Wireless signal strength

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etekup

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#139060 26-Jan-2014 16:57

Our Igloo Box is two rooms away from where our Router is and while it receives the broadband signal it is not strong enough to use their On-Demand app. In order to improve the strength of the signal, they say it needs to be a minimum of 700kbps at the Igloo box.

Our Router is a Netgear N600. When I have the laptop near the Igloo Box it is telling me I am getting 54mbps but their Techo says that is not strong enough - only equates to about 300kbps...

Can someone recommend what to do to improve the signal strength? Is it just a case of purchasing a signal booster and if so what is the recommendation to give me plenty of signal strength?

Many thanks.

RunningMan

9184 posts

Uber Geek
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#974699 26-Jan-2014 17:07

Can you run a network cable - WiFi can be too temperamental for reliable video streaming.

kiwigeek1

637 posts

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Inactive user

#974717 26-Jan-2014 17:36

you can get a antenna 1000mw booster .. from dx.com... most router are rubbish at 50mw

not sure what the legal max is in nz.but I tihnk 1watt is fine.. but i see some go up to 4watts or 4000mw

of course signal strenght is not always the answer.. but it work for me in my house

where i had a cheap chinese tablet with bad internal antenna and now it works greater range

however I had to not use 5000mhz singal and only use wireleess G and N but no biggy for me

theres also some routers that have 1 to 4 watt dual antenna and dual band so can run both

http://dx.com/s/wifi+booster

unscrew one of your routers antenna and screen on one of these boosters make sure its the right fitting though
some use different antenna connectors

and plug the device in the wall to power it.

i had 2 antennas so I see router to wireless G and connect to the bottom antenna.(or near power dc socket) on a linksys dual band router I have. been working fine for a year now

JimmyH

2898 posts

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#974734 26-Jan-2014 18:37

Run a wired connection if you can. If you can't run a wired connection, consider ethernet over powerline adapters. Fairly cheap and, in my experience, give a much more robust and stable solution for video streaming than WiFi.

kiwigeek1

637 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 12
Inactive user

#974744 26-Jan-2014 18:48

never had a issue with streaming from a media server to any smart tv with wifi myself.. your only sending small chunks not the whole file.. however the transmiiter is often in the same room
the problem is when using microwave oven.. which you avoid when watching something or
consider wired alternative.

in fact if using tablet Bs player dont need media server and will do direct peer to peer with windows share and cache the video files just fine to play smoothly

but the best media server Ive played with is thecus raided 5 drive systems that allow ,module (software) to install on top.. theres one for serviio which can render on the fly and just works well.

Sideface

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#974748 26-Jan-2014 19:10

I use a NETGEAR WNDR3700 N600 wireless router, and am very happy with it for general use anywhere in our house or garden - but I would not expect it to support high-speed streaming through two walls (you didn't specify what your walls were made of).
Use cable - it works.
If this is not practical, try a Netgear universal WiFi range extender (WN2000RPT).

Sideface