If you have an older wireless router that doesn’t have all the new fancy technology like MIMO, etc, you can still boost your wireless signal range using several methods. Personally, I have never needed to boost my wireless signal at home, but have definitely needed to do so at work.
If you work or live at a place that has a bunch of ways or multiple floors, boosting your wireless signal can dramatically increase your Internet speed. So what are the various ways you can boost your signal?
Buy a Wi-Fi Extender (aka Repeater)
The easiest and best-working method is to simply buy a Wi-Fi extender. Every major brand has one, including D-Link, Netgear, and Linksys. They usually have the words “range extender” in the name of the wireless router.
They are basically normal wireless routers, but instead of creating their own separate network, simply extend the coverage of the currently configured wireless network. You can find a bunch of Wi-Fi extenders here:
If you don’t want to plop down $50 to $80 bucks for this, you can try to create your own Wi-Fi extender! Check out this YouTube video on how to make a Wi-Fi Extender:
You can also check out a great article by LifeHacker that walks you through the steps of creating a homemade Wi-Fi Extender.
Increase Transmit Power on your network adapter
If you have a newer Dell laptop or any computer that is running the Centrino chipset, your computer may not be using the strongest wireless signal that is possible. Why? Well, the new processors have power-saving features that use less energy in order to conserve batter power.
This is great, but it hinders the transmission power of the wireless card also. You can connect to wireless networks that are farther away by boosting the signal on your laptop, rather than boosting the signal on the router.
To do this, go to the Device Manager in System Properties by clicking on the Hardware tab. Once in Device Manager, expand Network Adapters and find your wireless card. Right-click on it and chooseProperties.
Now depending on what kind of card you have and your drivers, you will have to search through the various tabs and try to find anything that called Power Management or Transmit Power. You can then disable the power-saving features or you can increase the transmit power.
Note that this will only work for newer computers that have power-saving features enabled.
Attach a Wi-Fi signal amplifier
Another way to extend the range of a wireless network without buying a range extender is to buy a Wi-Fi signal amplifier. It basically attaches to your wireless router or access point on top of the antenna. You can buy a bi-directional antenna to amplify both the transmit and receive signals for best performance.
You can find a list of signal boosters here:
Other things that can help extend the range of your Wi-Fi signal is to position the router correctly. Make sure it’s in a wide open area and that it is centrally located.
Also, make sure it’s running on a channel and hertz that is not interfering with your cordless phones, other wireless routers in your neighborhood or apartment, etc.
You can also try upgrading your router firmware and upgrading the drivers on your computer. Finally, if it’s that bad, you might be better off just buying a new router! Any other suggestions to boost your wireless signal? If so, post a comment.
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