Need Help With Boosting Signal and Speed

I have a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4467 with Vista..hate it! I also have Clearwire internet..also hate it but stuck with it for 2 years. I have the Clearwire modem connected to an older Linksys router WRK54G and a desktop running XP. The signal has always sucked but lately it has been really bad on my laptop. Not sure if the weather has anything to do with it. I use Firefox for my browser but even with IE the pages are taking forever to load and I'm having problems with downloading. Either it takes forever or the files are incomplete. Firefox constantly crashes and I am also having a problem with my Gmail....it doesn't want to load and asks if I want to view in HTML. I got so fed up with all of the problems I was having that I did a factory restore on my laptop, removed a lot of unneeded junk off Vista and removed some things from running at startup but I am still having problems. I even tried turning off Windows Defender, Firewall and antivirus to see if this would help but it did not.

What router is the best to buy to boost the signal and speed up the connection. Also I have read something about a repeater, what is this and should I get one. As far as Vista goes is there anything in Vista that also might be causing some of the problems?


Thanks!

~Kat~

 

That router isn't the best one around - it's a scaled down version of the excellent WRT54G. If you want to stick with G speeds, buy a used one off of ebay. I used one for nearly 5 years and only upgraded to an "N" router because I needed a faster file transfer for streaming movies and file sharing via wireless.

Signal strength has nothing to do with your operating system. The signal strength is controlled by the router. With some routers, you can install custom firmware that allows you to control the power output. The WRT54G is one such router, but yours, sadly, is not one of them.

If you want to go with a draft N router, I recommend the D-Link DIR-655, but you'll have to buy a compatible D-Link card for your laptop in order to get the 300mbps speeds. Signal strength is excellent.

 

I also stream movies and file share via wireless, so what I need is a router with faster speeds as well as being able to boost the signal.

 

A draft N model would do these things for you.Not 100% sure(haven't looked at specs) but I don't think your antenna's can be upgraded.Maybe flashing your router with 3rd party software could have some benefits.

 

See, I don't want to continue using the router I have now....I'm tossing it. I want to buy brand new. What I was asking for is a recommendation on the best router to buy so I can go out today and buy one. I don't want to spend another day messing with this, it's slow and it's frustrating the heck out of me! I'm tired of messing around with what I have. I am using Clearwire internet and I need to find a way to boost the signal on it as well as faster transfers. I figured I'd get better advice here from you guys then then I would at BB or CC.

 

What is your price range ?

 

no more than $200

 

I have read that the d-link 655 draft n is a very good router(range & speed).They have them on newegg for about $130 or so. To get the faster speeds you'll have to have draft N wireless adapter also other wise you'll get g speeds.Do a little looking around with that price range you've lots of choices.

 

Thanks! It's so bad now I sat here and waited over 10 minutes just for this page to load! I miss having my DSL, Clearwire sucks and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

 

Perhaps you missed my recommendation in my original post, where I suggested a certain router and exactly what else you'd need in order to get the 300mbps speeds.

 

If your going to by draft 11n get a dual band, but there over your price range. I would get one that is supported by 3rd party firmware like dd-wrt.

A new router may not improve your surfing, that is controlled by the ISP Bandwidth. A new router may help your internal speeds.