The older 2.4 GHz frequency is a bit better at punching through obstacles than the newer 5 GHz band the 5 GHz band has a slightly higher top speed. The problem is further complicated by the fact that current home and office WiFi technology uses two different frequency bands to connect, and a different set of electronic equipment also uses each of those bands. Many of the devices we rely on in modern life all share the use of a relatively narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Electromagnetic InterferenceĪ major source of network slowdowns and unreliability is the presence of electromagnetic frequency. Elevators and stairwells, which both often contain large quantities of steel, are challenging terrain for radio waves.
In general, non-porous materials are much more resistant to radio waves than porous materials. Heavier walls made from brick, cement, metal, plaster, stone, or double-glazed glass is significantly more resistant, as are floor and ceiling panels.
Plywood, drywall, ordinary wood, and regular glass are all relatively porous to radio waves, and won’t damage your signal too severely. There are two factors to consider: the thickness of the barrier and its material composition. A single ordinary wall can reduce the signal by 25 or even 50 percent. Barrier ThicknessĮvery physical barrier will affect the strength of a wireless connection. There are three main factors to consider: barrier thickness and material type, sources of interference, and the physical environment of the antennas in operational conditions. It’s important to remember that for a wireless network, throughput/speed and distance/signal strength are related the same computer will get a much faster network signal at ten feet from the router through open-air than it will at sixty feet from the router through three walls and a stairwell. Homes and businesses with larger or more complex layouts, however, need to plan to get the best range and performance out of their network. Many people simply stick their network router wherever it’s convenient and hope for the best – and in a small apartment or house, that is usually perfectly adequate.
There are things you can do to maximize your range that might save you from needing to install extenders.
In this article, you will learn how range extenders work, why you might need one (or more), and how to set up your TP-Link extender model. Range extenders are generally inexpensive and they work very well, but home networking can be something of an acquired skill. For this article, we will concentrate on their line of range extenders. TP-Link is a networking company that makes a wide variety of networking products, from whole-home wireless routers to range extenders to modems and switches. If you have a large home or office or are trying to extend your Internet connection to an outlying building such as a shed, garage, or patio area, then a wireless network extender may be the product that you need. I once spent about four hours trying to figure out why a wireless router wasn’t able to reach quite nearby rooms in my home before realizing that I was asking the signal to go directly through a home gym setup – about 500 pounds of cast iron directly in the signal path. Obstacles are generally things like especially thick walls or floors, but other household items can and do cause signal problems. You may have a router that simply doesn’t broadcast with enough power to reach all the nooks and crannies of your home, or there may be obstacles in the way of the signal. Weak WiFi can be extremely frustrating and can have a number of different causes. Your network might have trouble reaching something 60 feet away, just 10% of the nominal range.
Now do the same thing inside a house full of walls and refrigerators, doorways and staircases. And if you set that equipment up outside, in perfect weather, in a giant open field, with nothing in between the two network components, you would indeed find that they would work pretty well even if they were 600 feet apart. You may note that a piece of wireless hardware has a nominal range of 600 feet, for example. Radio waves can penetrate such obstacles, but it uses up a considerable fraction of their power to do so. One common problem that wireless network installations often run into is the fact that radio waves, which WiFi networks use to communicate, carry very well through open-air, but are much less effective when asked to propagate through solid objects, such as walls or doors.