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46 Comments
- Dino451, on 02/23/2009, -1/+281. Add a free antenna template http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/inde ...
2. Upgrade firmware.
-done, why 2 pages? - Gr00ver, on 02/23/2009, -2/+18Cheap and simple tricks ≠ hacks.
- Pfkninenines, on 02/23/2009, -0/+16We're lucky Patrick Norton has already done this several times on Revision3 and Tech TV. Here are the links to the newer of the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOBfxbpxosA&fmt ...
Or the direct link to the Systm video on Revision3, http://revision3.com/systm/surfer/ - paulmike3, on 02/23/2009, -2/+13Did that article really need two pages? And a dropdown with two selections? Jeepers.
- schnikies79, on 02/23/2009, -0/+10I've been using the WRT54GL for a few years with no problems. I prefer Tomato over DD-WRT (the QOS actually works).
- paulmike3, on 02/23/2009, -0/+9Or flash the WRT54GL with Tomato. http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato
- Eorster, on 02/23/2009, -2/+9WRT54GL
- bromac, on 02/23/2009, -1/+7Thank you!
As a wireless network engineer (I've had to cover 50+ acres of campus in various projects), the very purpose of DECT is that it doesn't interfere with wireless. Only 2.4, and (if you use Wireless A or N) 5.8GHz phones do. If this author doesn't know what DECT is, and it's purpose, he has no place writing an article on wireless.
Plus, you can still occasionally find 900Mhz phones out there. They don't have the same range, but have almost zero interference because very few devices operate on 900 anymore. I have seen some wireless ISP use 900Mhz as it penetrates tree foliage and other obstacles better than the higher frequencies. - kd1s, on 02/23/2009, -1/+6Once again the technically clueless write an article and mention that cordless DECT phones interfere with wireless. *****, DECT is on 1.9GHz, not 2.4GHz.
- KibibyteBrain, on 02/23/2009, -0/+4No, but it apparently needed two sets of ads. This practice needs to stop.
- glitchbit, on 02/23/2009, -0/+4WRT54GS v1, v2 and v3 are rock solid routers, but their wireless range sucks in comparison other $50-100 routers. In the last 5-7 years I have tried countless routers and different firmwares. I have also tried various things to boost the wireless range of a router and it is a waste of time and money, if you need more range then first try and buy a different router (the router might even be cheaper than some of the wireless extenders you would buy).
The best thing I have found was a Netgear WNR834B loaded with dd-wrt (although it seems to severely slow down the wireless n performance at this time). The range far exceeds anything I used before, even an expensive dlink and trendnet router that had ubicom processors in them for advanced QoS throttling control for various ports. I have a huge fireplace with bricks that split my coverage in half so I actually have two of those routers, one in repeater mode to ensure that I get excellent coverage everywhere in my house.
Also even though I have settled for the Netgear WNR834B I still do not trust the brand in general because most of their routers that I have dealt with are very intermittent and unreliable (however the WNR834B has lasted me for over 3 months now without having to reset it once).
Also the tomato (ajax) firmware is nice but has been shown to fall short to dd-wrt in benchmarks I have seen. - Zippo, on 02/23/2009, -0/+4What brand/model would you guys suggest for a solid router? Solid hardware, easy to use but with all the options, and long reception.
I've been using a Airport Extreme, mainly for the ease of use and ability to have wireless Time Machine (as well as other hard drives and printers)... but I haven't really been satisfied with the signal strength. - jerrycan, on 02/23/2009, -1/+4Or flash the WRT54GL with Tomato with MLPPP support!!
http://fixppp.org/ - KibibyteBrain, on 02/23/2009, -1/+4Part of the problem with the WRT54GL is its not the fastest puppy out there anymore by any means, and doesn't have much RAM. This was still more than fine a few years ago, but now that many geeks have over a dozen devices requiring routing table entries, and now run internet connections in the tens of megabit and not just one or two, its not as ideal of a solution.
I've had performance issues using it as a router with the features I need(namely QoS) for my relatively demanding but still home LAN running either Tomoto or DD-WRT firmwares. Plus, it doesn't have gigabit, so I've needed to use an external Gigabit switch for my actual LAN anyway, meaning the only two features I used from it were wireless(only 54g) and routing.
