Need help optimizing wireless signal

[nickCR 0]

I have a site (3 floor house) that I have been trying to optimize the wireless signal in. I used a E4200 for my testing as it has much better signal than the WRT160N that they had installed.

 

We found that the best place for the router is practically dead center of the house. This provides great wireless coverage everywhere except in 3 rooms on the first floor in the back.

 

Those 3 rooms get really poor if any coverage. Granted the house is made from concrete cinder block.

 

So I see 2 viable options:

 

1. Get a Asus N66U router. The bad signal mentioned was on my iPhone, pretty sure a Laptop will get better signal in those rooms.

 

2. Add a repeater.

 

From what I understand bigger antennas won't really help as the devices won't have enough power to send back to the base.

 

Also what should one do about humidity? The router would be in an open air hallway, but completely covered.

[ssnapier 0]

I would run multiple repeaters or just set up an different router/SSID on each floor and run those three routers back to a switch near your modem (hard wire). Cinder blocks and elevation make sure a very nasty combination when it comes to propagating a nice strong signal.

 

Line of sight is your best friend, but in the real world line of sight turns into simply finding the "thin spots" in your walls, couches, doors, etc. and learning the best way to make it work. I live in a 3200 sq. foot, two story house that was built in the 50's, with hard core plaster walls, a finished basement and 100% brick construction and some STUPIDLY thick wooden beams and base material for the floors. My router is on the main floor and I have two repeaters upstairs and one in the basement.

 

I also swapped out the stock antennas for a higher gain model and turned off the 5Ghz side of the router because that simply would not get me any decent signal.

[matjaz 0]

you can try with two or more cheap ruter/gateway that support WDS funcion and are compatibile (Wireless Distribution System) . Look also for alternative firmware like Tomato, DD-WRT and OpenWRT. My favorite is Linksys/Cisco WRT54GL.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_WRT54G_series

[nickCR 0]

So I bought the Asus N66U anyway, the signal on that is incredible and QoS is very efficient so it should help people talking on Skype to ensure they get priority. If it still gives use problems in areas, we'll just add a repeater near the back of the home.

 

I left out that this home functions as B&B part of the year so we are weary about people being able to touch the unit. That's why we got something that should work for the space.

 

Also since I only need to add one extra router (if required) then I can use the roaming SSID method (same SSID / Password), different channels. I like this the best as guest don't need to reconnect as they move from the room to the pool.

 

What about humidity? How would you guys deal with that?

[ssnapier 0]

Just buy dessicant packs?

[nickCR 0]

That could potentially work, this place is on the beach though so they get very hot (40 degrees Celsius) and they get very humid (100%) when it rains. Problem is inside or outside since the home is designed for free air flow.

 

Gonna need to think that one over a bit, any suggestions would be great thanks.

 

Also I don't understand, why changing the antennas is a good idea? From what I've read, changing the antennas will boost the signal going out from the router, but devices such as iPhone's, Laptops won't have nearly enough strength to send the signal back. How do benefit from better antennas?

[ssnapier 0]

I am a radio nerd, so I am always quite aware of my signal strength. I want all of my signals to be above -65dbm and I could only achieve that with stronger gain antennas. The thing about the laptop not getting back to the router is incorrect also.

 

Higher gain works both ways, it is more sensitive on the receive side as well. If the laptop links to the router that is automatically a two way link, because the laptop basically has to "tell" the router that they are talking, so you are good to go.

[nickCR 0]

So I might even see an improvement by buying some higher gain antennas. Looks like the N66U comes with 2dbi gain and there are a couple different ones on the market for about $10 which provide 3-5dbi. Might be a good option for me to look at in this case, because the improvement needed is minimal.