Which router has higher effective power / better antenna ?

Hi my ZyXEL P661-HW router / stock antenna doesn't quite have enough effective power / sensitive ears to cover my whole house.

Is there a recognised router which is more powerful and/or has a superior antenna system?
I would like to try to keep below £150 if possible.

I have ADSL broadband over the telephone cable.

Many thanks for any advice.

Edited by VWGolfman (Sat 21-May-11 01:19:25)

assume this does not exist.

assume you then look to a Powerline devce and another extra wireless device to extend the range in your house.

Hi Ian and thank you.

What it is, I want to use my mobile device in a part of the house which is just on the fringe.
What you're suggesting sounds very professional but maybe a bit over kill for what I need.
What do ya reckon?

I see you can get longer antennas which claim to have so many dBi "gain" over a standard jobby.
Do you think one of these would help as the one on my Zyxel is just a little 4" thing?
Also what's the idea behind routers with two antennas? Does this give better coverage?

Thanking you once again

You could get a better arial for your router or your could get a powerline with built in wireless access point to extend the range.

Go for a Billion 7800N which has superb wireless coverage/speeds. Have a look at the reviews:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Billion-BiPAC-7800N-Broadban...

If in the unlikely event the Billion still gives you wireless deadspots, then buy 3 of these and you will be broadcasting wifi to your whole street:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-ANT2408CL-2-4GHz-...

Edited by deleted (Sun 22-May-11 11:07:06)

Before you spend and money (which will likely to be wasted) try something like http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/.

Power output is limited by regulations and aerials that often claim to increase gain do not. I certainly would not spend money on a 7800N unless you could get a guarantee it would work...bet it would not.

DrT

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Before you spend and money (which will likely to be wasted) try something like http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/.

Power output is limited by regulations and aerials that often claim to increase gain do not. I certainly would not spend money on a 7800N unless you could get a guarantee it would work...bet it would not.

DrT

Well i don't think anything the OP tries is guaranteed to work...however some routers are better than others when it comes to wireless coverage. I would recommend to the OP to buy the Billion 7800N from Amazon on free delivery, try it for a few days and if no significant difference then return it back to Amazon for a refund citing poor coverage...in which case Amazon will refund the return postage costs as well. So nothing lost

Hi VWGolfman

As it has already been stated the power to the aerial is regulated in the specs for wireless rooters and access points to a very low power, and it is likely that the power outputs from all routers will be similar plus and minus a small amount.

I have found that in practical domestic setups high gain aerial performance can be disappointing. Too many variables like polarisation and reflections come into play. You may find little or no increase in performance over the standard aerial.

I think the best solution is a separate access point in the dead spot set up as a wireless repeater or wired to the main router with ethernet cable.

Regards
Cruddas

Thank you everybody for your suggestions.

I had already begun to look at the Billion 7800N before reading suggestions to try it so that's what I am going to do first.

Even if it doesn't help matters, it's time I had a new router anyway

Where do the antennas get the extra power for the additional gain? The scavenge it from another part of their coverage! So, you increase the effective power in one direction and significantly reduce it in another. So, one part of the house will improve and another will degrade or be lost completely.

They scavenge it from another part of their coverage! So, you increase the effective power in one direction and significantly reduce it in another.!

Quite correct MHC but it appears that you are just thinking about the horizontal radiation pattern from antennas such as Yagis

Think about the vertical radiation pattern from an antenna such as a vertically mounted dipole for instance.

There is a lot of wasted energy being transmitted above and below the remote station (the device I want to connect to my router's Wifi).
If I can bring that pattern in and concentrate it's pattern more laterally (but still omnidirectional) then Bob's your Uncle.

In reply to a post by VWGolfman:

They scavenge it from another part of their coverage! So, you increase the effective power in one direction and significantly reduce it in another.!

Quite correct MHC but it appears that you are just thinking about the horizontal radiation pattern from antennas such as Yagis

No, I'm thinking of all antenna designs, from full 3D omnis (spherical) through to basic directional ones with radiation in a single 2D plane.

OK anyway we are on the same wavelength

Where does the "relative gain" come from with those longer omnidirectional antennas?

I presume they concentrate the "wasted" radiation around the horizontal plane just like a spare tyre around my belly?

Antenna efficiency and as you say concentrating the power into a "torus" rather than a ball. Imagine taking a large ball and compressing it a little, then a little more and more and more ...

Thanks for the info

Please can anybody explain the differences between these three below and which I need (I have bog standard ADSL broadband over my telephone line)......

* Billion BiPAC 7800N Dual WAN ADSL2+/Broadband Wireless-N Gigabit Firewall Modem Router

* Billion BiPAC 7800N 10BASE-T 100Base-TX 1000Base-X 100/1000 Mbit/s 2.4 2.484 GHz 300 Mbit/s 1 Mbit/s 24 Mbit/s (BiPAC 7800N)

* 191394: Billion BiPAC 7800N - Dual WAN ADSL2+/Broadband Wireless 't;N't; Gigabit Firewall Modem/Router (Broadcom chipset) (BiPAC 7800N)

best option would be to purchase high end wifi access point from ubiquiti:
http://www.wifi-stock.co.uk/products/ubnt.html

something like a bulletm2hp would be ideal

In reply to a post by VWGolfman:

Thanks for the info

Please can anybody explain the differences between these three below and which I need (I have bog standard ADSL broadband over my telephone line)......

* Billion BiPAC 7800N Dual WAN ADSL2+/Broadband Wireless-N Gigabit Firewall Modem Router

* Billion BiPAC 7800N 10BASE-T 100Base-TX 1000Base-X 100/1000 Mbit/s 2.4 2.484 GHz 300 Mbit/s 1 Mbit/s 24 Mbit/s (BiPAC 7800N)

* 191394: Billion BiPAC 7800N - Dual WAN ADSL2+/Broadband Wireless 't;N't; Gigabit Firewall Modem/Router (Broadcom chipset) (BiPAC 7800N)

They're all the same

In reply to a post by VWGolfman:

Hi my ZyXEL P661-HW router / stock antenna doesn't quite have enough effective power / sensitive ears to cover my whole house.

Is there a recognised router which is more powerful and/or has a superior antenna system?
I would like to try to keep below £150 if possible.

I have ADSL broadband over the telephone cable.

Many thanks for any advice.

Hi, the most powerful wireless router - BT Business Hub 2Wire 2700HGV version (1) only flashed with v4.25.19 SBC firmware.
It will give 400mW wireless power and 1 to 10 wireless power level settings, normal wireless power level is setting 4.

http://bt2700hgv.tripod.com/021.htm

The v5 2700 can also be tweaked to give 400mW