Wireless range ?

[phred]

Hi, Have just bought myself a 80Gb 605 and while it is great at most things, it's wireless range seems really poor. I have a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router which is set with an open SSID (no security). If I leave the room that the router is in and walk into another room, - around 5 metres, then I lose connection. My iTouch and my laptop work fine in all rooms of the house.
Is this as good as it gets. (Firmware 2.1.04).

Sorry, I did a search on wireless range etc, but couldnt find an appropriate post

If this is not normal I would like to get it changed while it is still in the retuns window

Thanks

[soapboxderby]

I feel it's poor also, I seem to not get mine to work over 20-25 feet.

thats pretty darn limited. but I heard some say 50-80 feet.

[kb]

Funny things, radio waves. Especially at such short wavelengths. I think quite small changes in the material and layout of your house have have a significant effect on range. For example, I have a wifi access point on the middle floor of the three floors of my house, which is tall but narrow. I can use the 605 in the rooms above and below (10m separation?) but not in the room to the side.

I surmise that the radio signal propagates better through wood and thin plaster (i.e., floor and ceiling) than through wall (old, heavy brickwork).

This is all guesswork, of course. But my point is that wireless range varies hugely, even within the same building. So it's difficult to give a general figure for it.

[soapboxderby]

I wish someone woulc do a hack where you can add a anntenna to the darn thing to boost range.

or atleast a signal booster or something.

[jack.wh]

I can walk around my entire house without losing connection... I don't have a mansion but it's a good sized house with the wireless router upstairs in the corner of the furthest room. Maybe you have things blocking the signal? Like lots of metal or something?

[kb]

I can walk around my entire house without losing connection... I don't have a mansion but it's a good sized house with the wireless router upstairs in the corner of the furthest room. Maybe you have things blocking the signal? Like lots of metal or something?

In my case, I suspect the problem is old, thick, slightly damp walls. But I don't know -- radio physics is not my field

[phred]

Well I tried a Linksys draft N router and that made very little difference. I think the internal aerial must be really tiny or the wireless chipset is of the very cheap variety.
I found a second WRT54G and set it up as a second wireless connection using the same SSID and it seems to have improved the coverage quite a bit although I still find the connection speed very poor. (I have 20Gb Virgin broadband) so there is no incoming contention on the WAN. Obviously the wireless slows things down, but some pages are back to dial up speeds and I havent managed to get a BBC iPlayer program to load at all.
I'm going to try a Linksys rangebooster router tomorrow and see what happens

Thanks for all your responses so far

[ccs_digital]

I also have Linksys WRT54G and found that replacing the standard antenna's with higher gain ones (available on ebay) did somewhat improve the wireless range for both my 605 and also a Logik internet radio.

Ultimately however a second access point elsewhere in the house proved to be the best solution.

[Jimbob]

Yh it reeli depends on walls, thickness, plaster, wood and stuff. Wireless range is reeli going to differ throughout the house and rooms, it may also depend or your router - but not neccesarily.

[Catsrules]

I have the Archos 605 160 GB and it also does not have good range. When I am home I can get signal any where in the house and a little bit out side as well. But when I am out, I have a hard time finding a Hot spot. I have compared my Archos to several PDA and the I-touch. And they do pick up more then my Archos.

Do any of you with a 30 GB archos have this range problem?
Because the 80 and 160 GB has that annoying Wi-Fi static in your headphone when ever the Archos is sending or receiving information. Where the 30 GB doesn't have that problem. I am wondering if that could be a cause of this problem

[CBers]

Just my tuppence-worth, but I think it's the type of houses people live in.

I have had a WRT54GS router and it's works great with all my Archos devices (see signature), and "as the crow flies", the furthest point between the router and my 605 in the house would be about 40 feet, going through a floor/ceiling and walls, with the walls being mainly partition walls due to it being a newish house..

I have just upgraded to a WRT350N router (for a comlpetely different reason), and the signal is even better.

It might be worth putting extra WAPs in, or HomePlugs with WAPs connected.

As I said, just my tuppence-worth.