[drew`]

Alright. Here's the situation. I live in a 5000+ sq ft house with my buddies (no I'm not trying to grow my epeen), and my room is in the basement. Our router is set up in the kitchen which is pretty far away.

For some very odd reason, my laptop does just fine, probably 4/5 bars of connectivity in my room. My desktop on the other hand, with its $20 wireless card, gets 1-2 bars and drops connection quite often.

I am looking for a solution. I'm not looking to spend TOO much, but I am willing to shell out a good amount for a NICE wireless card so I am not tempted to punch my monitor in when I get disconnected from a BF3 game.

I was just wondering what sort of options were out there. Whether it be getting a range extender antenna for my router, a new wireless card, or something else that I might be overlooking. Note, my router cannot move. It is hooked into the ONLY phone line in the house, and I don't want to pay AT&T a dick load to get it installed somewhere else seeing as I'm the only one that cares about this (everyone else in my house is a console gamer, and our living room is ~15 ft from the router).

[Promagistrate]

My D-Link Xtreme N 556 works pretty well. DWA-556.

[*knock-out05*]

Tri-level? is so, get a WAP.

[Promagistrate]

also, if you're just using the 2wire router, get something that puts out a stronger signal and use the 2wire router as a modem behind the new router or what have you. There's a few guides on the net on how to do that.

[digitard]

I say just buy another router and use it as a WAP. That should be fine. Then you get benefits throughout the house and not just to your single device.

Otherwise I have the below in my computer:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i01_details

I use my rig for everything from basic surfing to gaming (BF3, Various MMO type games, etc) and I'm constantly getting a solid connection. My router is 2 rooms over from my computer and I get full bars and damn near the 300mbps constantly.

I can't complain.

[Ynnekdude]

Just get a wireless access point/repeater and hook in through an ethernet cable.

I've screwed around with all sorts of bridges, upgraded cards, usbs, and access point/repeaters. The best performing have always been the repeaters.

My recommendation:

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Univer...344249&sr=8-15

Router is in the basement, I am on the third floor, and I still got a stellar connection with that. I'm currently running Netgears Dual-Band repeater to take advantage of the dual band router.

[Oedipus]

Do wireless repeaters still halve the available bandwidth?

[drew`]

Originally Posted by Promagistrate

My D-Link Xtreme N 556 works pretty well. DWA-556.

I'm pretty sure that's the same router I have.

Originally Posted by digitard

I say just buy another router and use it as a WAP. That should be fine. Then you get benefits throughout the house and not just to your single device.

Otherwise I have the below in my computer:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i01_details

I use my rig for everything from basic surfing to gaming (BF3, Various MMO type games, etc) and I'm constantly getting a solid connection. My router is 2 rooms over from my computer and I get full bars and damn near the 300mbps constantly.

I can't complain.

Buying this.

Originally Posted by Ynnekdude

Just get a wireless access point/repeater and hook in through an ethernet cable.

I've screwed around with all sorts of bridges, upgraded cards, usbs, and access point/repeaters. The best performing have always been the repeaters.

My recommendation:

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Univer...344249&sr=8-15

Router is in the basement, I am on the third floor, and I still got a stellar connection with that. I'm currently running Netgears Dual-Band repeater to take advantage of the dual band router.

Probably going to buy this... unless...

Originally Posted by Oedipus

Do wireless repeaters still halve the available bandwidth?

This. Haha. I am quite interested in an answer to this as well.

Thank you for all the input! I know it may not help not actually seeing the scenario, but my house is pretty... solid. I get little to no cell phone connection in my room, and like I said, my internet is slow as **** down here on my desktop. It makes me rage sometimes but shelling out $80 is a pretty good fix. I will try those out once I get paid and let you all know if you wasted my money or not. ;p

[Promagistrate]

Originally Posted by drew`

I'm pretty sure that's the same router I have.

It's a PCI-E wireless card.

