Improving WiFi connection in college dorms

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blukatz

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Nov 26, 2011
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Okay, so I live in the dorms of the college I go to. The internet they provide is not terrible, and it can in fact be pretty fast for some people. For example, my roommate usually gets somewhere around 5-8mb/s download speed on Steam. On the other hand, I'm lucky to get 1mb/s, usually I'm sitting closer to 700kb/s. He is on a 4 year old MacBook Pro, I'm using a self-built Windows 7 desktop that is about 2 years old. The router is about 20 feet away from our room, with a brick/concrete wall between. To be honest, a lot of my problem might stem from the fact I did buy what is probably a pretty low-end adapter. Here's a link to it from Newegg-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2BM0SB1604

It's surprisingly well built, it doesn't really feel all that cheap, although it gets pretty hot when I'm using it. One of the things I had liked about it was the 2-way thing, because I can pop it into my laptop and use it to create my own access point for my Wii (which can't connect to the school's internet due to the way it's set up). For that it does well, but for it's primary use as a WiFi adapter for my desktop, it's pretty poor.

So anyways, if I were to go looking around for a better adapter, any suggestions? I have a bajillion USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, as well as a pci-e x1 and two standard pci ports still available.
 
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The signal strength is a very simple measurement of the quantity of signal. The link quality is the number of errors mostly due to interference. They are somewhat related but the key here is how much interference you are getting. A strong signal can overpower interference but where if you have little interference a weak signal is fine.

Since you mention a PCI card that means you have a desktop machine. If you stuck that tiny little adapter you bought in the back of the machine that may be your whole problem. One of the key disadvantages to PCI is the antenna sit really close to the case which blocks signal and if you put in under a table or against a wall it blocks even more. That little adapter may have exactly the same...
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getochkn

getochkn

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Wired, or if not, get a pci-express 1x one that has 2-3 antennas on on, look up reviews on it.

Those USB ones are crap unless your sitting next to the router. Just not enough room for an antenna in them. Even the 4 year old Mac, like most laptops has 2 antennas a few feet long each that wrap around the screen inside the case, thus providing much better reception.
 
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bill001g

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The cheap thing to try first is get a long (ie 15ft) usb cable and see if you can put the adapter in a place it gets better signal in your room. The only thing that would improve your signal a lot would be something like a wireless bridge with a directional antenna.
 
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blukatz

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I would do wired if I could, but they only offer wireless here. It's odd though, the wireless icon shows that I'm getting 4-5 bars for the most part. Is antenna length that important?

edit: So a friend of mine has his desktop in the room right now, and he has essentially all the same components as mine. He has a two antenna pci adapter, and is currently averaging 2-5Mbps, so obviously that kinda proves what you guys were just saying. Any particular recommendations on brands? I mainly get hardware from Newegg, is Rosewill good enough, or do any of you have any suggestions?
 
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bill001g

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Only to a point. You will get more signal with a longer antenna but there are particular lengths for each frequency so a shorter one that is the optimum size for the frequency will perform better than one that is a little longer but not at the next frequency multiple. Generally a direction antenna will be your best bet if you thing you have antenna issues.

If you already are getting 4-5 bars then your problem is interference. Normally I would say another AP on the same channel (you could try inssider) and see what you find. In you situation where the college likely controls the AP and prevents other people from installing their own it is not as common.

Problem is inssider only show AP it does not show all the other things that can interfere link microwaves, baby monitors etc etc.

Many of the newer drivers for wireless nic cards (load the ones from the manufacture) will show you a signal quality number as well as a signal strength number. The signal quality number many times also display how many errors and damaged frames you are receiving. This number is much more important than signal strength. The example I use is you can have 2 radios playing different music in the same room. You will be able to hear each very loudly but neither will be something you care to listen to.
 
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blukatz

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But having an external antenna should theoretically get me closer to having better connection speeds then the internal one I have now, right? So something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=33-704-045&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

I assumed that USB 2.0 should be plenty capable of getting a strong enough signal, so am I giving it too much credit? This TP-Link I'm looking at right now is also USB 2.0. Should I instead be looking more at PCI based adapters?

Also- according to my Realtek Wireless LAN Utility, I'm currently getting a signal strength of 60% and a link quality of 85-97% Still getting download speeds around 1mb/s. What's the difference between those two values?
 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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The signal strength is a very simple measurement of the quantity of signal. The link quality is the number of errors mostly due to interference. They are somewhat related but the key here is how much interference you are getting. A strong signal can overpower interference but where if you have little interference a weak signal is fine.

Since you mention a PCI card that means you have a desktop machine. If you stuck that tiny little adapter you bought in the back of the machine that may be your whole problem. One of the key disadvantages to PCI is the antenna sit really close to the case which blocks signal and if you put in under a table or against a wall it blocks even more. That little adapter may have exactly the same issue.

This is the main reason I normally recommend USB cards that have a cable on them so you can put them on top of the computer.

Again I would suggest you first try a USB extension cable so you can move you adapter to a better location...ie not next to the metal computer case.

Even if you go with the card with the larger antenna I would still recommend you do not stuff in behind the case where it can't get good signal.
 
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blukatz

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Ah, guess I should've mentioned that as well. The adapter is on the top of my case. I'm have the NZXT Phantom 410, which has some USB ports on top slightly angled to the right (if that makes any sense). I have my computer up on a desk with the back facing a brick wall, which is why I put the adapter in one of my case ports. That adapter I linked in my previous post might still be a good bet then, it comes with a free USB extension cable.
 
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