Any way to increase vertical wifi signal?

I use a Cisco Linksys E3000 and it works great on the floor it's on, but downstairs (I have a Cisco USB wifi adapter on that PC) I get next to no signal on the 5.8ghz band and a low signal on the 2.4ghz band. It's only about 20 feet away from the router in total, but I figure the vertical-ness of it is messing it up.

 

Turn the antenna on it's side? The issue is mostly that the antenna in your laptop and the antenna in the router are both designed for horizontal signal propagation, and there's no easy fix for that :-/

 

5GHz band is not very good at penetrating obstacles so don't count on it- better to work on 2.4GHz. USB adapters usually have rather weak antennas so that part probably doesn't help but for the most part it's as you said the vertical-ness-ness.
Pita's advice is spot on but not for you as E3000 has internal antennas.

There's one thing you can try to do- due to physics if you're exactly below or on top of the router you get basically no signal but if you move away from the router still being on the same level you get better signal.
That works for vertical dipole antenna.
Here's an illustration- what you're interested in is elevation graph.
The scale matters off course and the graph doesn't include the effect of the obstacle being the floor in your case so it messes it up a bit but the point is- it is possible to get a bit better signal farther away from the router if you're directly below it or very close to it.

 

hm, thanks for the info
I guess I'll leave things as they are - as the router is only connected to the modem at 100mbps (and the advertised downstream speed is only 30mbps), so it can handle a medium or low connection without missing out on much.

I didn't know 5.8ghz had such trouble with obstacles. I never had trouble using my 5.8ghz phone handset on a different floor from the base unit.

EDIT: said phone isn't in this house and thus isn't causing any interference with the wifi

 

I had similar problems... My solution:

1. Change the firmware in your Linksys to DD-WRT. Careful! The E3000 can be tricky. Check in the forum for the right build

2. Check in the documentation of DD-WRT how to increase your signal power

3. if this still does not solve your problems 100% (as in my case) consider buying a second router... and use one of the two as a repeater.

My setup is as follows: I have a WRT320N hooked up to the modem in the basement. I run it on 5GHz. I have a WRT610N V2 positioned on the 1st floor, directly above the 320 with a concrete ceiling in between.
I use the 5GHz (N on A) to connect the two routers with each other and the 2.4GHz second band of the 610N to connect all my wireless clients. Voila, no more reception problems!

Also, I just upgraded my notebooks to Intels new N6200/6300 wifi adapters... SWELL I tell you! throughput and range are much improved while system load is decreased

 

You can change to any firmware you want, it's a matter of physics, the radio waves only travel in a certain pattern and firmware will not fix that. This includes using it to boost the signal. You can make the donut shape larger, but you are still left with a donut shape.

Also, routers run slower with DD-WRT (at least newer ones, probably older ones as well). DD-WRT was designed to add features, not speed and most current stock firmware has more than enough features for most people.



By the way, once you exceed a certain output, you start losing signal quality and you get less and your gains taper off, which is why most set theirs at a certain setting and leave it. This setting is lower than optimal though because they are trying to set it so even the worst hardware works well at that setting. Sort of like overclocking, some can go higher, some cannot. To a certain point, it's usually the power pack being under powered keeping you from going higher, but at some point you reach the routers hardware limitation as well. Just because it says it goes to 11, doesn't mean it will reach it.

The two router setup works though (so long as it too is not caught in the center of the donut), and DD-WRT makes this (somewhat) easy and cheap to do but again slows the router and can increase ping as well, remember, wires are faster than sound waves.

 

@leslieann

Actually, my linksys runs much faster with DD-WRT than with the stock firmware. The boost in the power settings (not to maximum possible, just 15%) made a HUGE difference for penetrating the concrete floor/ceiling, especially with in the 5GHz band...

of course, one could go further, modify the router to allow for the attachment of external antennas. I actually build a set of bi-quads myself when I had to bridge a larger distance between two older Fritz!Box routers... You could now set up these as a "line of sight" bridge, which will allow for much better penetration of solid objects

DD-WRT does make WDS not only easier, it makes it POSSIBLE when you have a linksys, since the stock firmware does not support this...