So in general, I'd recommend not using a consumer grade Wi-Fi WAP+Router as your router if possible. Set up a Mini-ITX box or some sort of fast(compared to the router) box to do the routing, and then use an 802.11N router configured as an access point only. I get much less latency and a bit more throughput this way, and its also far more configurable. Or you can just run DD-WRT which has an x86 version, and it will give you better performance than on a slow router. - mattus, on 02/23/2009, -1/+4Not particularly useful.
Bigger aerials: will make your signal stronger at the cost of it becoming much more directional. Fine if you always keep your system in the same place, not so great if you don't.
Increased transmit power: can be semi-helpful, but not a panacea because the wi-fi connection is a two-way process. It's no use having a router with a massive power output if the signals from the wireless card aren't strong enough to get back to the router. - skyshock1, on 02/23/2009, -1/+4Aruba Networks. http://www.arubanetworks.com/products/access_point ...
If you can't afford those, then a Linksys WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT is quite nice. - supersayanyoda, on 02/23/2009, -2/+5so...move things around, make a dish out of foil, and update firmware.... nothing really new.
- bloogey, on 02/23/2009, -1/+3WIFFY EXTREME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJwOpJjYKqA - arkaycee, on 02/23/2009, -0/+2I bought a 900MHhz DSS cordless phone like 15 years ago. It worked great right up until this summer, when we got some DECT phones to take care of caller ID and the like (if you can find DSS it's more secure than 900MHz analog). One of my reasons for never replacing it was precisely because everything else that came out after that had the caveat of interfering with wireless networking.
- inactive, on 02/23/2009, -0/+2There are a number of things you can do that are 'outside the box'.
1.) Build a Yagi-Uda antenna (you can make your own from a broomstick and some spike nails)
2.) Build a 'waveguide' "can-tenna" out of a Pringles can
3.) Build an Asian Cookware (Wok-tenna) using a Wok or even an aluminum foil covered umbrella.
Then you can zero in on that Starbucks up the road...
;) - skyshock1, on 02/23/2009, -0/+2QoS works perfectly on my dd-wrt setup. What issue were you having?
- hartley, on 02/23/2009, -1/+3Here, I'll save everyone some reading.
"Install dd-wrt or tomato."
the end. - glitchbit, on 02/23/2009, -0/+2I should also mention that I have purchased 5 of these Netgear WNR834B routers, 1 as a backup and 2 for family members and they are all stable, so it is not a fluke that I got a working Netgear router! (otherwise I would be tempted to say, you might want to be cautious.. considering the multitude of bad routers I have seen in the past with netgear wireless g routers).
- glitchbit, on 02/26/2009, -0/+1well after having bought what is considered the "high end" offerings from DLink (never had an issue with them before) I was disappointed due to port issues and various bugs that were never worked out of their firmware.
I was still a believer in the hardware components so I then bought a similarly built router from trendnet thinking maybe their firmware would be built better and lo and behold it had the exact same issues as the Dlink... after that I kinda gave up looking at their offerings and decided to only buy routers that I could load dd-wrt onto.
Basically advance features and hardware (Ubicom QoS processor) does not matter if the firmware sucks and is bug ridden, so for now on I will only buy routers that can be loaded with custom firmwares. Besides they make external traffic controller devices that would probably be a better thing to buy.
Linksys sold out to cisco so they're offerings have been stripped down and they are asking too much for some routers imo.
So really $30 for a Wireless N router from Netgear that could be loaded with dd-wrt, sounded like a risk I was willing to take after being burned over $200 in routers from last year. And after having been impressed with its performance and price I definitely bought more of this router, even though I still do not support the company in any other way. - Zippo, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1I'm looking something with gigabit ethernet and WiFi-N... do newer Linksys routers support DD-WRT or Tomato?
- MtheoryX, on 02/23/2009, -2/+3WRT-54GL
- bromac, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1So...
You're saying neither active nor passive gain is useful for boosting wi-fi coverage? Then how would YOU suggest you do it? Magic? You just showed you ignorance of the subject by saying essential "There's no useful way of boosting your coverage".
Using the correct antennae for the environment is critical for achieving good coverage, as MOST environments do have areas where you know you're not going to be hauling your laptop.
