Funny problem

[lilcompt]

i have a sony vaio nr series and the problem is wi-fi signal.

i have a bt home hub(bt broadband customer)

when i am in my living room doing my work on net i have a poor signal and then when i am upstairs in my room the wi-fi signal is high this is funny because there are no interferances with the wlan i know this because my router is away from all electronics e.g. sky reciver, tv, telephone,hi-fi and other electronics.

is there a way to boost my signal?

i am running vista(which i hate) i know this is a stupid question but is there a soluotion in solving this issues?

thanks

[Funkstar]

Does the HomeHub have external antena?

If it does you could try replacing them with something like this:
Edimax 5dBi Indoor Omni antenna

No garantee it would work though.

Others may have better sugestions.

[Jay]

get rid of the home hub....

[matty-hodgson]

you could try:
1. upgrade the aerial
2. buy a new router
3. but an upgraded aerial for your laptop. (PCMCIA/USB)
4. direct the signal using tin foil

if all this fails, buy a huge ethernet wire and trail it round your house

[lilcompt]

i dont think removing the hub will make any diffrence because my computer has a wireless adapter and usally the siganl on that is strong. yes i will upgrade the areial because i still do have a 1 year warranty if the hub fails. so thanks everybody for the suggestions/

[Clockwork_Killa]

This might sound daft, but do you know what your walls are made of? The reason I ask is that, at home I can get wireless signal all over the house except for two rooms which have some kind of material in the walls which blocks the wifi signal, strange but true.

[lilcompt]

umm i think the wall near my front door is plaster board but the rest are made of bricks. it really is funny the futher i am away from it the better signal i get.

[Viper81]

Another option is to run netstumbler and check what channels any other wireless networks you can see are on. Try switching your wireless router to a different channel (there are only 3 real distinct channels, 1, 6 and 11) and see if that has an effect ..

[StoX]

You can buy signal extending kits (useful when you have extra storey or loft conversion) which may help your situation.

Also check your HomeHub firmware version, as an update can help

[peterb]

Wifi uses frequencies in the low microwave range, which are susceptible to multipath interference, and absorbtion by materials (especially water - so if you havee adamp wall, that might be a problem!)

Being near the source can be worse because of strong reflections from nearby surfaces. Even moving the antenna by a few cm can affect the radiation/reception pattern.

So you can try moving the home hub to a different location (means extending the telephone line) or just changing its orientation. It is a matter of trial and error, but worth trying before resorting signal boosters and high gain antennas. Changing channels (and therefore frequencies) may also help.

[StoX]

especially water - so if you have a damp wall, that might be a problem!

That would explain why I can get dodgy reception in my old house!

Thanks for the detailed explanation there, it makes sense

[lilcompt]

Wifi uses frequencies in the low microwave range, which are susceptible to multipath interference, and absorbtion by materials (especially water - so if you havee adamp wall, that might be a problem!)

Being near the source can be worse because of strong reflections from nearby surfaces. Even moving the antenna by a few cm can affect the radiation/reception pattern.

So you can try moving the home hub to a different location (means extending the telephone line) or just changing its orientation. It is a matter of trial and error, but worth trying before resorting signal boosters and high gain antennas. Changing channels (and therefore frequencies) may also help.

yes you are right. but i have brick walls except the wass near my front door. my home hub firmware is up to date. so calling bt should do the trick for me. i could try with my old home hub and see if that could work. thanks for the quick respnce guys i appreciate it.