How to fix this low signal strength problem

Hi, I have a Dlink DI-524 in my basement. The signal strength to the
outside and to the second floor is weak.

I added a DLink antenna and that helped a bit but the antenna cable
is only 5 feet.

Would it help if I bought about 20' of the antenna cable and moved the
antenna to the center of the first floor. I think I could run the
cable through some heat ducts.

Am I going to lose the signal strength over 20'?

Thanks

Alex

On Jun 30, 11:08 am, alex <aco...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi, I have a Dlink DI-524 in my basement. The signal strength to the
> outside and to the second floor is weak.
>
> I added a DLink antenna and that helped a bit but the antenna cable
> is only 5 feet.
>
> Would it help if I bought about 20' of the antenna cable and moved the
> antenna to the center of the first floor. I think I could run the
> cable through some heat ducts.
>
> Am I going to lose the signal strength over 20'?
>
> Thanks
>
> Alex

Depending on your antenna cable, you may lose a lot or a little over
20'. If it's not LMR 400 (thick) or equivalent coax cable, then 20' is
too lossy.

Most cables that come with antennas are so lossy that most of the
antenna's gain is lost.

The smart thing to do is move the D-Link to the middle of the house
and connect the antenna directly without any coax. Run ethernet cable
to it instead.

Steve

> The smart thing to do is move the D-Link to the middle of the house
> and connect the antenna directly without any coax. Run ethernet cable
> to it instead.

Hi I have network drops throughout my house. I have a non wirless
DLInk hub that I can plug the coax in. I contacted DLink and asked
them if there was any way to connect the wireless router to this non
wirless router and to connect to the internet wirelessly and they said
no.

Are you saying that in my basement I can connect a non wirelss router
to the coax cable to connect to the internet and connect a wirless
router to the non wireless router via ethernet cable. And then have
all the computers connect to the internet through the wireless router?
Thanks

Alex

On Jul 1, 6:25 pm, seaweedsteve <seaweedst...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 30, 11:08 am, alex <aco...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi, I have a Dlink DI-524 in my basement. The signal strength to the
> > outside and to the second floor is weak.
>
> > I added a DLink antenna and that helped a bit but the antenna cable
> > is only 5 feet.
>
> > Would it help if I bought about 20' of the antenna cable and moved the
> > antenna to the center of the first floor. I think I could run the
> > cable through some heat ducts.
>
> > Am I going to lose the signal strength over 20'?
>
> > Thanks
>
> > Alex
>
> Depending on your antenna cable, you may lose a lot or a little over
> 20'. If it's not LMR 400 (thick) or equivalent coax cable, then 20' is
> too lossy.
>
> Most cables that come with antennas are so lossy that most of the
> antenna's gain is lost.
>
> The smart thing to do is move the D-Link to the middle of the house
> and connect the antenna directly without any coax. Run ethernet cable
> to it instead.
>
> Steve

On Jul 1, 6:22 pm, Alex <alex.co...@rbc.com> wrote:


>..... I have a non wirless
> DLInk hub that I can plug the coax in.
>
> Are you saying that in my basement I can connect a non wirelss router
> to the coax cable to connect to the internet and connect a wirless
> router to the non wireless router via ethernet cable ?

That's not what I was saying, but it's a possibility.

First, is it a router or is it a hub?
What is that connected to - a DSL modem in the basement? Does it do
DHCP?
Does you DSL come in the basement or where?

I know that a router will work in that position, I believe a hub
might, depending -


What I was suggesting is simply this: Instead of an antenna extension,
do a router externsion with ethernet cable. Wherever your DSL/cable
comes in, run an ethernet extension from that modem to your wireless
router placed in the optimum transmitting place in the house you can
reach by cable.

steve

On Jul 3, 12:09 am, seaweedsteve <seaweedst...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 1, 6:22 pm, Alex <alex.co...@rbc.com> wrote:
>
> >..... I have a non wirless
> > DLInk hub that I can plug the coax in.
>
> > Are you saying that in my basement I can connect a non wirelss router
> > to the coax cable to connect to the internet and connect a wirless
> > router to the non wireless router via ethernet cable ?
>
> That's not what I was saying, but it's a possibility.
>
> First, is it a router or is it a hub?
> What is that connected to - a DSL modem in the basement? Does it do
> DHCP?
> Does you DSL come in the basement or where?
>
> I know that a router will work in that position, I believe a hub
> might, depending -
>
> What I was suggesting is simply this: Instead of an antenna extension,
> do a router externsion with ethernet cable. Wherever your DSL/cable
> comes in, run an ethernet extension from that modem to your wireless
> router placed in the optimum transmitting place in the house you can
> reach by cable.
>
> steve

Thanks I understand what you are talking about. I thought of doing
that but the problem is that while that would improve my wireless
connection all my network cables drop into the basement. So my
wireless gets better but I can't use my other computers which are not
wireless and depend on the router which is in the basement.

Makes sense?

So what I'm trying to do is move my wireless antenna or router to the
second floor but somehow keep a router in the basement so that the
other compters work.

I have an extra non-wireless DSL/Cable router and an old DLink switch
that I can use.
My cable comes into the basement. And the router is currently not set
up for DHCP, just static.

So, is it possilbe to connect the coax cable to my non-wireless DSL/
Cable router in the basement, wire all my drops to it, move my
wireless router to my first floor, connect it to my non-wireless DSL
router via ethernet and still have internet and network access?

Thanks

Alex

On Jul 3, 10:32 am, alex <aco...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> So, is it possilbe to connect the coax cable to my non-wireless DSL/
> Cable router in the basement, wire all my drops to it, move my
> wireless router to my first floor, connect it to my non-wireless DSL
> router via ethernet and still have internet and network access?
>

Yes. You are set up!

Run the non-wireless router as a gateway in the basement and
distribute Ethernet from there.
At one or more places in the house that you want wireless, wherever
there's a drop, you can run a wireless router as an AP.

You will probably want to set up the basement router to give out
addresses (DHCP).
Then on the wireless router(s) running as AP, you typically turn off
DHCP and definitely firewall. All addresses are assigned from the
gateway.

Connect your Ethernet drop to one of the router/AP's LAN (not the WAN)
ports.

Using WPA security with strong password is recommended for any AP in
your LAN.




Steve

On Jul 5, 12:24 am, seaweedsteve <seaweedst...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 3, 10:32 am, alex <aco...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > So, is it possilbe to connect the coax cable to my non-wireless DSL/
> > Cable router in the basement, wire all my drops to it, move my
> > wireless router to my first floor, connect it to my non-wireless DSL
> > router via ethernet and still have internet and network access?
>
> Yes. You are set up!
>
> Run the non-wireless router as a gateway in the basement and
> distribute Ethernet from there.
> At one or more places in the house that you want wireless, wherever
> there's a drop, you can run a wireless router as an AP.
>
Hi,

I followed these instructions and it worked well. I'm getting a 90%
signal strength now.

Alex

> You will probably want to set up the basement router to give out
> addresses (DHCP).
> Then on the wireless router(s) running as AP, you typically turn off
> DHCP and definitely firewall. All addresses are assigned from the
> gateway.
>
> Connect your Ethernet drop to one of the router/AP's LAN (not the WAN)
> ports.
>
> Using WPA security with strong password is recommended for any AP in
> your LAN.
>
> Steve

Thanks for reporting back Alex. It's more fun when we know it
worked!

Cheers,
Steve