The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Upgrade Router or Card for better connection?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by souther32, Apr 21, 2006.

  1. souther32

    souther32 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have a D-Link DI-614+ Router (2.4 GHz)

    and I have a

    Netgear 32-bit Cardbus WG511 (2.4 GHz, 54 Mbps)

    Which one would I need to replace in order to have a better connection with a wireless laptop?
     
    souther32, Apr 21, 2006
    #1
  2. dr_st

    dr_st Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    571
    Messages:
    1,437
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    From your question it's not clear whether you currently have connection problemw with the current setup. Do you?
     
    dr_st, Apr 22, 2006
    #2
  3. souther32

    souther32 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I'm sorry, I have a great connection in most of the rooms I travel to with my laptop but I wish I could have a better signal strength in my bed room. Which one would I need to replace in order to have a stronger connection in my bed room? The connection works fine but I wish it could be a little stonger as I travle further away from the router.
     
    souther32, Apr 22, 2006
    #3
  4. daacon

    daacon Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    93
    Messages:
    423
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    A few things you can try before buying a new Router or card (for a better signal that reaches farther I would go with a new Router)

    Try placing the curent router in a higher positon
    Play with the antenna postitioning on the router
    Make sure there are as few obsticals (metal / radios /phones etc) between your router and bedroom
    Buy some high gain antenna's (if they are avaialble for that router)
    See if you can run some third party firmeare for your router to boost the signal strength
    See if there is a repeater for that router (might be cheaper)

    If that all fails would buy a new MIMO router

    good luck
     
    daacon, Apr 22, 2006
    #4
  5. drumfu

    drumfu super modfu

    Reputations:
    436
    Messages:
    3,651
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    buying a new router is not a guarantee that the problem will go away; it may be a problem unrelated to both router and card. you would be better off trying to make what you have work to the best of its ability (using daacon's suggestions) before spending money on a potentially zero gain solution.
     
    drumfu, Apr 22, 2006
    #5
  6. otaku

    otaku Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    99
    Messages:
    1,293
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    LIke others have said set it as high as possible with as little chance of interference as possible.
     
    otaku, Apr 23, 2006
    #6
  7. Teranfirbt

    Teranfirbt Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    127
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    If the router has 2 antennas, put one horizontal and one vertical.. The signal that comes out of a standard wireless router antenna is kind of donut shaped, so directly above or below it will result in a bad connection... If you have on horrizontal, it takes care of the places above and below the router the vertical antenna can't...
     
    Teranfirbt, Apr 23, 2006
    #7