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Situation:

My 18 yr old nephew is in Kansas City now...... living at his aunts
house there.

They bought a Linksys wireless router so he could use his desktop PC
upstairs in his room.

The router is downstairs

His signal strength is weak..... maybe one "bar". And it drops out at
times.

Oh...... this is the B version of wireless and he is running Win XP
pro

Having said all that what can be done to increase signal strength?
Obviously they will move the antennas around a bit but that may not
help. And the router and PC cant really be moved much anyway due to
their locations.

Is B wireless just on the weak side and should they have gotten the G
version?

Any devices to let one move or extend the "antennas" on either the
router end or PC end or both?

Advice on what to tell them to do?

Thanks in advance!

wrote:

> Situation:
>
> My 18 yr old nephew is in Kansas City now...... living at his aunts
> house there.
>
> They bought a Linksys wireless router so he could use his desktop PC
> upstairs in his room.
>
> The router is downstairs
>
> His signal strength is weak..... maybe one "bar". And it drops out at
> times.
>
> Oh...... this is the B version of wireless and he is running Win XP
> pro
>
> Having said all that what can be done to increase signal strength?
> Obviously they will move the antennas around a bit but that may not
> help. And the router and PC cant really be moved much anyway due to
> their locations.
>
> Is B wireless just on the weak side and should they have gotten the G
> version?
>
> Any devices to let one move or extend the "antennas" on either the
> router end or PC end or both?
>
> Advice on what to tell them to do?
>
> Thanks in advance!

Try adding an external antenna to one or both devices with enough gain
to bring the signal up to usuable standards. A 12dbi or stronger panel
antenna aimed in the direction of the other device would probably be
enough, if not, add an antenna to both devices. You'll need a pigtail to
go from the router to the antenna.

http://www.fab-corp.com has a bunch of antennas. The Maxrad WISP antenna
for about $39 is good. From what I saw, Linksys uses either a reverse
TNC connector or an RP-SMA connector, depending on your model. The other
end of the pigtail should be N male to connect to most antennas.

You can also "roll-your-own" antenna if you like DIY stuff.
http://www.freeantennas.com/

<> wrote in message
news:...
> Situation:
>
> My 18 yr old nephew is in Kansas City now...... living at his aunts
> house there.
>
> They bought a Linksys wireless router so he could use his desktop PC
> upstairs in his room.
>
> The router is downstairs
>
> His signal strength is weak..... maybe one "bar". And it drops out at
> times.
>
> Oh...... this is the B version of wireless and he is running Win XP
> pro
>

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=18

http://www.linksys.com/products/prod...id=38&prid=629

-a|ex

On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 18:32:57 -0500, wrote:

>Situation:
>
>My 18 yr old nephew is in Kansas City now...... living at his aunts
>house there.
>
>They bought a Linksys wireless router so he could use his desktop PC
>upstairs in his room.
>
>The router is downstairs
>
>His signal strength is weak..... maybe one "bar". And it drops out at
>times.
>
>Oh...... this is the B version of wireless and he is running Win XP
>pro
>
>Having said all that what can be done to increase signal strength?
>Obviously they will move the antennas around a bit but that may not
>help. And the router and PC cant really be moved much anyway due to
>their locations.
>
>Is B wireless just on the weak side and should they have gotten the G
>version?
>
>Any devices to let one move or extend the "antennas" on either the
>router end or PC end or both?
>
>Advice on what to tell them to do?
>
>Thanks in advance!
Try changing the channel.

put the router on the main floor or closer to the area of the computer or
maybe put a access point on the main floor.. still trying to figure out a
similar problem.. but putting on the main floor instead of the basement gave
me excellent signal anywhere in the house

"Scribner" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 18:32:57 -0500, wrote:
>
> >Situation:
> >
> >My 18 yr old nephew is in Kansas City now...... living at his aunts
> >house there.
> >
> >They bought a Linksys wireless router so he could use his desktop PC
> >upstairs in his room.
> >
> >The router is downstairs
> >
> >His signal strength is weak..... maybe one "bar". And it drops out at
> >times.
> >
> >Oh...... this is the B version of wireless and he is running Win XP
> >pro
> >
> >Having said all that what can be done to increase signal strength?
> >Obviously they will move the antennas around a bit but that may not
> >help. And the router and PC cant really be moved much anyway due to
> >their locations.
> >
> >Is B wireless just on the weak side and should they have gotten the G
> >version?
> >
> >Any devices to let one move or extend the "antennas" on either the
> >router end or PC end or both?
> >
> >Advice on what to tell them to do?
> >
> >Thanks in advance!
> Try changing the channel.