Best option for boosting wifi signal strength

Hiro

New member
I post a simliar thread on MyBB but wanted to see what the guys on this side thought. My current TP-LINK W8960 router only gives me about 22% signal strength on my PS3, which is about 10-15m away. I am trying to workout whats the best way to proceed :

1) Buy a new, more powerful router? (Suggestions please)
2) Buy a signal repeater/booster/range extender ? (suggestions please)
3) Lay a whole whack of LAN Cabling down (not really an option, my wife will kill me)

In particular, Im looking for advice from guys who ere in my boat and solved this problem
 
I had a similar problem.

Our Wi-Fi wasn't reaching the other end of the house (#firstworldproblems) so we purchased a 9dBi antenna for our router.

Something like the Asus WL-ANT191 perhaps.

ShopMania

or this

Netram
 
I saw a cool tp link range extender jobbie that plugs into a wall socket. Will try and find link and add to post. Do u know anybody using this sort of solution?
 
I saw a cool tp link range extender jobbie that plugs into a wall socket. Will try and find link and add to post. Do u know anybody using this sort of solution?

Is that the one that connects via Wi-Fi and then boosts it from there? Cos we were going to buy one of those.
 
Well Hiro did just sign up for Netflix and UnoTelly and he streams through his PS3 so he'll want the most stable connection possible.
 
Well Hiro did just sign up for Netflix and UnoTelly and he streams through his PS3 so he'll want the most stable connection possible.
Ah, I'm just wondering because in certain parts of the house I get about 30% signal on my laptop and I never have an issue, including when watching Youtube.
 
Ah, I'm just wondering because in certain parts of the house I get about 30% signal on my laptop and I never have an issue, including when watching Youtube.

Maybe he's doing it as a fail safe? Or maybe the PS3 is just really fussy and drops connection quite often?
 
@ Hiro - Do you have an old router lying around? You can also re-purpose it to be an extender. I think I saw an article explaining how to do it on Lifehack or some such.
 
Well, my line is 10meg and I can download from steam on desktop at that speed. But ps3 showing dload speed test of 5meg. I assume due to weak wifi?
 
Well, my line is 10meg and I can download from steam on desktop at that speed. But ps3 showing dload speed test of 5meg. I assume due to weak wifi?

I'm also on a 10MB line and my download speed on the PS3 is 6.5MB.

You won't run into any problems streaming with that speed.
 
Okay you say its like 15cm away and the signal is that bad?? this might sound daft but try moving it further away for starters other than that have you checked all the settings on the AP itself, do you have any other wireless equipment nearby, you can try change the channels if you have not already.

You can buy another device\repeater but that seems pointless to me since you should be getting way better signal than you are if thats the case buy a new router, Have you tried other antenna's on the unit ?
 
Okay you say its like 15cm away and the signal is that bad?? this might sound daft but try moving it further away for starters other than that have you checked all the settings on the AP itself, do you have any other wireless equipment nearby, you can try change the channels if you have not already.

You can buy another device\repeater but that seems pointless to me since you should be getting way better signal than you are if thats the case buy a new router, Have you tried other antenna's on the unit ?

uhhm...no, i said 10-15 metres away :)
 
Facepalm, sorry my brain saw cm and I checked twice. Get a repeater, some ap's give you access point, station and repeater modes. I do that at home because my 3g router has bad signal everywhere except on the otherside of the house so i put up a dlink as wds repeater halfway between it and my pc.

Also have you thought about moving your phone line
 
Facepalm, sorry my brain saw cm and I checked twice. Get a repeater, some ap's give you access point, station and repeater modes. I do that at home because my 3g router has bad signal everywhere except on the otherside of the house so i put up a dlink as wds repeater halfway between it and my pc.

Also have you thought about moving your phone line

hehe, no worries :)

phone line move isn't feasible, but i have read online about hacking my extra modem/router to turn it into a repeater

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-network-with-an-old-router-915783308

http://lifehacker.com/5563196/turn-your-old-router-into-a-range+boosting-wi+fi-repeater

gonna hack this over the weekend and see how it goes :D
 
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