| You are finally up and running on your wireless | | | | improve reception, test the reception in the same |
| network. You designed it and built it and it works! | | | | location(s) with the antenna extended on the |
| Well, sort of. As you begin to evaluate the | | | | horizontal. Then try a declination of around |
| wireless network's performance, you find that it is | | | | forty-five degrees. You never know what might |
| not quite as good as you had planned for or | | | | work best for your home or office. Try different |
| anticipated. What can you do? | | | | things but monitor each setting as you go. |
| First, you need to determine if your expectations | | | | You need to ensure that there are no devices |
| were grounded. If you expected to get the same | | | | interfering with your AP. Cordless phones and |
| throughput and speed of transferring files across | | | | microwaves are the most often offending |
| your wireless network as you were used to on a | | | | devices but heating and air ducts and large |
| wired Ethernet network that was wrong. Wireless | | | | appliances such as washer, dryer, water heater, |
| speeds are plenty adequate for Internet access | | | | refrigerator, freezer, etc. can be deadly to the |
| but are pitifully slow compared to the wired | | | | signals from your AP. |
| Gigabit throughput of your hardwire connection. | | | | Change the AP network broadcast channel. You |
| Let's assume it is not an issue of expectation but | | | | may find that there is another access point on |
| there are some real problems uncovered. Here | | | | the same channel as yours. This is typical as a lot |
| are some suggestions on how to get the most | | | | of users leave the default settings on their AP |
| out of your wireless network and fix common | | | | and your neighbor might just have the same |
| problems. I suggest that you work with an | | | | device as you! |
| associate so that you can identify dead spots and | | | | Buy a replacement, high gain antenna for your |
| resolve them by one person monitoring signal | | | | access point. Most AP's have removable antennas |
| strength while the other moves and varies the | | | | that simply detach by unscrewing them. You can |
| angle and height of the access point and its | | | | buy antennas that provide a higher gain and thus |
| antenna. | | | | extend and improve your reception range. In the |
| Start with moving the access point. In another | | | | case of a friend, he was trying to provide |
| article I stated it was better to get the access | | | | network access to his garage office about three |
| point to the most central point in the home and | | | | hundred feet behind his house. He exchanged the |
| to the highest feasible point in the home. This will | | | | omni-directional antenna with a directional antenna. |
| offer the clearest, unobstructed transmission area | | | | This limited the signal to one direction but it |
| while providing the greatness coverage distance. | | | | concentrated all the power in one direction...and it |
| Next, make sure the access point is not up | | | | worked like a charm! You could also add a |
| against another object or next to other electrical | | | | repeater or a bridge or just another access point. |
| equipment. It needs to be at least six inches from | | | | There is almost always an answer - you have to |
| walls or other surfaces. The antenna needs to be | | | | test and try different things. |
| extended to its full vertical length. If this does not | | | | |