Hello dear experts,
I have experienced some troubles with my wifi, and by searching old threads in this forum I learned that the most likely explanation for the problem is interference from overlapping networks. Let me provide you with the necessary background:
My router provides two adjacent rooms with a wifi, i.e. the room with the router, and a second one. The second room is separated from the wifi by a wall, and in this room, the reception is sometimes quite bad. The distance between router and receiving computer is only about 3 to 4 meters (10 to 14ft) though, and the signal strength varies a lot despite the router and the receiving computer being stationay (ruling out that it is the wall or distance itself that makes problems).
A scan with the software inSSIDer reveals that there are many other networks around (I live in a student dorm). According to the recommendation of inSSIDer, I switched to channels 11 and 7 but without big improvements. There are still 25 to 30 overlapping networks, some of which have quite a strong signal.
The router is quite new (Belkin Wireless N 150), and as I said, it only has to cover about 3 or 4 meters which should actually not pose a problem for the hardware. Furthermore, only two laptops, one mobile, and sometimes but rarely a tablet and a kindle are connected to the wifi. In my layman's mind, the only possible explanation for the low signal strength in the second room is interference from overlapping networks. Having said that, if there are other explanations, please feel free to point them out.
My question is now: how can I deal with the interference so that I can provide my second room with a stable internet connection? It would seem rather odd to buy a wifi extender given that my router only has to cover about 3 meters! Would MAC filtering be an option? Are there any options / settings that I could tweak? Any help / advise is highly appreciated!
I have experienced some troubles with my wifi, and by searching old threads in this forum I learned that the most likely explanation for the problem is interference from overlapping networks. Let me provide you with the necessary background:
My router provides two adjacent rooms with a wifi, i.e. the room with the router, and a second one. The second room is separated from the wifi by a wall, and in this room, the reception is sometimes quite bad. The distance between router and receiving computer is only about 3 to 4 meters (10 to 14ft) though, and the signal strength varies a lot despite the router and the receiving computer being stationay (ruling out that it is the wall or distance itself that makes problems).
A scan with the software inSSIDer reveals that there are many other networks around (I live in a student dorm). According to the recommendation of inSSIDer, I switched to channels 11 and 7 but without big improvements. There are still 25 to 30 overlapping networks, some of which have quite a strong signal.
The router is quite new (Belkin Wireless N 150), and as I said, it only has to cover about 3 or 4 meters which should actually not pose a problem for the hardware. Furthermore, only two laptops, one mobile, and sometimes but rarely a tablet and a kindle are connected to the wifi. In my layman's mind, the only possible explanation for the low signal strength in the second room is interference from overlapping networks. Having said that, if there are other explanations, please feel free to point them out.
My question is now: how can I deal with the interference so that I can provide my second room with a stable internet connection? It would seem rather odd to buy a wifi extender given that my router only has to cover about 3 meters! Would MAC filtering be an option? Are there any options / settings that I could tweak? Any help / advise is highly appreciated!
