Distance and wall issue with wireless connexion at home

I have a Dell Dimension 4500, Pentium 4, 2.4Ghz, 256Mb RAM, XP Home.
To avoid cables, it has an internal wifi wireless card (D-Link AirPlus G+ DWL-G520+Wireless PCI Adapter 6.0.0.18) which connects to a Livebox.

The issue is the distance and/or wall crossing.
The PC must be pretty close to the access point and if it crosses two home walls, the connexion becomes too unstable.

Is there a way to fix this issue ? any tuning ?
Is it a card pb, a access pt pb ?
How to improve ?

Thanks for your help
Jeff330

Responses(3)

esquire

2.5K Posts

0

December 22nd, 2005 00:00

Are your adapter driver and router firmware up-to-date?

This is an inherent radio wave issue - material and distance from source affect reception - no different from listening to your local radio stations. The amount of absorption is dependent on the type and density of material the radio signal must penetrate.

How you place your desktop and the adapter in relation to it also affect reception. If it is underneath a desk and against the wall, chances are reception can be improved by placing the computer on your desk. If that is not possible, one quick and easy way to improve reception is to switch a high gain antenna and with a cable extension to place the antenna on the desk. You can also add a high gain antenna to your router if budget allows and if the hardware accepts alternative antennae.

N

NemesisDB

7.9K Posts

0

December 22nd, 2005 01:00

oddly enough, the stock compUSA branded wireless PCI cards work well for me -- 1 floor and several rooms away from my router. It's antenna is external and attached via some cable, so it should be able to add a more powerful one if you need it. Basic realtek chip in them, so you can get update drivers from them :)

Jeff330

26 Posts

0

December 22nd, 2005 16:00

Thanks to Esquire and NemesisDB for their answer.

So, there is not too much to do.

I will check sw update and other little stuff.

Christmas greetings
Jeff330.

View All

No Events found!

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Distance and wall issue with wireless connexion at home