On Thu, Sep 1, 2016 at 9:16 AM, Timothy Murphy <gayleard@eircom.net> wrote:
Erik P. Olsen wrote:

> I have a linksys router model WRT160NL but the range is too short. I
> experience many situations where the connection is dropped when the
> distance from the router is more than 25 feet.

I don't think the distance is that relevant.
What matters is what walls etc come in between.

There seems to be very little concrete information on router strength.
Is there any standard way of measuring this, for comparison of routers?

There is sophisticated measuring equipment and also simulation models.
In a typical home, the models show that you can have complicated patterns
in signal strength with big differences over short distances.  Since many
people use wireless with mobile devices, a router needs to create an even field.
Some of the models (Apple Airport) with internal antennae do a pretty good
job of creating an even field.  Even with multiple dipole antennae it can take
a lot of fiddling to get even coverage.

Another complication is that devices will try to reduce signal strength to save
power, so if there are lots of devices nearby you may find an ever-changing 
signal pattern.
 

I have an ancient Linksys WRT54GL router (in fact two of them),
which work reasonably well. I often think of upgrading,
but have never seen clear evidence that any newer router
would have better range, or even as good a range.
(I put in longer antennae some years ago, which improved things somewhat.)

I'd be interested to know if anyone has upgraded this router,
and found a new one that is substantially better.

There is a lot of stuff using 2.5 GHz, so moving to a model with 5Ghz (e.g.,  Wireless N Dual Band)
often helps, but there are so many variables that what works for one person may not be suitable for 
another.


 


--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin



--
George N. White III <aa056@chebucto.ns.ca>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia