If you use a wireless network in your home, office, or school and find that the signal is not a strong or fast as you want it to be there are easy ways to address the issue. Here are four simple ways to increase wifi signal strength and speeds. These methods range from completely free to around $100, but the most effective one for your situation may not be the most expensive option.
Starting with the only 100% free option, you should turn off the option for 802.11b in your wireless router. Most wireless routers available currently support 802.11b and 802.11g. 802.11b supports data transfer speeds up to 11 Mbits/s while 802.11g will go as fast as 54 Mbits/s. As long as all of the wireless devices on your network support 802.11g you should turn off the 802.11b option in your wireless router. This older and slower wireless connection will slow down your connection speeds even for your devices using 802.11g. By turning off the option for 802.11b you are removing that bottleneck on your wireless router and increasing the data throughput.
Wireless routers send out their signal in all 360 degrees from the antenna(s) mounted on them. If you have your wireless router near a corner or outer wall of your house it is still sending out the wireless signal in every direction even though you only need then going through your house. A simple Parabolic Reflector can be created to help direct the wireless signal in the direction you want. FreeAntennas.Com has a free template you can download and use to create a parabolic reflector for your wireless router using only thin cardboard, glue and aluminum foil. By pointing wifi signal towards your wireless devices you strength the signal by focussing it in the direction you need it. It may not be the most beautiful solution, but it can give a substantial signal strength boost for just a couple dollars worth of materials.
If your wireless router is in a more central area of your house you can boost your wifi signal strength with an Omni-Directional Indoor Antenna. By replacing the stock antenna on your wireless router with a more powerful one you can double or triple the signal strength of your wireless router for about $30. Personally, I’ve been using the D-Link ANT24-0700 2.4GHz Omni-Directional 7dBi Indoor Antenna for a couple years and am very pleased with it. The installation was as simple as unscrewing the original antenna on my wireless router and then screwing on the ANT24-0700. There is no setup or configuration required and I instantly saw my signal strength more than double.
For homes that have a lot of interior walls or where there are a multiple floors you want to cover with a strong wifi signal a Wireless Range Expander or Repeater is your best option. A wireless repeater takes any existing wifi signal it receives sends it back out. So, by placing a wireless repeater in an area where your wifi signal is weak it will boost the signal strength in that area. Essentially, it adds an additional antenna to your wireless router that is positioned in another area of your home. A quality repeater like the Linksys WRE54G Wireless-G Range Expander will cost between $75 and $100 dollars. There is some setup required after a wireless repeater is installed, but if you successfully setup your wireless network configuring a repeater is a relatively simple task. Some newer wireless repeaters have auto setup options but these work best if there is only one wifi signal being brodcast in the area. In areas like appartments or condos where there are a lot of overlapping wifi signals you will want to setup the wireless repeater specificailly for your network so that it is not also boosting other wireless networks in the area.
The key to improving signal strength in your home or office is understanding which option is the best for your situation. Before buying a new antenna or a wireless repeater survey the layout of the area where you want a stronger wireless signal and see it a parabolic reflector will point the wireless signal at your devices without the need for new hardware.
Sources:
Robert Heron, “DL.TV Episode 101” DL.T
“The Original Parabolic Reflector Template”, FreeAntennas.com
