Optimizing Router for Better Wireless Connectivity

If you're downloading a large files and it's comingconnection. For example, you may be able to
to it's end, you're receiving a Skype call from aconnect just fine in your house, but on your patio,
client in London, without warning, your Wi-Fiyou may have an intermittent connection that
connection drops, leaving your download and VoIPdisappears whenever your neighbor is using her
call in havock. You'll retry the wireless connection,cordless phone. The signal on your patio may be
but your router, though blinking contentedly intoo weak to cope with the interference coming
your tense, seems to be off. After three hour,from the house next door. You can strengthen
for no reason, your Wi-Fi connection miraculouslythe connection with antennas or repeaters or you
resurfaces.can use a power-line bridge to import the
Wireless networking can be a easy and yet givesconnection from your router to your patio and
you a headache, It'sgreat when it works and afeed it into a power-line access point. Instead of
mind-numbing frustration when it doesn't. Athe weak signal from your distant router, you
common complaint among many who havenow have a strong signal from an access point
moved to Wi-Fi is that their wireless connectionplaced right where you want to buttress your
mysteriously fades in and out the frequency.coverage area.
These steps will help you to create a stable,3. Change channels. Interference is a likely cause
Always-on the wireless connections.of intermittent connections, such as the one
1. Replace your cordless phone. Cordless phonesdescribed above. All 802.11b and 802.11g networks
are among the worst sources of interference foroperate at 2.4GHz, in a small swath of spectrum
wireless networks. They intend to transmit at aonce used primarily by ham-radio hobbyists.
higher power output than Wi-Fi gear, making themToday, these radios, plus other Wi-Fi gear,
louder and therefore harder to talk over, andBluetooth devices, cordless phones, microwave
they tend to transmit frequently, especially whenovens, baby monitors, and wireless surveillance
the handset and base station are separated.equipment, all crowd the spectrum. When these
Some 2.4GHz cordless phones let you select adevices compete for the same airspace, they
channel, in which case you can try separating theinterfere with each other, potentially blocking each
phone's frequency from the frequency of yourother's signals. Luckily, there are ways to sidestep
wireless network. For example, set your phone toand minimize interference in many situations. In
channel 1 and your wireless router to channel 11.the United States, 802.11b and 802.11g devices
If your phone doesn't let you select a channel, trycan be configured to operate at any one of 11
putting some distance between your phone andchannels. Unfortunately, these channels overlap
your router. Generally, it's not a good idea towith adjacent channels, so you have only 3
place a cordless phone next to a Wi-Fi router. Ifnonoverlapping channels at your disposal: channels
this doesn't help, consider replacing your 2.4GHz1, 6, and 11. If you and your neighbor both have a
phone with a 5GHz phone. This way, your phonewireless network, both of which are set to
and network won't be sharing the same airspacechannel 6, you may experience interference. You
and won't interfere with each other.can remedy the problem by resetting your
2. Expand your wireless network. The farther youwireless router to a different, preferably
are from your wireless router, the greater thenonoverlapping, channel, in this case, either 1 or 11.
potential for interference to block or to slow your