Page 1 of Boosting Wifi Signal

Guys,

Just had a Summerhouse put in at the bottom of the garden and put a Tower PC in there. Whilst I can take my lap top in there and it works very well with strong wifi signal. When it comes to the PC, its incredibly hit and miss. when it can get it it works well, beit with a weaker signal, bit most of the time it wont even see the router or it recognises the router as having a ok signal but doesn`t go any further than that.


My router`s supplied by Sky (grey one that looks like a sky hd box) so not additional ariels to fiddle with and my wifi dongle is supplied by Belkin at `N` settings (whatever that means).

Any ideas what I need to do and why it is so hit and miss?

Many thanks in advance

Hallsey

I had one or two suggestions, such as getting a better router or a booster, so I googled wifi booster, and found a very good site that answers your question perfectly:

www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/boosting-a-wifi-signal-ask-our-expert.html

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th April 2010, 12:36

Sue,

Thanks for this, I shall have a good old read when I get home. The only problem I have with a Sky router is that you can`t change it, you have to stick with the one that Sky supply. The others look like reasonable options.

Hallsey

I feel sure that you will find a solution there. Your router is a newer one at least, being the newer N type wifi. I think repositioning, plus a booster will probably cure the problem. :)

Mind you, how is the PC connecting to the router? Does it have an inbuilt wifi card or are you using a USB dongle? Check if the PC`s receiver is 802.11N wifi compatible, as you may simply need a better dongle. If it`s only B or G compatible, that stronger signal is being wasted on it. ;)

I`ve got a similar problem as my sons PS3 connection is a bit hit and miss.
However at $189.00 for a signal booster it can stay hit and miss until I maybe run a direct connection for it.

Snaps

Every Third Car

You can pick up access points which will boost the signal around the house for about £20.

Edit they don`t boost the signal but they will increase the range.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th April 2010, 13:55

Or for the PS3, get some mains wiring ethernet gizmos.

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Could someone please
Remove these cutleries
From my knees...

Google "Cantenna", if thats too much work then this worked for me last year.

Take your Dongle, connect to PC\laptop via USB extension lead, take a large metal sieve, drill\cut a hole in the middle of it to allow you to push the dongle into the centre.

Experiment with the fitting location of the dongle in the sieve for max signal & then hot glue it in, aim & point at the house for maximum signal.  

That helped me pull in a marginal signal from an open router last year, when Telus screwed up with getting internet to my house.



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Violent & emotionally unstable duck with rocket propelled grenade launcher, seeks desk job preferably around other people.

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Non referal link.

Try changing the router Channel to 6 in the router options page.  I read on the Sky forums this makes a big difference.

I`ve ripped the Sky logon credentials from my Sky router and used them with a Netgear Wireless N router but the signal strength with the Sky router was better so I moved back.