For example, 90-degree or 180-degree directional antennae double or quadruple your signal, and if they're in the corners of your building they work very well: you seldom want to beam your network out of the building to neighbors. - iwin2000, on 02/25/2009, -0/+1No one really said it was new.
- inactive, on 04/05/2009, -0/+1Check out my List Blog:
http://listcollections.com
A list blog covering all manners of topics. - KibibyteBrain, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1Its not near that bad. You can use any MiniITX board, and just a PCI Express or plain old PCI card for one of the NICs. Any MiniITX board worth using for this application comes with a CPU soldered down, and then run more like $80. Probably have some old RAM laying around, and an old case/PSU. And you need a gigabit switch either way if you want gigabit support, so thats a fixed cost. In my case, I had everything I needed laying around in old parts except the mobo, and I have a feeling most people who have owned more than one desktop PC in their life could probably do the same.
- m85476585, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1Try orienting the antennas horizontally. That made a huge difference for me.
- christianw, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1i cant believe you guys think this is news.
i mean, these tips were news 5 years ago.
wow
just
wow - skyshock1, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1FWIW, the WRT54GL is designed to run open firmware such as DD-WRT (which I personally love), Tomato, or OpenWRT. YMMV on older models.
- Genma, on 02/23/2009, -0/+1your experiences in the past are exactly why I have boycotted netgear ever since they entered the 802.11a/b/g market, why would you continue to support their business? the quality they had then was just unacceptable, all corners were cut on everything from components to materials to software bandaid hacks. they are dead to me now, I consider them the fisher price of soho only good as network toys. so many other choices from companies that produce quality products, no reason to take risks with them.
- inactive, on 04/17/2009, -0/+1insider keep up the good work
http://www.propakistani.com - qwertycopter, on 02/23/2009, -1/+1I like the idea...but not many Mini-ITX boards come with dual Ethernet adapters. Ones that do are quite pricey ($150). Even a simple board is going to cost atleast $50. Then you have to add in a stick of RAM ($20), cheap processor ($30), Mini case+power ($50), and storage device ($10 - I assume a USB thumb drive). On top of that, you need a decent gigabit switch ($50-$100) and of course a router to act as a WAP ($50).
Total: $210 - $360
This, plus a nice mess of wires and power cables in a closet somewhere.. - inactive, on 02/23/2009, -2/+2not much of a breakthrough hack...
why is this on the front page? - Frozenpees, on 02/23/2009, -0/+0Does anyone have any tips on what to do if my router is up to date, and I have one of those parabolic free antenna things, but I'm still getting a horrible signal. My router doesn't support Tomato or DD-WRT, and it must be in the basement of a 2 story house, it barely reaches to the other side of the room, help please! It's a Belkin Wireless G router
- lingum, on 02/24/2009, -0/+0Dugg for busting out some ham radio lingo.
- inactive, on 02/24/2009, -0/+0I am not covering my walls with tin foil to keep my signal from leaking to my neighbors. :( Just upgrade your router firmware or get a new router, simple.
- swpnclr, on 02/23/2009, -2/+1@paulmike3
i usually dont do this however i found the link you provided was very informative, and would encourage others to check it out as well~ thanks! - twignificant, on 02/23/2009, -2/+1This article wasn't particularly useful unless you just came out of a coma and missed the paper-parabolic-antennae trick years ago. I measured my wifi speed using my iPhone at opposite ends of my house, and it literally doubled when I added the paper parabolas at the broadcast end, due to a much stronger signal.
- IKORKYI, on 02/23/2009, -2/+1DD-WRT did not work for me on a v2 WRT-54G with xbox live: NAT was strict. Manually forwarded ports, nothing i did worked and the QoS just didn't seem to work the right way (using it as the router, not a xbox wireless adapter).
flashed tomato and it worked with no tweaking. LOVE the transmit power control, although you want to keep a thermcouple on the router power supply and keep it <125F - RATM4EVER, on 02/23/2009, -3/+1That's a clever way to be "most controversial."
- TomKohn, on 02/23/2009, -3/+0Worthless article. "Try a lamp shade if the aluminum foil doesn't work?!"
- cquilliam, on 02/23/2009, -10/+6Digg this comment down if you just learned something new
Digg this comment up if you didn't
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