[Ynnekdude]

Originally Posted by drew`

Probably going to buy this... unless...

This. Haha. I am quite interested in an answer to this as well.

Thank you for all the input! I know it may not help not actually seeing the scenario, but my house is pretty... solid. I get little to no cell phone connection in my room, and like I said, my internet is slow as **** down here on my desktop. It makes me rage sometimes but shelling out $80 is a pretty good fix. I will try those out once I get paid and let you all know if you wasted my money or not. ;p

It uses half of your routers wireless bandwith, yes. Also, don't read those reviews on Amazon. I find that anything to do with networking is loaded with reviews by ignorant individuals who don't do any research before buying.

Ever consider a powerline kit? Depending on your house's circuitry, that could be a great option.

Curious, what kind of router do you have? My router is in the basement and I am on the 3rd floor (basement, first, second, third) yet still get 4/5 bars without a repeater setup. The repeater is set up for the benefit of my phone and laptops.

[mymutter]

Good idea Ynnekdude, I was going to say get the powerline kit, simple answer to a difficult problem.

I have used the netgear and they work wonderful, easy setup and since you do not need one for your laptop, a perfect solution.

[drew`]

Originally Posted by Promagistrate

It's a PCI-E wireless card.

D'oh. Now I feel stupid. I used to sell those things too. :3 started pounding brews back for the KU game so my memory was foggy. ;p

But, until I get home around 10pm cst, I don't know for sure what kind of router it is. I know it's a Netgear dual band router, though.

And I'm not sure on the circuitry. It is an older house so I'm sure it's not the best circuitry, but my landlord did do a lot of renovations. I'll have to google to see what a powerline kit is. :3

edit: Ah, a powerline kit. My brother used one of those when we both lived at home for his xbox. I do remember it being ****ty though. :s Well, I guess ****ty isn't a good word for it. Difficult? It would need to be reset at least twice a day because it would drop connectivity. Might steal it from home if I'm ever around there and give it a shot. I know my mom has absolutely no use for it.

[Ynnekdude]

Originally Posted by drew`

D'oh. Now I feel stupid. I used to sell those things too. :3 started pounding brews back for the KU game so my memory was foggy. ;p

But, until I get home around 10pm cst, I don't know for sure what kind of router it is. I know it's a Netgear dual band router, though.

And I'm not sure on the circuitry. It is an older house so I'm sure it's not the best circuitry, but my landlord did do a lot of renovations. I'll have to google to see what a powerline kit is. :3

edit: Ah, a powerline kit. My brother used one of those when we both lived at home for his xbox. I do remember it being ****ty though. :s Well, I guess ****ty isn't a good word for it. Difficult? It would need to be reset at least twice a day because it would drop connectivity. Might steal it from home if I'm ever around there and give it a shot. I know my mom has absolutely no use for it.

New powerline kits are light-years better than old.

Also, if dual band, consider this:
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Univer...3503663&sr=8-2

[drew`]

Originally Posted by Ynnekdude

New powerline kits are light-years better than old.

Also, if dual band, consider this:
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Univer...3503663&sr=8-2

Any certain brand of powerline kits I should be looking for? or specific ones? I looked on newegg and there's so many. :3

[mymutter]

Netgear makes a decent one now.

[BrandonMBW]

5K sqft. Jesus christ son.

Not to hijack the thread, but how is it a 500 dollar HP can reach farther than my 1500 alienware..what the hell is this world coming to.

[drew`]

Originally Posted by BrandonMBW

5K sqft. Jesus christ son.

Not to hijack the thread, but how is it a 500 dollar HP can reach farther than my 1500 alienware..what the hell is this world coming to.

5,010 sq ft to be exact. ;p

And yep. My $400 hp laptop has better reception than my $700 desktop.... but I did go cheap when buying a wireless card, haha. Never had to worry about it until I moved into this house, since my router at home was next to my PC. :/

Oh, and my router is a D-Link dual band router. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA -- just have the year or two older model of this one.