Recipe 14.5. Speeding Up a WiFi Network

Problem

Your wireless network is sluggish, and you want to improve its speed.

Solution

WiFi networks are notorious for sometimes sluggish connections, because of potential interference from devices like cordless phones, and from walls, furniture, and other objects. Additionally, wireless networks rarely deliver data at their rated bandwidth speed. You often will get only half the rated speed, even in the best of conditions.

Interference from other devices and the layout of your house or office can affect network speed as well. So here's what you can do to get more throughput throughout your home or office.

Put your wireless router in a central location: If you tuck your router in a corner of the house or office, PCs near it may get high throughput, but for others, speed may drop significantly.
Install a booster or extender antenna: You can buy a variety of devices that can extend the range of your network and can help speed up its speed at the edge of its transmission distance. For example, the Linksys HGA7T high-gain antenna kit includes antennas that can replace the existing antennas in Linksys routers and extend the range of a Linksys wireless network. And wireless repeaters such as the D-Link DWL-800AP+ Wireless Range Extender can strengthen a weak signal to extend the range of a network.
Point the router's antennas vertically: As a general rule, transmission is best when antennas are vertically oriented rather than horizontally. However, wireless transmissions are notoriously eccentric, so experiment at your home or office for best results.
Point the antennas of your wireless PCs in the direction of the router: If your WiFi adapter has an external, adjustable antenna, point it at the router. For PC Card WiFi adapters that don't have external antennas, orient your PC or laptop until you get the best signal strength.
Don't place your router next to an outside wall: Putting an access point next to an outside wall will broadcast signals to the outside, not the inside.
Don't place routers or wireless PCs near filing cabinets and other large metal objects: They often cause significant interference and can cut throughput dramatically. Also, remove any metal objects in the path from the router to the client, or else reposition them so that no metal objects are in between. Filing cabinets, water pipes, electrical wires, and even coat hangers and metal beads under drywall surfaces can cause problems.
Set your router to use "b" mode only: Some "g" mode protocols can cause interference problems, so if you tell your router to only use "b" mode, you'll cut down on interference.

Discussion

Trying to track down the source of interference or slowdowns on WiFi networks can be maddening, because so many objects and devices can cause interference. On some days, there might be interference, and on other days, there may be none.

Making matters worse is that common household devices interfere with WiFi networks. Portable phones and microwave ovens both operate in the 2.4 Ghz spectrum, the same as WiFi. Both 802.11b and 802.11g WiFi networks operate in that spectrum. The rarely used 802.11a standard instead operates in the 5 Ghz band. So if you're running into problems, try turning off portable phones, and see if any other household appliances might be causing problems. Baby monitors, wireless cameras, and X-10 home-automation devices are notorious for causing problems.

The problem may also be caused by another nearby WiFi network. To see if any are nearby, click the wireless network icon and from the screen that appears, choose View Wireless Networks. You'll see any nearby networks that might be causing problems. If that's an issue, you can cut down or eliminate interference by using a different channel than the nearby network. Some wireless adapters include software that will tell you which channels each wireless network uses. Set your network so that it is not in the same channel to your neighbor's.

Problem

Solution

Discussion

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