Can't get wireless router signal upstairs

Hlubocky

My fiancee and I live in a duplex condo that must have lead in the walls or something to explain why I can't get a wireless router signal from the second floor unless I move the router closer to the base of the stairs, which, as a permanent solution, can't be done. I am running dd-wrt on a Linksys WRT54GL router. I read about buying another router and running it in WDS mode with the original, but I figured I would check here and see if there were any other tricks I could do. I tried upping the wattage on the router closer to the value that they recommend not to exceed and it didn't make it any easier to get the signal upstairs. Is there some trick I can try with the antenna or is the WDS solution my best bet? Thanks!

rockmonkey

What did you up the wattage to? I have no idea what the recommended not to exceed is, and I think default on those is 28mw. I'd say try 200mw but not above.

Also have you thought of the problem from the other end? maybe the wireless card (is it a PC or laptop?) is the problem.

Hlubocky

I think when I was playing around with it I set it just under 200mw or so. I think it was pretty close to the recommended level (not to exceed).

vonPoonBurGer

There's only so much that boosting the signal power will get you. It's two-way communication, remember? Boosting power on the router will only help the router's signal reach the clients. It's not going to fix anything if the signals generated by the client are too weak to penetrate the walls on the way back to the router. Your best bet is probably to replace the stock antenna on the router with something that has higher gain. I'd look for a 9dbi, 12dbi or 15dbi omnidirectional antenna that's compatible with what you have.

rockmonkey wrote:

I'd say try 200mw but not above.

84 mW is the recommended maximum, at least for most hardware. Anything over that increases signal power but also increases noise. Also, I'd say anything over 100mW is potentially dangerous to your hardware, since it can create more waste heat than the router is designed to dissipate.

Edit: Also note that if you get a higher-gain antenna, you probably won't need to boost the signal power. In fact, combining a high-gain antenna with a high signal power setting can push your signal above the maximum level mandated by the FCC. Unlikely you'd get in trouble for it, but it's simply not necessary to push your signal that high anyway unless you're doing point-to-point (i.e. directed line of sight), in which case the FCC limits are higher.

rfalias

You could always create a wireless bridge, and segment the downstairs and upstairs networks.
It would require more hardware, but it would effectively extend your network reach. The 2nd bridging device could be somewhere upstairs, but still within range of the downstairs wireless router which is much easier to hide/range than a PC no doubt.

DD-WRT firmware has the capability to do bridges with most routers I do believe, I'm sure it's possible on stock firmware too. Not all up with the firmware versions for retail stuff lately...

Hlubocky

Is this bridging you mention the same thing as WDS? You made it sound like bridging two different networks, which sounds different than using two different routers for the same network, which I think is what WDS does. I wouldn't mind doing this, but it sounds like either way you need a second router. Actually, for the bridge, wouldn't you need something that can receive the one network and send out the other?

Krikee

Omni-directional antennae do not broadcast in a truly isotropic fashion (equal in all directions) so my guess is that you are trying to connect from a dead spot. If possible, get a different omni-directional antennae or if your AP supports two antennae get a directional antennae and point it at the dead spot.

rfalias

Well using two routers would technically be two different networks. Each router would have it's own IP.
Unless you can boost the signal, you'd have to have more hardware to get it there anyways. I don't think its the only option (bridge), but it is one to consider.

One thing to keep in mind is it will degrade your connection some I'm sure.

Hlubocky

I bought one of those D-Link external antennas. When it comes I'll see if that makes it so we are able to get the network upstairs.

Krikee

rfalias wrote: »

Well using two routers would technically be two different networks. Each router would have it's own IP.
Unless you can boost the signal, you'd have to have more hardware to get it there anyways. I don't think its the only option (bridge), but it is one to consider.

One thing to keep in mind is it will degrade your connection some I'm sure.

Incorrect, having separate IP addresses does not place them on different networks. A different network ID (comparison of IP address to netmask) would place them on different networks; but, using a wireless repeater will cut your available speed in half as every packet must now be sent twice across the wireless spectrum (once by the main router, and again by the repeater).