I'm in a big apartment building in the midlevels and having a devil of a time with wifi reception. Part of the problem is / was other wifi routers in the area (I can see a half dozen easily, more if I goto the window) but I suspect another problem is the construction of my building--concrete walls.
The hallway from where the TV/cable modem is located to my bedroom has a dropped ceiling with a quick access panel so I popped my head in there and saw that I was facing solid cement separating each of the bedrooms off the hall. In addition, the doors are solid wood about 2 inches thick, and when I close the doors to my bedroom I get basically no internet reception in that room (or ridiculously spotty reception).
My goal is to run a CAT-5 wire through the fake ceiling and then into my room (where I want to put my desktop) and to a second wifi router that I have, but to do that I have to go through about 4 inches of concrete.
So my question (sorry for the big intro)--is there another way? I know little about modern apartment construction processes, but where are the wires for electric / ac, etc. hiding? Do they have conduit somewhere, or do they run behind the molding on the floor? Should I drill through the door jam instead (really don't want to do that). The doors do not have enough clearance at the bottom to run a wire under them (tried that). I thought about running through the AC vents but still have the problem of getting through a 4 inch thick concrete wall between the modem and the bedroom. What if I put the wifi router by the window? Likely better reception. The distance is only 20 feet.
Anyway, sorry for the long winded question but I figure some others have had this same battle. Anyone have any other ideas?