Possibly improve wireless reliability and speed

Jun 05, '07 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: wilton

I was looking at the Wireless Options in the new Airport Utility to configure my Airport Extreme router. I noticed you could reduce the power output of the wireless. Since I have the router in my living room it sounded very appealing, especially since I have a new baby in the flat. I tried reducing it to 25%, but the signal was barely strong enough to work in the kitchen, which affected performance.

I recently followed the tips in this article to see if they would help at all. Changing the channel and implementing MAC filtering means I can now set my AirPort Extreme at 10% power, and I still get full strength signal everywhere in the flat. I also have fewer incidents where I have to manually rejoin my wireless router.

[robg adds: You might also want to set your AirPort up as a closed network -- it won't be visible to the casual user who happens to be located nearby, though this won't stop dedicated hackers from finding it. Note that you may have some devices that won't work with a closed network (I had an old audio appliance that simply failed to connect if the network was closed).]

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