Boosting Wireless Internet Signal

[silentnick]

Is it possible to get something (not too expensive) that can boost wireless signal?

My parents' house is a strange rectangle shape, with all the rooms in a line. The wireless box is at one end half way down the stairs, my bedroom is on the other side and there is therefore a lot of walls inbetween my computer and the box when I'm at home. I can get very temperimental signal in my room - sometimes its 100% ok for a couple of hours, other times it can take 5 minutes to load a page.

Is there something I can attach to the box/elsewhere to give this a little boost? Or am I really looking at a new box altogther? Looking for the cheapest options possible!

Thanks a lot
Nick

[Bobbin]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products ... bnails=yes (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=59&FilterCategories=62&Thumbnails=yes)

Get yourself a decent directional aerial. Tis what i did, i have two. One attached to my router, and one attached to my pc.

Shouldn't cost you too much.

[silentnick]

Sorry for being useless, but theres a load of directional arials on there...
Which one would you suggest? - I don't want to spend too much, but at the same time theres no point "saving" a tenner if it doesn't actually do the job!

Someone also suggested a MIMO router (approx £60), which I could then use elsewhere I guess too. Would that be a better option maybe? ~although that is much mre than I was thinking of spending!

[Bobbin]

i spent like £20 each on mine.. I can't see the ones i have on there, but they're pretty old... Just go look at the stats and pick the one that gives the best gains vs cost.

[silentnick]

Merci buckets!

[Dark_Angel]

Hmm.

What kind of wireless device is connecting your pc to your router? I assume its a built in wireless card, and would therefore recommend you disable this and buy a USB wireless device, preferably one with the same manufacturer as your router as both devices will be designed to work together.

Also, based on the information you've given, it's possible there are others using your network - This would explain the "sometimes fast/sometimes slow" situation.

Is there security on your router?

Type 192.168.1.1 into your browser to find out, there should be a status tab somewhere where you can open the connected clients table and view how many connections are being made to your router.

Check with your router manual for further info on how to observe/change router settings.

DA

[edit]

Just to save Tim some time, you could always just spend half a day wiring some ethernet through your house :P Cheap, easy and reliable :P