WRT54GL = better range?

xiphrex

xiphrex

xiphrex

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21 Sep 2003
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Leicester
Hi guys,

Well I currently have a Netgear DGN2000 which has wireless N but none of my wireless devices support that! So they all default to wireless g.

Anyway the reception in my house is very poor. A pc just 2 walls away from the router has 20-30% signal strength which believe it or not, my neighbours signal strength is the same, and his wireless is in an entirely different detached house!

I tried the do-it-yourself antennae mods and although they helped, it wasnt quite good enough. Downstairs the reception is so poor that I cant connect at all.

Ive been looking at getting a WRT54GL and running DD-WRT and boosting the signal.

1. Anyone know if this is going to help if I change my router to this?
2. Anyone have any experience with using a DG834g/DG834gt/DGN2000 as a modem and connecting it to this device (yes I somehow have all of them!).
3. Should I keep the DGN2000 and get wireless N PC cards and use wireless N? I know it has further range, but is it worth the price?

I just want something that gives decent coverage in my house and just works. Im happy to tweak etc so it doesnt need to just work out of the box. Getting reception downstairs would be awesome! I dont want to go down the route of using my electricity ring to supply the network, as the rings in my house have issues.

Thanks
 
You could try and get hold of the 7dBi aerial upgrade for the Linksys.
I've had some for a number of years and it helped me no end.
 
better router/arials might help.

HOWEVER do bear in mind that communication is two way and it's pointless having a massive coverage from the router if your wifi card doesn't have the grunt to get the responses back to the router. As a rule the range on routers is usually better than the range of a wifi card.
So if possible upgrade to high gain/directional antennae on both the router and the client devices.
 
That kinda doesn't make sense as increasing the gain on the aerials doesn't just increase transmitted power, but also increasing relative incoming signal strength.

However, putting a 3rd party firmware on the routing and pumping the TX power up to max WILL cause a 1 way increase as there is no increased in signal back from the router.

Have you considered moving your router if possible? You may find a sweet spot in the house to move it to.
 
If I go for the WRT54GL Im going to replace one of the cards with one that has an external antenna as I think a lot of the problems are because of the steel case and it being tucked away in the corner furthest from the router under the table.

Just need to know if its going to be worth getting a WRT54GL as I will then need to use my current router as a modem (WRT54GL doesnt have dsl modem).

If its gona be the same strength signal or worse then its not gona be worth it!

I cant really move the router as I have a wired connection to this PC, and really dont want to use wireless connection here! I doubt it would help much though, even in the room directly below the router my signal is not enough strong enough to get a connection using laptop/phone.
 
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Well I decided to try this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOBfxbpxosA

So here it is in all its cheap glory!

Q5qCN.jpg.png


And now I am going to see if it has helped at all! Immediate tests show an improvement, but whether this is sufficient I'll have to wait and see.
 
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