Range
From FON Wiki Beta
WiFi networks have limited range. A typical WiFi home router using 802.11b or 802.11g with a stock antenna might have a range of 32 m (120 ft) indoors and 95 m (300 ft) outdoors. Range also varies with frequency band. WiFi in the 2.4 GHz frequency block has slightly better range than WiFi in the 5 GHz frequency block.
Outdoor range with improved (directional) antennas can be hundreds of meters with line-of-sight.
Here you can find some tips and tricks to improve the range of your Fonera or any other WiFi router
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Improve Range & Signal Quality
The signal quality is affected by many factors. Other WiFi signals, other non WiFi wireless devices, powerlines, even humidity and the different vegetation density in summer and winter. If you have an unstable or weak WiFi signal, or think the range could be better, try out the following things...
Change WiFi channel
Log into the Management Console of your La Fonera and go to 'Advanced > Wireless Settings' and change the channel. Normally the La Fonera works in automatic mode, that means it will try to select the channel with less interferences available. In some cases it may be better to select a channel manually.
With a tool like 'Netstumbler' (or iStumbler for MacOS X, or Vistumbler for Vista) you get an overview of the signals used by the other WiFi routers in your area. Choose one with few other routers using the same frequency - the best are 11, 1 and 6 - in that order.
Place the La Fonera or Fontenna wisely
The place and the way you install your La Fonera or Fontenna greatly influence its range.
- La Fonera features an onmidirectional antenna, try to place La Fonera away from a wall or any dense object it will improve signal radiance.
- More information on how to place your Fontenna
Troubleshooting
If the range of your La Fonera is abnormally low or you often get disconnected here is a few things you can check:
Test with other WiFi devices
Did you try out with more than one WiFi device? Please check out if the problem also exists with other PC's/Notebook's to see if it's a specific problem with your device.
Energy saving options of your WiFi adapter
Deactivate the energy saving options of your WiFi adapter. Some WiFi adapter have problems with the La Foneras two signals using this option.
Problems only with the encrypted 'MyPlace' signal
Try changing Authentication and Cypher under Private WiFi. In most cases the following settings should work well:
Authentication > WPA/WPA2 mixed
Cypher > mixed
Check also the setting of you WiFi adapter to make them fit the La Fonera ones.
Malicious software
Check, that your PC is not infected by malicious software.