Apartment with bad wifi

[Grant1997]

Hello,

I recently moved into an apartment that has internet included with the rent. The problem is that the connection is horrible, I can't even do homework 95% of the time. Sometimes it will say it's connected but I still can't use the internet. Would setting up my own router help me get better internet speeds? I also would like to do this because the wifi is not secured so anyone can connect to it.

 

[kanewolf]

What would you use as the internet source for this new router? Purchase your own internet service from cable or DSL, then yes having your own router would benefit you. Using the free WIFI won't work any better with a router.

 

[Vrich01]

It can be related with a lot of problems:
Too much people on the network (saturation of the router/access point)
Too much noise in the signal (lots of people in the same band or channel)
Too much apart from the router (signal weakened)

If it's only the third, you can try an hi-power USB adapter (like this one: http://www.li3.es/tienda/crotamaxn/prod_381.html. There is a lot of them in the market with 2000W. Be careful of chinese falsifications) or an external antena like nanostations or picostations from ubiquiti:

If it's only the second, chek if the access point has another band or have 802.11AC and connect trough an USB adapter/ac router.

If it's the first or a mixture of the 3 points, you can't do much.

About security, adding a router adds a wall aislating your network from the outside network. My recomendation is to be careful in these apartments because if there is bad people you can fall in wifi traps like attacks man in the middle.

PS: Sorry about my english.

 

[boosted1g]

Most likely the apartment landlord took a medicore internet connection, connected to 1 MAYBEE 2 wireless routers/access points and called it a day.

Wirelss range and number of people on the network are likely very large factors.
You can take your laptop and get closer to router and if speed/performance greatly increases to an acceptable level then you can use hi powered antenna to get better signal, if not then no amount of equipment on that connection will help and you will need to get your own internet service.