Extending Wireless Network

Barbarosa

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My wireless network at home has lousy range - mainly due to the the house being built from reinforced concrete. I've tried high gain arials etc with limited success.

What I want to do is to put one wireless access point on one floor and link it wired to another wireless access point on another floor. Has anyone any Idea how I do this?
 
I have a netgear wireless router in my loft which I use for internet/network access around the house, I have also connected a d-link access point to this router which is mounted about 40ft in the air on my roof! this has a high gain omni-directional antenna and is intended as a 'hotspot'

For some images go here: http://www.freewebs.com/blackpool-wlan/websalbum.htm

The newer routers/access points now use MIMO (multi-in, multi-out) technology which should mean much better coverage. for info go here: http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WPN824.php

What type of high gain aerials have you tried? as you may already know there are many types of antenna, they all have very different uses, if you need some advice let me know as I have spent some time working with wifi.

:smashin:
 
@Barbarose, most WAP's do have a repeater mode but not all so you will have to check. You might get quite a performce hit doing that though...I did it with my Linksys setup. Also safe yourself a lot of hassle and only attempt it with equipment by the same manufactorer....Otherwise forget about any form of security....

A potentially easier or simpler solution may be a dLAN or Homeplug connection which uses your powerline to bridge long distances....Works flawless and is really stable...
 
One other option is to use something like this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46494&doy=23m10

Although the data rate could be a bit low depending on what you want to use it for.

It may even be possible to connect one of these to your router/PC and then plug the other one into a mains socket on the floor that you need the coverage on and then connect a wireless ethernet bridge (linksys wet11) to it! here: http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware/reviews/2003/q1/linksys_wet11.asp

:thumbsup:
(I was typing this when dejongj posted)
 
As you say dejongj , I don't really see how using repeater mode would help because if the signal is too weak to be used where it is required then another access point would have difficulty in receiving the signal to repeat it, does that make sense :confused:
 
In my experience there are two problems which can be sorted out with a repeater...In my house it worked when I place the repeater a floor above the original access point and then went across the floor level....It did not work when i tried to go a floor up and across without a repeater...

So horizontal planes = good
vertical planes = good
diagonal planes = not good

But then again it all depends on your house and what else is running in it....


Remember that they do dLan upto 85Mbs speeds now....
 
I think that the problem comes from the house having reinforced concrete floors.

The idea was to connect the two wireless routers, set them both on different chanels, make sure that they don't both have the same ip address and have DHCP server running on only one.

Any idea if this will work?
 
Would there be any way of running a cat5 cable between floors? I'm guessing not and that's why you're using wifi in the first place!

As you said, reinforced floors will cause problems with wireless signals and the only other option I can think of is the mains networking solution mentioned earlier, although this is a bit pricey!

My first setup consisted of a wireless USB adapter stuck to the ceiling of the hallway which gave good results but again needed a cable (USB) to be run from my upstairs computer room through the floor/ceiling to the hallway.(no router involved which meant main PC had to be on all the time :( )

How many floors need wifi access? and what do you want to use it for if it's only two then the dLAN system with an ethernet bridge on the floor furthest from the wireless router should work well unless you plan on any audio/video streaming!
 
Barbarosa said:
I think that the problem comes from the house having reinforced concrete floors.

The idea was to connect the two wireless routers, set them both on different chanels, make sure that they don't both have the same ip address and have DHCP server running on only one.

Any idea if this will work?


Yep, that will work fine if you can run a wired connection between the two floors somehow..
You don't particularly need to worry about using different channels, but it won't hurt either...

If you're just looking at connecting the two AP, then the mains-wire kit looks the easiest solution certainly..
 
I have a netgear dg834g adsl router and range in my house was rubbish. I then added the matching netgear ap (can remember the model) which is wire connected to the router through a switch.(No repeater mode).

This has a fixed ip (otherwise its difficult to log in to the webserver) dhcp turned off and set to the same channel as the router. It all works perfectly and sorts out my deadspots superbly. Moving between the ap and the router goes un-noticed. The range on the AP is much better than the router as it has a much higher gain but bigger aerials should also do the same thing.
 
What are your walls like? And yes are there any other floors you want to go through?
 

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