There is no cable like a cable (nor will there ever be)
As computer and telecommunication engineers, we have been involved quite often in court cases related to WiFi. Most of them have been motivated by security issues.
The wired network has the advantage of:
- Being immune to interference: if the connection light comes on, everything is OK. No problems with channels or interference, no obstacles or other "mysteries".
- To be able to provide higher communication speed (up to 1 Gb/s at 1000BT).
- Prevent physical access to our network. Although it can be accessed through the router or other means, in WiFi physical access to our network and communications is protected only by encryption.
For all these reasons, cable should always be the first choice in an office.
However, at home wiring can be costly and/or unsightly and in all offices WiFi is often combined with the wired network, in order to service portable devices.
Use state-of-the-art Wifi
The Wifi is based on the standard IEEE 802.11 standard, which has B, G and N variants, which are the ones we will mainly use at home:
- 802.11B: 11 Mb/s at 2.4 GHz. It was introduced in 1999 and was the first extended standard.
- 802.11G: 54 Mb/s at 2.4GHz. It was incorporated in 2003.
- 802.11N: 300 Mb/s at 2.4GHz / 5 GHz. It was incorporated in 2004.
There are many other variants (for the intermediate letters) that have other uses in mobile devices, special devices, etc.
The range of a wifi access point depends on the power of the transmitters and the antennas used. For a "standard" hardare (omnidirectional antennas without additional amplification) a range of about 150-300m can be achieved. It is not advisable to plan for a longer range than necessary, as this poses a security risk and may generate interference.
Correct positioning of the transmitter
If possible, the transmitter should:
- (If possible). Be placed in the central part of the area to be covered. In this we assume that omnidirectional antennas are used (the typical "sticks").
- Be visible: We know it is not very nice, but for optimal coverage the antenna should be uncovered. Avoid enclosing the transmitter in closets or areas that are too far away from walls in the house.
- Watch out for metals: Metallic surfaces reflect electromagnetic waves and impede their propagation. The casing of a computer or any other metallic device or furniture can degrade our transmission.
Avoiding interference
Choosing the correct channel. The most usual procedure is usually "trial and error", and changing the transmission channel is usually the first thing to try when poor WiFi performance is observed.
Watch out for neighbors. They may be interfering with our channel. Tips for choosing the right channel can be found here.
Concern for safety
Although not related to "coverage" per se, if the neighbor steals our bandwidth we will lose quality of service.
Some safety tips can be found in this article.
Install repeaters
In the event that the space is so large that coverage cannot be provided with a single access point, there are dead zones, several floors or there are any problems related to the lack of signal strength, we can install repeaters. These are commercially available, but for home use, you can consider the possibility of using an old router as a repeater (configuring it properly).