enira.net

So, recently I bought myself a new tablet PC (Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1) and what I noticed was that my WiFi signal was too weak for this tiny device to connect. Downloading a 700MB movie from my NAS just kept getting interrupted due to a weak WiFi signal. I just spent € 330 on something and I want it to work.

So I brought in the big guns. I collected every piece of hardware I’ve ever bought and installed it on various locations in the house:

– Cisco E4200 router (main router) – desk
– Linksys WRT150N router – garage
– SiteCom WL341 router – garage
– Linksys WRE54G range expander – attic

And I used the same SSID’s for each router. This got the signal peaking but I encountered two huge problems:

a) The SiteCom router kept resetting/shitting it’s DHCP configuration shredding my IP range to pieces. SiteCom uses 192.168.0.x and my DHCP is configured for 192.168.1.x causing devices connected to that router being assigned a 192.168.0.x IP which made it impossible for them to connect.
b) I installed WPA protection on the routers (because the WRE54G was not able to use WPA2) but the Linksys 150N WPA settings were different from the other causing problems.

4 devices, a good WiFi coverage but still no stable WiFi. Not cool.

 

So I’ve cut out the Linksys and the Sitecom router which where causing a lot of problems and kept only the repeater. Still no good reception. Anyway at this point I remembered a friend of mine using DD-WRT. So I just gave it a go… and results where pretty awesome.

The Linksys router seemed to be compatible and I’ve flashed it to DD-WRT. It only took me one setting to boost my WiFi connection throughout the entire house: ‘TX Power’.

I’ve noticed the default was set to 71 mW. I quickly upped the TX power to 251 mW (the maximum) and voila. WiFi was stable and reachable everywhere in the house. Pretty damn impressive/awesome result.

I really recommend this firmware to anyone who has a few spare routers.

 

Anyway now I’m going to see if I can make my SiteCom router accept dd-wrt. Might brick it, but I don’t care that much about this useless piece of junk anyway. But first back to Slitaz.