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baby monitor interference wifi image
lizaroth
I have an old linksys router sitting around that I want to use to fix wifi signal issues in my house. I know you can get wired into the 2nd router when you bridge. I am just wondering if this 2nd router will be able to transmit a good wireless signal or is it just used to connect wired devices?
Should I just buy a better router or try and make this work with my old router which is laying around?
Answer
You can use multiple wireless routers provided they are configured correctly.
Wireless signals are affected by many factors including wall density, electrical interference, directional antenna range, etc.
Depending on the size of your house and the factors listed above, you may need one or more wireless access points or wireless range extenders to cover all areas adequately.
Many wireless connections also experience interference from microwave ovens and cordless phones which interfere with the 2.4 GHz band.
Just because a particular wireless router works good at one location does not guarantee that it will have similar performance in a different location due to variance in the factors listed above.
If you are getting a new wireless router try to centrally locate it up high and away from dense walls and electrical and 2.4 GHz wireless interference such as microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, etc.
That being said,
There are various ways to extend a Internet connection to areas with a weak wireless signal.
Devices such as wireless extenders that can expand your wireless range if need be. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YAYM06/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=excharge-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004YAYM06
The wireless range extender receives weak wireless signals and repeats them to extend the signal range to greater distances. Some models include 4 Ethernet ports in addition to the wireless radio.
You can also use multiple routers provided they are configured correctly.
Unless you have experience in network configuration, it's not a good idea to use additional routers unless you turn off the routing functions and use them as wireless access points. Your wireless signals will interfere with each other if they're operating on the same wireless channel. A router also acts as a DHCP server to assign IP addresses, you only want one DHCP service running.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an auto configuration protocol used on IP networks. Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before they can communicate with other computers on the network. DHCP allows a computer to be configured automatically, eliminating the need for intervention by a network administrator. It also provides a central database for keeping track of computers that have been connected to the network. This prevents two computers from accidentally being configured with the same IP address. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol
You'll need to manually configure the second router before placing it into service. The IP address needs changed so it doesn't conflict with the first router, the DHCP functions should also be disabled on the second router.
You'll have to connect a PC or laptop directly to the second router via Ethernet and log into it's interface to change it's IP. You'll want to change this to something that doesn't conflict with the first router but is in the same subnet.
Plug a Ethernet cable from LAN port on the first router into one of the LAN ports on the second router, Don't use the second router's WAN port for anything. Also use non overlapping wireless channels such as 1, 6, 11. You can use the same SSID for everything.
For example if you main router has an IP of 192.168.1.1 and it broadcasts on channel 1.
Set your second router as an access point with an IP of 192.168.1.2 and have it broadcast on channel 6.
Although it is not absolutely necessary, I would also reserve the second router's IP in the first router's configuration or set DHCP to assign a range that doesn't include the second router. For example if your devices had the IPs listed above and you wanted to allocate up to 20 DHCP IP addresses you could set the range from 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.30. This way in case the second router were powered off for some reason DHCP would not assign 192.168.1.2 to another device which would cause an IP conflict when the second router was powered back up.
Good Luck...
You can use multiple wireless routers provided they are configured correctly.
Wireless signals are affected by many factors including wall density, electrical interference, directional antenna range, etc.
Depending on the size of your house and the factors listed above, you may need one or more wireless access points or wireless range extenders to cover all areas adequately.
Many wireless connections also experience interference from microwave ovens and cordless phones which interfere with the 2.4 GHz band.
Just because a particular wireless router works good at one location does not guarantee that it will have similar performance in a different location due to variance in the factors listed above.
If you are getting a new wireless router try to centrally locate it up high and away from dense walls and electrical and 2.4 GHz wireless interference such as microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, etc.
That being said,
There are various ways to extend a Internet connection to areas with a weak wireless signal.
Devices such as wireless extenders that can expand your wireless range if need be. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YAYM06/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=excharge-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004YAYM06
The wireless range extender receives weak wireless signals and repeats them to extend the signal range to greater distances. Some models include 4 Ethernet ports in addition to the wireless radio.
You can also use multiple routers provided they are configured correctly.
Unless you have experience in network configuration, it's not a good idea to use additional routers unless you turn off the routing functions and use them as wireless access points. Your wireless signals will interfere with each other if they're operating on the same wireless channel. A router also acts as a DHCP server to assign IP addresses, you only want one DHCP service running.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an auto configuration protocol used on IP networks. Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before they can communicate with other computers on the network. DHCP allows a computer to be configured automatically, eliminating the need for intervention by a network administrator. It also provides a central database for keeping track of computers that have been connected to the network. This prevents two computers from accidentally being configured with the same IP address. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol
You'll need to manually configure the second router before placing it into service. The IP address needs changed so it doesn't conflict with the first router, the DHCP functions should also be disabled on the second router.
You'll have to connect a PC or laptop directly to the second router via Ethernet and log into it's interface to change it's IP. You'll want to change this to something that doesn't conflict with the first router but is in the same subnet.
Plug a Ethernet cable from LAN port on the first router into one of the LAN ports on the second router, Don't use the second router's WAN port for anything. Also use non overlapping wireless channels such as 1, 6, 11. You can use the same SSID for everything.
For example if you main router has an IP of 192.168.1.1 and it broadcasts on channel 1.
Set your second router as an access point with an IP of 192.168.1.2 and have it broadcast on channel 6.
Although it is not absolutely necessary, I would also reserve the second router's IP in the first router's configuration or set DHCP to assign a range that doesn't include the second router. For example if your devices had the IPs listed above and you wanted to allocate up to 20 DHCP IP addresses you could set the range from 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.30. This way in case the second router were powered off for some reason DHCP would not assign 192.168.1.2 to another device which would cause an IP conflict when the second router was powered back up.
Good Luck...
Is there any software or hardware that can detect WIFI noise influences?
TheRalfZer
I Have a wireless network setup, but there is a point where the wireless network get interference from somewhere that causing very slow network connections despite that Windows say that the signal strength is excellent, even radios or cellphones are acting up in that area.
Is there anything i can use to detect what it is that can cause this?
Answer
The easiest way is to use a Spectrum Analyzer. Used to be they were very expensive and only used by those who professionally work with Wifi but there are some units out now that anyone can use and afford. Wi-Spy is one of those available http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/c240/
Metageeks also have several units that give a complete band view even some advanced units that are very very good . http://www.metageek.net/
In some cases a program like NetStumbler is all that is needed to find interfering AP's within range. That will give you a list of channels and SSIDs and strength of the AP's within range.
http://stumbler.net/ its just software that works with compatible wifi cards. This isn't as complete as a full spectrum scan as it won't show phones, baby room monitors, cameras etc that may be on the same channels.
The easiest way is to use a Spectrum Analyzer. Used to be they were very expensive and only used by those who professionally work with Wifi but there are some units out now that anyone can use and afford. Wi-Spy is one of those available http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/c240/
Metageeks also have several units that give a complete band view even some advanced units that are very very good . http://www.metageek.net/
In some cases a program like NetStumbler is all that is needed to find interfering AP's within range. That will give you a list of channels and SSIDs and strength of the AP's within range.
http://stumbler.net/ its just software that works with compatible wifi cards. This isn't as complete as a full spectrum scan as it won't show phones, baby room monitors, cameras etc that may be on the same channels.
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