[Gllug] [OT] Extended coverage wireless routers

[Christopher Hunter]

On Sun, 2007-04-08 at 15:43 +0100, Leo Hickey wrote:

> I can see manufacturers advertising useless specs to make their stuff 
> sound better, but why would they sell wifi range-extender antennae that 
> would not work well if there is a better design that is simple to produce?

Most folks are scared of soldering irons, and the idea of connecting a
plug to a piece of coax is way beyond them!  The "range extending"
aerials just allow you to get the aerial away from the sources of
interference (computers are notoriously noise at RF) and give some
marginal gain over the ones fitted to the back of most routers.  In many
instances, the gain of the antenna is lost in the poor quality coax they
use!

> I'll try different channels etc, but I'm fairly sure there is actually 
> something wrong with my router the signal is so bad. If I was to get a 
> new one it looks like I should go for 11g + antenna if necessary. Are 
> any of the ~£40 ones ok? All I need is one with a good signal and a 
> straightforward but effective firewall - that's all. Can anyone 
> recommend one model over others?

I've had no problems with Netgear ones - the cheap Linksys and Belkin
ones are usually trouble, though others may have different stories. I
also found that moving the router to a high shelf away from the rest of
my gear helped enormously.  The homebrew antenna really did the trick,
though!

Chris


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