How to Extend Wireless Network Range

A bad wireless signal strength is definitely very irritating. If your operating system notifies, that you have a very weak wireless signal, then there is no hope to get a good reception in the interior rooms of your house or work place. Changing the wireless router, every time you encounter a low wireless signal strength, is not feasible. So, how about looking into the various causes of a bad wireless signal strength and increasing the network's range.

Causes of Bad Wireless Network Range

• Your wireless router antenna is not within the line of sight of the transmitter antenna.
• There are lots of barriers, like trees and buildings in between the transmitter and your wireless router
• There are more than one wireless router within the same area.
• Your wireless router has an omni-directional antenna and the signal is getting spread everywhere, hence reducing the power of the signal that reaches the antenna.
• The location of the wireless router.

How to Extend Wireless Network Range

There are a few basic steps that you can take, to increase the range of a wireless router. Let's take a look at each of them.

• This is the most obvious step. Place your wireless router in the line of sight of the antenna of your service provider.
• Do not place any metallic objects near your wireless router.
• Do not place more than one wireless router in the same room.
• Try placing your router at a certain height from the ground level.
• Do not place any other electronic equipment (e.g. Microwave) near your wireless router.

If these steps do not work out, then there are a few other measures that you can take. Get a unidirectional antenna for your router which has a higher power than the existing antenna. Direct the antenna towards your signal providers antenna. If you are using a laptop you can also try adding a wireless signal booster. If you have more than one computers at your workplace or home, then it's always a good option that you invest on a wireless repeater. This way the signal strength that reaches all the computers will not be divided. Changing the network adapter is another option that you have. Another important thing that you should keep in mind is, that you need to upgrade the wireless network adapter's drivers regularly. When choosing an antenna, a network adapter and a wireless router, ensure that they are from the same vendor. Though equipment manufactured by different vendors are compatible with each other but it has been noticed that a set of equipment from a single vendor gives a better performance when connected together.

If all these steps and procedures fail and you are still confounded on how to extend the wireless network's range, then the solution is upgrade your system. You can try out a new wireless router and adapter. Another possible solution that most wireless signal users resolve to is, upgrading their wireless networks from 802.11b to 802.11g.