Range extenders

[Anjistar]

hi,
I have Netgear Rangemax equipment on my Wireless Network - DG834PN Router/modem and WPN111 Adapter on my main PC, fantastic signal, never seems to drop

My son has a Belkin USB adapter on his PC (up the stairs, turn right). His signal is weak and drops often.

My daughter has a laptop ( which works fine in the same room as the main PC), and she gets no signal whatsoever( upstairs, turn right, second door along).

I don't want them both moving into my den with me so can I do anything to improve the situation?

I have heard of Range Extenders, but looking on the Netgear Products pages left me more confused than enlightened.
Can anyone clear away the cobwebs?
Cheers
Anji

 

[donkey42]

hi,
I have Netgear Rangemax equipment on my Wireless Network - DG834PN Router/modem and WPN111 Adapter on my main PC, fantastic signal, never seems to drop

My son has a Belkin USB adapter on his PC (up the stairs, turn right). His signal is weak and drops often.

My daughter has a laptop ( which works fine in the same room as the main PC), and she gets no signal whatsoever( upstairs, turn right, second door along).

I don't want them both moving into my den with me so can I do anything to improve the situation?

I have heard of Range Extenders, but looking on the Netgear Products pages left me more confused than enlightened.
Can anyone clear away the cobwebs?
Cheers
Anji

check these cheap enough, where are you based (country) ?

 

[Anjistar]

Thanks for your reply!
Prices are in sterling so that's right.
But they are all different! 5 dBi, 8 dBi, Omni-dlink, SMA fern, Rp-TMC
What does it all mean?
How do I know which is the right one to work with my Wi-Fi hardware?
Regards
Anji

 

[donkey42]

But they are all different! 5 dB & 8 dB

to be honest i don´t know, but if i were to guess, i´d say the dB stand for Decibels (frequency) and i guess 8 dB is obviously more powerful than 5dB,

RP-TMC

it just a small threaded coaxial (similar to thin tv aerial cable connector, but better, cos it´s ¨digital¨ :rolleyes:) conection (a bit like BNC)

How do I know which is the right one to work with my Wi-Fi hardware?

check your wireless adapters manual for ideas, it will probably give you a detailed specification, then just match the extender you think and compare the specs of your hardware to the specs of the extender, when you get a match, Bingo, thats the one you want

 

[Anjistar]

Thankyou! I think!
I shall try to work my way through that lot, then amd see what transpires....
many thanks
Anji

 

[xboxsoli]

i dont think that the netgear router allow you to remove the antennas so i think you will have to go with a range extender. Netgear antennas used to be RP-SMA (reverse polarity) i think before they decided to make them un-removeable.

 

[Anjistar]

Do you mean that the suggestions made in the previous reply all required the aerial to be changed?

If so, you are quite right. My router/modem has an internal omni-directional aerial.

It's just not coping with cottage walls.

So I need a range extender. Can you make a suggestion? Just so I know roughly what I am looking for, then I can go research.

Many thanks
Anji

 

[xboxsoli]

there are a few companys making them. the one i have is a dlink dwl-g710 and i paid $29.50 for it refurb. linksys also makes a WRE54G. there are a bunch of others. i think there mostly the same though. it probly would be a good idea to stick with the same brand as the wireless router though. netgear makes a WGXB102 but i dont know anything about it. the dlink took maybe 10 mins to install and its working great.

hope that helps

 

[Anjistar]

Thanks for that- it sounds exactly what I need. I looked it up on Netgear and
it also says that I need an ethernet bridge.

:confused:
I am experiencing some difficulty in working out whether I need both.
The WGXB102 http://www.netgear.co.uk/pdfs/WGXB102_DS.pdf
suggests I do, but
the Ethernet Bridge XB102 http://www.netgear.co.uk/pdfs/XE102_DS.pdf
doesn't explain whether I need one of each, or if just a bridge, or several bridges will do the same thing.


I don't suppose you have the time to unravel this?
Cheers
Anji