Wifi Connection Is A Two-Way Communication

As more and more people have portable wireless devices like smart phones, tablets, and laptops, accessing to online information no longer is restricted to one or a few locations in the homes or offices where their bulky desktops are located. They would be in the breakroom and can check on the latest sport scores on their phones. They can be sitting on the toilet and not miss the latest text or email message. (Admit it, you have done that).

The problem is there might not be a reliable signal in these places. When setting up a wireless data network, people do not usually think about getting the wifi signal in the breakroom or bathroom. Therefore, they would initially install access points, also known as APs, that transmit the wifi signal that is reachable to only the "important" places. When they are in other locations however, they cannot seem to get Internet access via the wifi even when the devices say there is signal detected, even with a strong one. Here is why.

Wifi is a two-way communication. That is, the two devices on both ends of the connection must be able to reliably communicate with each other to maintain the connection. If the AP does not get a constant I-am-still-here feedback from the portable device, the AP assumes that the device no longer needs to associate with it. The AP will then break off the connection.

If your device's signal cannot reach the AP to maintain this association, the AP is useless. Therefore you need to place multiple APs in your location so the closest AP in the chain can relay the signal from your devices back to the gateway router which is the entry point for the incoming Internet. While there is some signal loss of the original signal from your portable devices when it finally reaches the gateway router, this incoming signal is still much better than if the portable device is transmitting the signal to the gateway router directly. A gateway router can also act as an AP. If it does, then it is the most upstream AP in the chain.

You can buy high-gain APs to increase wireless reception. Yes, they work well at pumping out stronger signal to the portable devices. However, using these high gain APs gives the illusion of better signal because as stated, if the AP does not get the acknowledgement signal from the devices, the association is lost. This is like listening to music on your car radio. The massive radio tower would push the music to your car, but your car radio does not need tell the radio tower what music to broadcast. Listening to the radio is a one-way mode of wireless communication. By contrast, with wifi, the portable devices need to transmit their signal to the APs requesting information such as Internet websites.

In short, do not buy into the hype from wifi AP makers about their high gain APs. You need to understand how wireless technology works in this context so you can buy and setup the right devices to get reliable wifi signal in the dead spots in the home or office.