My brother and I have been sharing one DSL connection for about a couple of months. What’s interesting is that we’re next-door neighbors. The DSL connection is hooked up at his place, and we installed a WiFi-enabled broadband router at his setup, so we could share across homes.

Of course, this setup should be as easy as one, two, three—one being “connect router to DSL modem,” two, “boot up laptop” and three, “surf the Internet.” But it wasn’t as easy with our case, especially since we had several walls between the router and the desk I usually keep my laptop on.

So I checked out tips on the Web on how to improve WiFi range and signal quality. Here are what my brother and I did to successfully extend the range long enough to eventually reach my place.

Reposition the router. Sometimes all it takes is positioning. WiFi works similarly with any other radio application, where line-of-sight and antenna altitude is a major factor in signal quality and range. We placed the router near the highest window available.

Change channels. Since WiFi devices run on an unlicensed spectrum, they’re prone to interference from other wireless devices like toy two-way radios and other gadgets that emit radiation such as mobile phones and microwave ovens.

While there are definitely other easy tips on improving WiFi range across homes, we found that a better position and cleaner frequency was all we needed to get that fast connection between our houses without the ugly cables!