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hajime

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
8,173
1,414
Hello, I am using the Belkin N300 at home (about 1400 feet). There are four rooms with lots of walls. The reception is quiet bad. In one room, I even have problem in accessing wifi. I am using PC, Mac, iPad, Android Phone, etc. Which wifi router do you recommend? Thanks.
 
Here is a link to router review at Small Net Builder sorted by best wireless performance. Good site with well written reviews.
 
A month ago I bought the Apple Airport Extreme to go with my new iPad Air. I could not believe how easy it was to set up. My house is 4700 square feet, and I get the maximum WiFi signal everywhere in the house. I just bought a MacPro Retina and a Mac Mini. Also have an iPhone, a Galaxie Note 3 and a Dell laptop, and all run extremely well on the Apple router. Also have 3 Hackintosh computers connected via Ethernet.

I had considered other routers, but after reading the horror stories of others trying to get connected, I wisely chose the Airport Extreme.
 
I bought a refurbished Apple Express form the Apple Store last August and it is a great piece of equipment that is a breeze to set-up. Also, because I bought my Mac Mini with Applecare a few days BEFORE, my Apple Express is guaranteed up till August, 2016!.
 
Hello, I am using the Belkin N300 at home (about 1400 feet). There are four rooms with lots of walls. The reception is quiet bad. In one room, I even have problem in accessing wifi. I am using PC, Mac, iPad, Android Phone, etc. Which wifi router do you recommend? Thanks.

Sometimes what works extremely well for one person/household does very little for another. This can be quite frustrating. As one person pointed out - you may want to go to smallnetbuilder site which has some excellent reviews and tests on some WiFi routers.

Interestingly enough, on the rankers, Apple Airport Extreme came in around #6 out of 10 yet was the 2nd highest priced router.

You may want to consider a couple of items to help with your situation -

1) Location of the WiFi router with respect to all the rooms that require wireless and consider placement (yes possibly having to run a bit of Ethernet Cable to it)
2) Investigate Bridge mode for two WiFi Routers.

There is also PowerLine type units that in essence connects one unit to a wall then another in another room. Signal travels over the electrical wiring.
Router---cable --->powerline1 -----(house wiring)---powerline2--cable--
You don't have to be all Powerline and can use it with a WiFi set up as well.

Last - You should give a bit more information about your set up such as which mode are you using for WiFi (N, G, ac, mixed mode etc.).
 
Bought and tried the Apple Airport Extreme for two hours. So far so good. I can use wifi everywhere at home. The speed is about at least 5 times faster. Thanks for the inputs.
 
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Have used it for a day with various devices (PC, iPad, Android phone, Mac). Very fast and no problem at all. Thank you for the suggestions.
 
Just to add - for anyone looking at this thread in the future since the initial problem is resolved - that it is not just the number of walls, but the angle through the wall that the signal has to travel. And what is inside those walls. For instance, a signal may be able to travel through 4 walls no problem if it is travelling near to 90º (right angle) - but have troubles with a single wall if the single needs to travel nearly parallel to the wall - and if the wall is full of pipes, wires, and/or used metal studs.

Or if there is a large metallic object between the transmitter and the receiver - like a refrigerator. Most people know that, but if you are reading this because you are troubleshooting, have you checked for it yet.

Like I said... this is just an addendum for a resolved question - to tucked away in the archives for someone to find when searching to solve their own problem.

Cheers
 
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