Increasing signal strength on Linksys WRT54G

Benedict XVI

Here is my setup.
I am in a dormer bungalow. When I had the WRT54G on the second floor I was getting signal strength of about 20% on the ground floor. Now I have moved the WRT54G into the attic and I loose the signal completely by the time I get to the ground floor.

Is there a way I can increase the signal strength of the WERT54G. I am running the DD-WRT firmware on it rather than the Linksys Firmware. And I have a 512k wireless broadband.

Would pointing the antennas down, towards the rest of the house rather than up to the roof, make much of a difference?

kmick

Those antennas are omni directional so in theory pointing should help. Its a cheap one to try. Also it could be the card you are using in laptop/desktop is crap. I have one of those WAPs and the signal strength was fine two floors away (60%). You could buy a repeater but it is not guaranteed to make your situation a whole lot better. I would just move it to where you use it. Alternatively you could run Cat cabling down to the middle floor and run it from there again.

Enright

1. you cn change the aerial size, this will improve the signal strength being broadcast, i can get longer ones here in limerick but they should be available from the likes of maplin
2. you can purchase a signal booster, it picks up the weak signal near the source and boosts it, they cost around 80 euro

ethernet

You can increase the broadcasting power of the wireless router [Xmit Power] running that firmware. Don't go OTT though. From the firmware's help file:

Xmit Power: This value ranges from 1 - 251 mw, default value is 28mw. A safe increase of up to 70 would be suitable for most users. Higher power settings are not recommended for users due to excess heat generated by the radio chipset, which can affect the life of the router.

You could also try repositing the antennae. See this DIY job for focussing that precious signal down into the house as opposed to everyone on your street.

Benedict XVI

ethernet wrote:

You can increase the broadcasting power of the wireless router [Xmit Power] running that firmware. Don't go OTT though. From the firmware's help file:



You could also try repositing the antennae. See this DIY job for focussing that precious signal down into the house as opposed to everyone on your street.

Thanks, I'll try that on the firmware.

mr_angry

You could also try purchasing a couple of high-gain antennae. You'll get a lot better signal using directional antennae, but you may require an omnidirectional pair if you're roaming over a wide range.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=325021

NutJob

http://www.hackerpimps.com/wrtzilla.jpg
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5026

less fun but
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-High-Antenna-Connectors-HGA7T/dp/B0002F3G7M