Low signal from home routers

[fcacciola]

Hello,

I have a broadband Motorola SBG6580 cablemodem that feeds internet into my main home computer via a cable. The modem is also a wireless router.

The modem is in an "office-room" inside my house.
The main bedroom is located about 25 meters, with two bedrooms in between the office-room and the main bedroom.

I broke a leg so I figured I could work on bed, but I have this problem: the signal from the motorola wireless router is so low at the main bedroom that the connection drops all the time.

Oddly (or maybe not), I can see like 10 other access points, presumably from my neighbors, all with a full signal. And I live in a "full-floor" apartment so I only have neighbors above and below.

I connected a linksys WRT54G2 that I have and I get the exact same problem. The signal from the linksys or the motorola are way too low.

So, what do I have to buy to fix this? A new access point or router with a better range? How do I know which one would fix the problem?

TIA

 

[fcacciola]

I forgot to mention this:

The 4 rooms, in the following order: office,kid1,kid2,main are located to the left of the hallway. So there are 4 walls between any of the routers and the main bed-room where the signal is low.
If I walk along the hallway, such as in front of the main bedroom, I get maybe a 3 bars signal.
I have to be almost at the office door to get a 5 bars signal from any of the routers.

What I find strange is that I get a 4 to 5 bars signal on many of the AP of my neighbors, apparently, no matter where I locate the notebook in the house.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Where do you have the access point installed with respect to the ceiling? Higher is better to get the antenna above all the furniture and stuff.

Second, if the access point has external (rabbit ear type) antennas are they set vertical?

Do any of the walls between the access point and the 'main' bedroom have mirrors or other metalic items on them?

 

[fcacciola]

Hi,

The AP is at the level of the desk. I'll put it on top of a books tower or some.
It doesn't have any external antenna, tough.
There aren't any mirrors but the 3 rooms all have wall-mounted closets that stand in the way.

I've learned that there are WiFi repeaters, such as "Tp-link Tl-wa901nd" which I can get for about U$S80 here. Would that help? Should I put that say in one of my kid's room?

TIA

 

[ex_bubblehead]

A repeater woudn't hurt. However, you should investigate moving the access point to a more centralized location before adding more hardware.

 

[fcacciola]

OK. I'll try that first.
Thank you.