Improving our Wireless Coverage

Using a free bit of software called Insidder we did a survey of the current wireless signal recording the strength of the signals from both the Router and Extender in each room.

Advice found on the internet suggested that Routers/Extenders should be placed as centrally as possible to give the best "footprint", the exact opposite of our current set up.  It also said they should be placed as high as possible.  To test this the Router and Extender were temporarily moved into the loft and the survey repeated.

We even went as far as measuring the entire length of the house to work out the best place to install the Router and Extender.  The Router was fitted a 1/3rd distance from the front of the house and the Extender at 2/3rds distance.

Its pretty easy to see that though the signal strength was not as strong as before in certain places they were much more consistent across the house as a whole.

On the assumption that a more consistent signal would give more consistent wireless access the loft became the new home for the Router and Extender, once our electrician had put some power sockets and lights up there.

But that caused a new problem.  The Router needs connecting to the BT Socket and we don't have one up there.  The solution to that would come along later.

Interference

Insidder also shows what other wireless networks are nearby and what Channel (There are 13 channels in total) they are broadcasting on.  Most routers default to Channel 6 or 11 apparently so we moved ours to a less crowded channel to reduce any potential interference from other networks.

Improve speed

A quick chat with Belkin, the manufacturer of both our Router and Extender confirmed that connecting the two together by Ethernet cable turns the Extender into an Access Point. 

In this configuration the Router and Access Point broadcast simultaneously.  The Router doesn't have to wait for the Access Point to send the info or wait for its reply and we will have full wireless speed again.

Reduce wireless kit

We don't want to get rid of it completely so we looked at connecting it to our network another way.  If we aren't using wireless then the only other way to connect it is to use wires, Ethernet wires in fact.

The PS3 has an Ethernet connection port, as does our PS2, both laptops and one could be added quite easily to the WII.  But this means going to the bother of installing Ethernet cabling all over the house and making sure we have enough points to connect things up.

So due to the lack of any other ongoing projects to complete we decided to build our own LAN (Local Area Network)

Part Three - Connecting the Router