7 Ways to Boost WiFi Speed/Range/Reliability

[admin]

Many of us suffer from a cruddy wireless signal in certain areas of the home. But the problem often isn't a low quality router, it's because of bad router setup. So, take charge of your home network with these simple steps. As a bonus, they're all free and super easy to do.

Read the entire article: 7 Tips to Boost Wireless Speed, Range, and Reliability

 

[haraldo]

Thanks a lot Cliff
Although I normally find myself quite competent in this area, still some things here I didn't think about, there are also some things I could suggest:
You can read this from article between the lines, though.....
- If you can't set the wireless router optimally, then it's also possible to make extension cables for antenna(s) so you don't really have to set antennas where router is
- Also look at thickness of walls and really how many walls and floors the signals have to go through, quite often you can get a benefit too by putting wireless antennas as high as possible in the room

 

[jcunwired]

A couple of additional points:

6. Change wireless channel - use a scanner to determine all available channels. Most often, choosing the one with the most separation from others will help. A lot of issues are in that overlap area between (or shared by) different channels. Eliminating these collisions are the best thing you can do. If possible stay away from 1, 6, 11. Second best is choose a less-congested channel.

Items not mentioned:

Change from default SSID
Turn off SSID broadcast

If in an apartment building or other congested area each time a device sees and attempts to connect to your SSID it affects performance.

 

[kleinwl]

This is actually pretty old news. Many of the modern 802.11n or ac routers don't even have antenna (too ugly I guess) and are certainly not compatable with 3rd party software like tomato.
One interesting thing that you can do is run on 5GHz wireless, rather than 2.5GHz and/or widen the band to 40Hz rather than 20Hz. Of course, powerline adapters are also a nice option to expand your wireless network across your home allowing you to have multiple APs around the house for full coverage and speed.

 

[Cliff_is]

A couple of additional points:

6. Change wireless channel - use a scanner to determine all available channels. Most often, choosing the one with the most separation from others will help. A lot of issues are in that overlap area between (or shared by) different channels. Eliminating these collisions are the best thing you can do. If possible stay away from 1, 6, 11. Second best is choose a less-congested channel.

Items not mentioned:

Change from default SSID
Turn off SSID broadcast

If in an apartment building or other congested area each time a device sees and attempts to connect to your SSID it affects performance.

Good advice. Something we might mention in a "how to set up a wireless router" article.

 

[Cliff_is]

This is actually pretty old news. Many of the modern 802.11n or ac routers don't even have antenna (too ugly I guess) and are certainly not compatable with 3rd party software like tomato.

not external antennae anyway. There's internal antennae you might be able to tack onto. And yeah, many of the new routers don't have enough memory to support flashing them with 3rd party firmware. But it's so awesome when you can.

I remember going on vacation once and we were supposed to have WiFi, but it didn't reach the cabin from the main office. We had brought along a Linksys WRT54g with Tomato and set it up as a wireless repeater. Gave us full signal in the entire cabin/home.

 

[jinjuku]

7dBi gain antenna's are another option and inexpensive too.

 

[haraldo]

7dBi gain antenna's are another option and inexpensive too.

Well, the antenna's on my ancient D-Link DIR-655 look awfully small
Probably a very good tip.....

The antennas you're referring to look very different indeed, thx

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Good read with few suggestions:

A) #2 should be #1

B) #5 - Finding Less used Channel - Wifi scanners were mentioned, but to make point clear - we are not talking about this here:
Amazon.com: Fluke Networks AIRCHECK Wi-Fi Tester, LCD Display, 32 to 113 Degrees F Operating Temperature, 3.5" Length x 1.9" Width x 7.8" Height: Electronics

Free (or very low cost) Android app will do just fine to help find less used channels and in find weak spots in the wireless network.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en

Sorry iDevice users - Apple Drops Wi-Fi Sniffers from iPhone App Store - Wi-Fi Networking News

C) An Addition to #4 - Yes, WEP is terrible. WPA1 is ok, but if available, always use WPA2 with long and complex passkey.
Also DISABLE WPS !!! DO IT RIGHT NOW. Due to severe security vulnerability with implementation of wps Wireless networks with WPS enabled could be breached in 4 minutes or less (even with WPA2)


p.s: Linksys WRT54G + cantenna + DD-WRT = Teh Win !

p.s.s: Keep in mind that thou 5Ghz is less used and could great solution for locations with very 2.4ghz bands, it's also due to physics has noticeably worse walls penetration,

 

[jcunwired]

From any PC or Mac connected to a wireless network the Meraki wifi stumbler works well. Free and runs in browser.

Cisco Meraki Cloud Managed Wireless Products