Losing signal from wireless/slow downloads - CCTV interference?

booter

Unashamed bump - still looking for info/advice - pretty please :)

paddyrg

Radio signals are odd things. They do not behave quite as most people expect, and indeed there is as much art as science to antenna design. Signals get absorbed, reflected, contested, superimposed, and cancel out, so the fact that wifi works at all in such a crowded spectrum is a miracle! Those radio signals also have to cope with changing weather, and other people adding more and more stuff to the frequency (eg video senders).

One thing most antennae are notoriously poor at is vertical signals. You can live under a phone mast and have a lousy phone signal until you walk 20 metres up the road. I suspect that having the box in the loft, you're not doing yourself any favours, as most of the house is in the low signal footprint. Can you bring the wireless router down to the ground floor, or first floor even? I could see that making a difference.

booter

paddyrg wrote: »

. Can you bring the wireless router down to the ground floor, or first floor even? I could see that making a difference.

Thanks for the info paddyrg. No, I'm afraid the router's stuck in the attic - I have the desktop/printer etc up there.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a cheap device I could buy that will do the trick in boosting the signal?

paddyrg

How many antennae does the router have? If 1, you can get them with 2 or even 3 which help to shape the signal and may get you better luck downstairs

Alternatively you could try one of those thingies that route your ethernet over your home mains, so you can plug that in to the desktop etc upstairs, and use the wireless router downstairs?

booter

The router has 2 antennae, but despite a number of attempts, I still can't get a good signal in the dining room (previously, the signal strength was "Excellent", now for whatever reason, I'm lucky to get a connection!)
Others have suggested I need a booster. Virgin suggested one that plugs into the mains downstairs, relaying the signal from the router to the laptop (??) somehow, but I really don't know what I'm looking for, how much I'd expect to pay, or how it works!!:) So, to make it idiot proof (that'll be me then!) if anyone's got a link, that'd be great!

closed

If they are external, try moving them to horizontal position, or at an angle, and test signal strength with inssider

booter

I'll keep trying before spending - I'm just wondering whether it's worth getting in touch with Virgin to see if I can get one of the new "super hubs" - I've heard they're supposed to have greater signal strength?

closed

wireless signals radiate mostly horizontally from aerials, so if it's in the loft, most of the signal will be going sideways from the loft, it probably needs to be directed downwards by rotating aerials.

paddyrg

Although if the antennae are horizontal, the wave will be polarised on a different axis, and so the receiver in the laptop may not be able to receive it as well as a vertically polarised signal. RF is a bit unpredictable like that.