Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[Charlottechicken]

I am finally on Broadband, and have (somehow) managed to get my netbook wifi'd and WPA password protected too.

 

Trouble is, my house is really long (over 60 feet) and the router is attached to the main phone socket at the front of the house but I want to use the netbook at the back of the house, and maybe in the garden, but I can't get a signal at the back of the house. I am wondering if it is all the 9" thick walls or just the distance involved.

 

Any idea how I can overcome this?

 

Also, is it possible to have my main pc wifi? At present it has an ethernet cable attached to the router, so I'm thinking this isn't possible.

[chicken bark]

Can you put your router in a different phone socket - it doesn't need to be in the main BT one.

 

You need a card in your desktop to enable it to be wifi. If your computer isn't that old then it should be possible to get one.

 

I can only use my laptop in some rooms as I have the same problem with going out of signal range. I've just got used to it.

[The Dogmother]

It depends on the strength and position of your router, and also the postion of the aerials. The best sort of WiFi router is the one with two aerials so that you can have one horizontal to the router for upstairs and one vertical for the same level as the router. It may be that you need to position yours if it is under something or on the floor. I also found that popping a bit of tinfoil under mine enhanced the signal.

 

I can use my wifi two floors up from where the router is positioned, and my house is a similar age/build to yours.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I had a rubbish signal from my router to the next room (about 6 feet ). Turns out the fridge was swallowing the signal. The router was on top of a high Ikea bookshelf anyway but I put a plastic container underneath and now I get an excellent signal.

 

Look out for any metal appliances and try to get a "line of sight" that avoids them .

 

(I take it you are able to get a signal - it's just not strong enough?)

[Charlottechicken]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I'll have to think about another phone socket in the middle room then, the only other one is in the utility, as it was the kitchen. I can't change the router, it came with the broadband and only has one aerial, but I'll definately try the foil trick I'll try and see if I can alter the position of the router as well, it's in an alcove at the moment, and I'll lie the aerial down.

 

Silly thing is I could probably sit on the roof and get a good signal (it works just fine in the bedroom and loft) but I want to go horizontal not vertical It must be the walls

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Do fiddle with the aerial - it can make a big difference and doesn't always work best pointing in the direction you'd think is best .

[The Dogmother]

That's right, having the aerial pointing vertically will work for a horizontal signal. Sounds wrong, but think of the signal as emanating outwards from the aerial spike like a doughnut.

[Lewis]

You can get signal boosters/amplifiers, but don't know which one to reccommend or if they're any good.

 

For your PC, you can either get a card, or just a USB dongle - what we used on the upstairs PC and it worked fine .... till someone trod on it

[majorbloodnock]

Certainly some sensible suggestions here. Certainly the siting of the router has a huge effect on the strength of the signal in different directions and definitely any (particularly metallic) obstructions can dramatically reduce signal strength. Please note that it's not just overall amount of metal, but also shape; some chicken wire could be just as effective an inhibitor as a fridge freezer. Therefore, experimenting with both which phone socket you plug the router into and where near that socket you place the router is the simplest and probably the most effective network tweak you can carry out. However, don't forget that if you can get your hands on a second wireless router, there's no reason why you can't join them up together to have one at the front of the house and one at the back. The config of the second one is slightly more complicated, but most normal wireless routers should have all the options necessary to achieve this.

 

Even so, I'd suggest you don't enable WiFi on your desktop unless the siting of router and PC make it necessary. An ethernet cable is far more secure than even WPA2 encrypted wireless traffic, and a desktop doesn't need the ability to roam that's the only distinct advantage of a wireless connection. For the same reason, I'd suggest you have a spare ethernet cable presented to your normal work desk so that if you put your laptop down on it to work then you can plug it in rather than relying totally on WiFi.

[Charlottechicken]

Thanks, lots to think about now!

 

I'm wifi at the moment in the middle room, nice and comfy on the sofa . I imagine all the white goods in the kitchen and utility probably have an effect on the signal then, thankfully I don't think I have anything which could give a Faraday cage effect, or any nearby electricity pylons.

 

Lots of brilliant advice to consider, and I'll leave the aerial up for now, but will look into getting a phone socket in the middle room.

[Chucky Mama]

Moving the clutter from around the router, and putting on tin foil took me from nothing to a good enough signal to surf the net in my problem room.

[Charlottechicken]

Moving the clutter from around the router, and putting on tin foil took me from nothing to a good enough signal to surf the net in my problem room.

 

 

Ah, but I don't have any clutter, CM

 

Right, following all the brilliant advice you have given me, I have moved the router from the computer desk and sat it beside the desk (out of the alcove), on foil. I have managed to obtain a very good signal on my bench in the yard, which is the same distance away as the kitchen table, only outside of course! I can now get a very good signal in the utility, but only low/very low signal in the kitchen, which is much better than the sweet nothing I had before! After your comments, I am positive that the white goods in the utility and kitchen are interfering with the signal, but now plan to install an extra phone socket in my middle reception room, so that the main PC can sit in there in future and I don't have to make it wireless.

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Do you have any high furniture you could put it up on? That's what worked for me (I had to use an extension cable but it was worth it!

[Charlottechicken]

Nothing high enough or near enough, I'm afraid!

 

However, I am now on the netbook in the kitchen so just under 60 feet from the router and the 'low' signal appears to be just fine and dandy for now

[Geoid]

You can by wireless repeaters, or have the router at one end of the house and use powerline ethernet adapters (they plug into the wall by normal socket and go along the existing power cables) and connecting one end to the router and the other to a wireless access point.