Quick Tips

How to Extend Your Wifi Network

One of the reasons why people wish to extend their WiFi network is because they are unable to get the signal range they require. If you wish to enjoy better range from your Wi-Fi network, you can consider using the following tips.

Wifi Network

Place your wireless router, modem, or access point in a central location

This might sound a little strange, but the physical location of your modem and router determines the strength of the signal you receive. You must have your Wireless Access Point (WAP), wireless router and modem placed in a central location in your home. This will enable you to receive internet signal without any hindrance in the Wi-Fi range. For example, you can have your wireless router placed on the second floor of your home and you use your PC or laptop on the first floor.

To enhance the strength of the signal you can have the wireless router moved to a high shelf in the room where it physically sits. You must ensure that there are no metal objects placed around your router as they interfere with your routers wireless signals.

Bring down the wireless interference

At home you might use a host of other wireless devices like cordless phone, microwave ovens, baby monitors among other wireless devices. Wireless-G is the most common wireless technology that is used. A majority of home appliances, including your wireless modem use this wireless-G technology 802.11 g at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.

There are chances that your computer might not be able to identify your router signals because of the noise emitted from other home appliances of the same frequency.

To overcome this trouble you can purchase home appliances of frequency greater than 2.4 GHz. You can purchase cordless phone for your home that use a frequency of 5.8 GHz. By doing so, you might just experience less signal interference on your wireless router network.

Install DD-WRT firmware on your wireless router

You can install DD-WRT firmware on your wireless router to increase the signal range by a few meters. Just in case the DD-WRT firmware is not available for your router, you can install the tomato firmware. This will extend the signal range of your wireless network.

Have InSSIDer utility installed

One of the quickest ways to determine the presence and strength of the signal is by having a utility like InSSIDer installed. This is a free utility that you can install on your laptop. Once installed, you can walk around your home with your laptop to study the wireless router signal strength in the various places in your home. You can move the router to a location that gives superior signal.

Purchase equipment form one manufacture

It is better to use equipment manufactured by one single vender only. Having the router and adapter of the same manufacture will result in enhanced signal quality as they are of the same make. However, you can still use a Linksys router with a D-link network adapter. When you have the equipment form one manufacture only, you can be entitled to offers like performance boost by the respective vender. Linksys offers the SpeedBooster technology for its wireless-G devices and D-link has come up with 108G improvement for its wireless-G devices.

Make use of a wireless repeater

Without adding any wiring, you can enhance the wireless network range of your wireless router by adding a wireless repeater. You can add a wireless repeater midway between your wireless router, modem or access point. This will instantly enhance the signal of your wireless router.

Switch the wireless channel of your router

Just like radio stations use different channels to broadcast, routers also use several channels. US and Canada use channels 1, 6 and 11. While listening to radio stations, there may be times when one station is clearer than the other. This holds good for router channels as well. To improve and extend the signal of your Wi-Fi network, you can change the channel in the router’s configuration page.

Upgrade the direction of your router

Generally, routers come with an omn- directional antenna. However, if you wish to improve the range of your Wi-Fi network, you can use the uni- directional antenna. This will divert the signal in one particular direction only. One of the best routers to use is the booster antenna router. This omn- directional antenna will enhance the strength and range of wireless signal.

These are just a few ways how you can extend your Wi-Fi network. You can experiment with other popular ways as well.

About the author

VISHAL

I am Vishal Gaikar, Engineer, Web Addicted, Living in Maharastra, India. Email Me @ vishal@techbucket.org

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