how to make wifi signal stronger to go thru walls not range wise

Question

My Wifi has a good range but i have bad signal? in my basement so i can watch Netflix. i can watch it upstairs via Wifi but not in basement. i know theres walls and floor, but is there a way to make the signal stronger. The router is on my desk and there to walls that are about 4 feet high i guess the signal goes thru then a floor would putting the router up higher help it skip the walls and just penetrate the floor

Answer 1

There are usually no legal ways to make the signal stronger. Most wireless access points broadcast in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz range, which is legal for everyone within certain (low) power levels.

That means that you will need to get different hardware and a license (and pass training/exams for that in order to transmit with your more powerful custom hardware. For most of us this is not an option.

More practical options comes down to 'do not use wireless to go though walls'.

E.g.

1. use regular wired (always works, but you need a cable).
2. use regular wired via existing wall sockets (powerline).
3. use either of the two above and connect to a second wireless access point in the cellar (still using wired/powerline to get the data to the cellar).
4. Be very lucky and play with the antenna's. Since a wireless signal is often broadcast in a plane this might boost signals upstairs and downstairs, but at a cost to the signal strenght on the original floor.

Answer 2

There are two ways to get more range. As others have noted, there is no difference between "better signal" and "more range" in your situation.

1. Move the router and the antenna on your Netflix-computer so that there are fewer things blocking. This means moving them away from furniture because people sitting on that furniture block signals. Moving them to higher so once again people getting in the way is less of an issue (though, the fact your signal is going through a floor means you're dealing with people getting in the way no matter where you move things.

2. Change the band/power on the router. Caveat: this only fixes one part of the problem, the other part is that your computer in the basement has to be able to get its own replies back up to the router. Routers can generally send further than your computer can reply, so a "good signal" doesn't always mean what you think it might.

Another option is to get a more modern router that has multiple antennas. Perhaps the best signal path between your computer and the router will not be a direct line through the floor, but may instead be around the corner, down the hall, and through the basement door. Multiple antenna routers can do a better job both sending signals to your computer through a complicated house layout, but they also typically do a better job amplifying the signals they receive so that it'll do a better job hearing your computer's responses.