Using a Wi-Fi router as bridge to increase the signal?

A friend of mine lives in an appartment building whose structure is such that the Wi-Fi signal is very weak. Even a USB key won't work.

I was thinking of buying an entry-level Wi-Fi router and reconfigure it as a bridge to act as repeater. Would that increase the chance of getting a good signal, or I shouldn't bother? If experience shows that it does improve things significantly, is their another router I should look at besides the Linux-based Linksys models?

Solution 1:

Get a router that can use DD-WRT. DD-WRT firmware works well as a repeater. Meaning that it will be a hop to the "main" router. So your friend will be able to connect to whichever router has the best signal strength for where he is in the apartment. Newegg.com or slickdeals.net will have routers on sale all the time that can run DD-WRT. You should be able to get one for about $30-50 USD.

Note: the router acting as a repeater should not go in the same room (area) as the "main" Wi-Fi router as that will not do any good. For best results you will have to play around with its location but somewhere in between where your friend is using his laptop and the "main" router should be good.

Oh and if you are doing this to steal Wi-Fi , that is just plain wrong and in some cases illegal. =P