastructure mode, same SSID and WEP / WPA security parameters as existing AP, same client-permit list, different channel. You would use the HomePlug powerline network with 2 Powerline-Ethernet bridges as a wired backbone for your extended network.

With regards,

Simon Mackay