By the way: Why the "rant" against DD-WRT? It's not flawless, but it is a very useful and truly amazing open source project...

 

It's not a rant on her part- it's data.
Neither myself nor leslieann deny the fact that DD-WRT is a great project but it's a trade-off - more features for less performance at least in case of routers with good factory firmware.

 

Do you have any REAL DD WRT experience or is it just second hand?
14311 is a fairly old build...

For a linksys E3000 I would go for a "dd-wrt.v24-15943_NEWD-2_K2.6_big-e2k-e3k.bin"

All the lastest builds can be found here: ftp://dd-wrt.com/others/eko/V24-K26/svn15943-snow/

If you decide to try DD WRT, consult the forum at DD WRT (search fro E3000) and make BASOLUTELY SURE not to flash teh WRONG firmware. Unbricking is no fun and can easily prevented!

Of course, performance changes with DD WRT from build to build, but WDS IS a killer feature which linksys sadly fails to provide out of the box...

Also: It is very difficult to compare the findings on one router modded with DD WRT to a completely different machine. The Netgear has Atheros hardware whereas Linksys is using Broadcom...

Moreover: The 251mW limit can usually be pushed by the command line. My linksys will output 1000mW+ if they have to, but without external antenna you will hardly see any significant gain beyond 251mW.

If you are willing to invest some time into modding the E3000 by using pigtail antenna connectors allowing you to put a nice big omni or for a WDS bridge a set of Bi-quads on the machine, you can easily bridge much more than just the distance in the house...

 

Nice thing you found CAPS LOCK to question my real experience

Now without using a caps lock- Netgear WNR3500L uses Broadcom 4718A main chip paired with 64MB RAM and 8MB flash.
Coincidentally Linksys E3000 uses Broadcom 4718 main chip paired with 64MB RAM and 8MB flash.
I'm struggling to see how I compared different hardware but whatever.

 

Sorry, must have been mistaken there... I thought it had Atheros hardware running...

glad you found a way to switch of my caps lock remotely

Anyway, the newer builds, based on my personal experience, offer really good speeds and the WDS is worthwhile!

I did have some troubles (stability, throughput) with earlier builds, but it is a project under constant development... and I believe WDS could really solve the issue at hand here, especially, since a WRT320N can be bought cheaply they often sell for 50$ on ebay...

 

Check out these guys for antenna mod:

7dBi Antenna Mod Kit for Linksys WRT320N (No soldering) - eBay (item 110623434244 end time Feb-09-11 06:15:59 PST)

 

You can build your own patch antenna. It will give only about a hemisphere of coverage, but it will be a lot better than any simple dipole antenna if it can work in your situation.

RC-CAM Projects: Goof Proof Patch Antenna

 

I have run several routers with it and installed it as repeaters and such as well, I have quite a bit of experience with it at home and in businesses. It's not a matter of just an off-hand comment, it's based on experience with it and studies done.

I actually like DD-WRT (and other firmware projects).
Any time someone asks for router recommendations I try to stick to compatible routers because it gives you the option (I have had some bad experience with poor factory firmware), but I won't blindly tell people to switch to it. It's a tool to be added to your toolbox, not the end-all-be-all firmware and it has it's limitations (not to mention runs a risk risk of bricking your router).


As I mentioned, increasing power doesn't fix the donut shape, it will only make it larger. If your laptop is in the hole, it will always be in that hole. As for your custom antennas, it's against FCC regs to attach anything not certified to your router. If a neighbor complains about their cordless phone not working and they investigate, you won't like the bill. Chances of this are slim, but something to be aware of.

 

Luckily that only concerns people in the US- which is weird anyway because Wi-Fi bands are open ones and a lot of things work @2.4GHz- sometimes seemingly not conforming to any standards.
The mod itself looks very easy and tidy on WRT320N I have to admit though.

 

And luckily nobody cares anyway.