Recent poor wireless signal

Adam18290

Adam18290

Adam18290

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Joined
26 Jan 2007
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728
Location
Surrey
Currently I have 2 laptops and 1 pc in the house - the main pc is connected directly into a wireless router - with the other 2 laptops connecting to the router wirelessly. The router sits upstairs with the laptops mainly be used downstairs and sometimes in another room upstairs.

The signal received through the laptops is usually really good, having a constant 3+/5 bars on the signal strength - and it has been like this since I first got the router about a good year ago.

In the last few months the signal on the laptops downstairs and in the other room is poor - I was on the laptop a minute ago and was receiving only 1 bar downstairs - and even in the room upstairs was only getting 3 - whereas before it was 5 when used upstairs and 3+ downstairs.

If I sit next to the router with the laptop then it goes up to 5 bars, but as soon as I start to walk away it decreases.

I dont often use the laptops myself so I have only seen this today - but the laptop users have recently started to complain about the poor connection they are receiving - often resulting in me having to reset the router.

I have fiddled about with the channel frequency to no avail - is there any other things I can do to help the signal improve.

Thanks in advance

P.S sorry for the long read
 
It could be that another access point has been setup in the area on the same wireless channel that's conflicting with yours. Try changing your channel and see if this improves things...
 
Have tried changing to different channels but still when I go downstairs it just goes down to 1 bar and web pages were just timing out....

If I stand directly below the room where the router is I get 4 bars, walk 5 meters down the hallway and it goes down to 1 bar/barely unusable...
 
Try changing the angle of the antenna so that the sides of them point towards where you want the signal strongest (not the tip). Getting rid of as many layers between the antenna and the receiving device will also help, as you've suggested. You could also try and fit tiny directional reflectors behind the antenna to reflect more signal 'upstairs' (cheap and easy to do with "corner" or cardboard covered with tin foil).
 
What alternatives have I got to improve the signal received, would a more expensive router improve the signal.

What other options are there?

Thanks
 
If the connection is like my netgear dg834dg the antenna unscrews off the base or
How about the `Tomato`firmware?
That is supposed to give more features/tweaks like power output etc
 
Righto, I'll try have ago with this Tomato thing :)

UPDATE: Doesnt support my V7 router, only goes up to V4....
 
Last edited:
I `think` it is as it says it boosts your signal strength.As i am not certain if it would be what you are after i would wait till someone who has used one posts a confirmation before buying though :)
 
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