How do I mount my Linksys WRT610N to maximize range and connection strength?

Question

The current generation linksys routers have internal antennae.

I currently house my primary router in my basement and would like to maximize the strength with which it covers my home.

Is there directionality to the antennae, should I mount it vertically on a wall?

Answer 1

Integrated antennae have no directionality (homogenous field) and most people agree that there is no diffence between integrated antennae and traditional ones. To get a boost you should get dedicated external antennae, which unfortunately cannot be hooked to the wrt610n (unless you want to open it and void the warranty). One thing I can say for sure, keep clear of power lines. Specially in basements, strong eletric fields interfere negatively with the wifi signal (even more so the 5GHz); I once had to move my wrt610n few meters away from the counter, and immediately the signal boosted in the whole house. Try also to find a free channel in your neighborhood (use a stumbler on your pc/mac), adjacent channels tend to interfere with each other.

Answer 2

With the cost of some antenna, it is sometimes more cost effective to get a wireless bridge. Linksya/Cisco WET610N is one. There are others.

I have done this with my Symantec Gateway wireless and a D-Link dridge. Works great.

Really depends on what antennas are offed for your main device and what they cost.

Answer 3

Because 802.11n uses MIMO and MIMO thrives on multipath, 802.11n APs don't use directional antennas. So the orientation in which you mount it makes little difference, but where you mount it can make plenty of difference.

Think about where you'd want to stand in your house if you wanted to announce "dinnertime!" once without shouting too loud, and still have everyone in every corner of the house hear you. That's probably also a good place for your AP. Although RF signals don't propagate quite the same way sound waves do, this is still a good rule of thumb for initial AP placement.