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Home
Wireless Network Tips and Tweaks
1>
Extend Your Signal with a Repeater
or Wire It With a Bridge
A
wireless repeater is a computer networking device
which acts as a repeater between a wireless router
and computers.
Typical
use of a wireless repeater is to add one when your
computer is too far away from any of the buildings'
other wireless
access
points. If set up properly it will then extend the
range of the local wireless network. The open source
firmware DD-WRT
enables
home network routers to function as wireless
repeaters.
Signal
Repeaters come in all shapes and sizes. Check them out
here.
2>
Improve Coverage with Better
Placement
Place
the base station centrally on an upper floor, or
atop furniture, because radio waves spread best
laterally and down
Reception will be better if the signal does not
have to travel at steep angles and if it doesn't
have to go through thick walls,
mirrors, fish tanks or anything metal
Place wireless network components far from other
devices in the house that can cause interference,
like cordless phones,
microwave ovens, baby monitors or halogen lamps
Change the default signal channel (usually set
to 6) to avoid interference with neighbors' network
devices
3> Enable WPA Encryption
Wi-Fi security isn't very
secure at all, but if your access point is more secure than others,
evil-doing crackers are more likely to
move on. In the spirit of
"best of what's offered" security, most wireless access points are
set to use WEP encryption to password
their connections, but
WPA (supported on most modern routers and computers) is less easy to
crack than WEP. To switch to WPA,
on your access point's
administration page, change the security level and set your WPA
passphrase to something long and difficult to crack.
4>
Limit MAC addresses Access
You can limit which computers can
access your network by their mac address. The mac address is a
unique number assigned to every
network card when manufactured.
Most routers today have this feature and it's as easy as entering a
few numbers onto a list.
5> Stop Broadcasting Your
Network's Name
Don't want to advertise
your network in the surrounding area? Turn off SSID broadcasting,
which will keep regular old laptops and
other devices from
listing your network as one of the detected options. To do so, in
your access point's administration page, uncheck
"Enable SSID Broadcast."
Now this won't prevent users with a strong determination from
accessing your network, but it will keep prying
eyes looking for local
networks from detecting your network.
6>
Boost Your Signal with Tinfoil
For those tinkers out there, check this
out.
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tips/2007/09/05/boost_your_wireless_signal_wit.html
or this:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/720362/how_to_boost_wi_fi_range_with_a_homemade_parabolic_reflector/
or this:
http://lifehacker.com/software/macgyver-tip/boost-your-wi+fi-antenna-for-less-than-a-dollar-324681.php
7>
Change The Channel
Just like
radio or television, wireless signals are transmitted via channels.
By default, most routers are set to channel 6. If your neighbors
are using
wireless routers set to the same channel, this can degrade the
strength of your signal. Use your router's administrative software
to try
switching the channel to 1 or 11.
8> Use The Latest and Greatest
Computer users often neglect keeping their
devices upgraded to the latest driver releases.
Make sure your router has the latest firmware;
the vendor's website will usually offer the
software as a free download. Additionally, make
sure any devices that use your wireless network
(like a laptop, for instance) has the latest
drivers installed for any on-board or added
wireless cards.
9> Upgrade 802.11b to
802.11g
Our aging home Wi-Fi network
consisted of a desktop PC, a
Wi-Fi-enabled notebook, and
an 802.11b wireless router.
Though 802.11b
is a tried-and-true
standard, its throughput
maxes out at around 11Mbps.
In addition, its range isn't
as far as that of newer
standards.
version g can go as high as
54Mbps.
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