Tech Tips Blog - Computer Tips

Tweaking Your Home Wireless Network

Posted by on 11/11 at 09:08 AM

So, you’ve taken the plunge and set up a home wireless network. You’re undoubtedly enjoying the freedom of untethered computing, but now what? Well, it’s time to tweak your network to increase its performance and its security. This TechTip looks at some simple and effective ways of doing just that.

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Posted by Steven on 11/11 at 03:19 PM

I used a old direct tv parabola that way , took off the lmb and stuck a usb wireless dongle at the focus
increased signal strength some but not as much as your tin foil !! maybe i need to look closer at the position of the dongle ??
good hunting !!

best regards

Steven

Posted by Ted on 11/11 at 05:14 PM

tech tip 145 says to position the wireless router away from the computer and monitor. How long can the wire be leading from the antenna to the router? I am using a Hawking directional antenna that almost doubled my signal strength but the antenna wire is only 24 inches long. Way too short to put on the ceiling.

Posted by Ted on 11/11 at 05:17 PM

That was not a curse word. Using other words it made my sigal strength twice as strong.

Posted by Mike on 11/11 at 06:28 PM

wow… it actually worked. went from good to excellent. 3~4 bars to 5. LOL

Posted by Sun on 11/11 at 10:35 PM

Don’t confuse a true wireless bridge with the Netgear wireless network range extender mentioned in the article. It requires Netgear Powerline adapter XE102 as well. Most wireless access points can act as a bridge which would be a repeater without needing the separate powerline adapter.

Posted by Moe Knight on 11/12 at 12:49 PM

While encryption is an appropriate method of protecting data on a network, it does require compute cycles for the encryption/decryption process. I hate giving up compute cycles. Probably why I don’t care for Microsoft products.

I also use filtering via MAC address as one of the methods to protect my network bandwidth. While you can monitor every packet on a network and possibly capture and clone MAC addresses there is nothing in a packet to give away the fact that the network is filtering on MAC addresses. And duplicate MAC addresses on a network become apparent quickly. This method does not cost compute cycles.

Posted by Geek Mike on 11/12 at 02:55 PM

@ Ted…

“How long can the cable be?”

...As long as you need it to be, I’d imagine. I mean, you can buy 25’ of network cable pretty cheaply.

Cheers!

Posted by ted on 11/12 at 05:39 PM

Thanks to Geek Mike, but I was thinking of the cable from the router to the replacement antenna. I suppose I could use network cable to position the router in a better place but I was wondering just how far the antenna can be extended from the router.

Posted by Carl on 11/13 at 10:30 AM

turning off the SSID is not as secure as you think.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726942.aspx

Posted by Moe Knight on 11/13 at 02:41 PM

Ted,
Your best bet is to move the router, not extend the antenna cable. The frequency is such that cable loss can be significant. For 10 feet of cable, a standard RG58 will loose 4.65 dB (that means 1/3 of the signal gets through - and only at 2GHz, not 2.4GHz for the router) plus connector loss. RG213 is better with only 1.56 dB loss (about 70% of the power gets through at 2 GHz.) LDF250 looses 0.56 dB @ 2.4GHz (about 88% of the signal gets through). The connectors are specialized (per FCC requirements) and the good cable is expensive - probably $30 or more for a 10 foot cable.

Posted by Ted on 11/13 at 05:15 PM

Thanks Moe,

I suspected as much. I wish I had known that better coax is cable available before I ran it the length of the house to the modem.

I looked at the skinny little cable on the Hawking antenna. It appears to be coaxial RG316 and is about 24 inches long. I am going to try the tin foil but I think my best solution will be to hard wire because the access point is several walls, one floor and almost 50 feet away.

Posted by DMD on 11/14 at 03:38 AM

I remember years ago we used to do this to our TV’s to get better reception with our rabbit ears.

I remember watching Bonanza on Sunday Nights with Tin Foil on top of our Black and White non remote TV

Man I am getting old.

Hey you young folks can you just imagine and black and white TV without a remote control to change channels

Thank God For Technology

DMD

Posted by Geek Mike on 11/14 at 08:41 AM

@ DMD --- I like to think I am young… 33

...and I do remember having, in my bedroom a small black and white TV, with good old ‘rabbit ears’ (tin foil of course), desperately trying to improve the reception!!

...actually having to get up and walk to the TV to change a channel!!

WOW - have times have changed!

Posted by Geek Joe on 11/15 at 08:31 AM

I took one of my wifes large plastic bowls, drilled a hole in the bottom, wrapped it with tinfoil and placed it over the antenna. It made a awesome directional antenna!!!