I am an absolute novice at computers and have had heaps of conflicting advice and would appreciate some help.

I have a wireless connection at my home office which is about 100m from the house which is fine if I work from the back of the house in the kid’s room which I can get connected via my laptop but not easy to do when they are in bed.

But I would like to be able to get online from my study which is on the other side of the house, is there a booster that can be connected in the house to boost the signal so it can be used?

Also I was going to put an adaptor on the pc the kids use in the house to give them access to the net, what is a good one to use, the room it is in has line of sight to the office 100m away.

Thanks Brian

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Yes you can get boosters for wireless signals, check out Maplin Electronics (assuming you're in UK)

You can get higher gain antennas that replace your existing antennas on your router. If these are not sufficient, you could get a range adapter. Basically you would plug this into an a/c wall outlet inbetween and it will help get the signal to you better.

A good set of high gain antennas: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124155

A good range extender: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124037


Now to your other question about a device for your kids. I am assuming it is a destop pc, not a laptop. You can get two different types of adapters. A usb adapter, or a pci adapter. Both, however, may not get a signal even though your laptop is. This is because laptops generally have 2 antennas, one is the base frame of the laptop, and the other is around the lid of the laptop. Usually you can get better signal from distant places with one of these. However, say you get the range extender, you probaly will be fine getting either.

An example of a usb adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124126

An example of a pci adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124115

If you had to choose between one of the two, i would get the pci adapter because it should get higher signal and speed. I personally have this one exactly, and ive been using it for about 3 years happily. My only gripe is no linux support (yet), but im assuming this will not be an issue for you.

Hope this helped some :)

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