i have just bought a belkin n+ wirless router which is downstairs and it is very good.but when i went to use my laptop upstairs the only place it would pick up the connection was on the landing .any ideas as to why it won't pick it up in any of the bedrooms.
Are you in a good ol' solid house? Quite often if you have stone internal walls your floors will be a lot easier for WiFi signals to travel through (being wooden floorboards and joists) while they would struggle much more through the walls.
I used to have the same router, and was very unhappy about the poor signal strenght. But just like Ferg said, the wifi signal can drop dramatically when sent through walls.
you could get a wireless extender like this or if you want to take the p1ss, how about one of these beautys to extend youn WAP by upto 10 miles or get a larger antenna or a repeater[ot]to let your kids play on laptops online on your broadband while they are at school, get the 10 mile extender[/ot]
TBH, while no first hand experience of that router - the draft N standard has not been ratified and yet the manufacturers are already using it. I'm yet to install an 'N' router that i've been impressed with - the best one ive installed in a home environment was a netgear prosafe G rated and even then it didn't blow my socks off
does you laptop have a wireless G network card? if so that can also be your problem because, wireless N routers are backwards compatible to work with wireless G, and your not gonna gain (speed & coverage) from wireless N unless you have a wireless N network card in your laptop, it will just run at Wireless G standards (slower speeds,less coverage). and like the other guys above said "the wifi signal can drop dramatically when sent through walls" a possible reason why it loses signal on your landing is if you have wireless G enabled laptop. if you do have wireless N enabled laptop, that router must be really rubbish.
i just had a look at that router and noticed it isnt dual band either (2.4ghz band & 5ghz band) dual band means it cuts out alot of interference from other devices on that 2.4ghz band e.g. mobile phones by using the 5ghz band instead.
So could I assume that if I were to buy a router today should have the 5ghz in addition to the 2.4? In the best opinion based on today technology, what will it be the specs or models to buy under $200?
yea dual band router. Best routers to buy are Wirless N enabled - dual band. The brands which I personally stick to are: Netgear and D-Link.
