Extending wireless range

Vertigo · 12 Jul 2006 at 15:20

What's the easiest way of exending the range of a wireless network? Existing kit comprises an all-in-one ADSL wireless router thingy (not sure of make or model) which just doesn't have the coverage needed.

I'm thinking the only practical ways of doing it are to use another AP to extend the coverage (do all APs do this or do I need to look for this specific feature) or replacing the whole router. In the latter case, what would people recommend for good wireless coverage? I appreciate that all manufacturers are constrained by the relevant broadcasting licenses governing WiFi but some must be better than others?

tolien · 12 Jul 2006 at 16:29

Vertigo1 said:
do I need to look for this specific feature

Yes, WDS.
Cheapest initial step might be trying better antennae.

hybrid · 12 Jul 2006 at 22:48

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/

I;ve seen this pop up a few times on the forum. Some people say this boosts it?!

Vertigo · 12 Jul 2006 at 23:44

tolien said:
Yes, WDS.
Cheapest initial step might be trying better antennae.

Any specific recommendations? I'm assuming here that the router in question supports external antennae, don't know yet (not been there to check).

Vertigo · 14 Jul 2006 at 00:04

Any opinions on the Netgear WPN802 Rangemax AP?

If it does what it says it would seem to be an ideal solution.

Vertigo · 14 Jul 2006 at 17:01

Back again

Been looking at the WPN802 Rangemax AP from Netgear which might solve the problem but then, from what I can gather, the gains aren't huge when using existing "standard" 802.11g client hardware, you only reap the full benefit by replacing the client wireless hardware with Rangemax kit, which will start proving expensive and isn't ideal for laptops with 802.11g already built-in.

An external aerial is another alternative but I've no idea where you get these, what the costs are like and just how effective they are.

WDS is another option but one thing I can't find any definitive info on is whether both the "base" AP and the "repeater" AP have to support WDS or whether only the repeater does. If the latter then this would be the best option as the existing AP could be left in place and a WDS AP added elsewhere to relay the signal. Anyone know for sure?

tolien · 14 Jul 2006 at 17:07

Both would have to support WDS.

Vertigo · 14 Jul 2006 at 17:19

I feared as much

Do you have any knowledge of external aerials and how much they might help? The basic situation is a Wanadoo-provided wireless-router thingy (no idea what it actually is as they've totally rebranded it) which is inaccessible from a couple of wireless laptops all of 15m away in neighbouring rooms. The house is an old one with thick walls and heavy wooden beams which is obviously stifling the signal. This isn't my house btw, which is why I'm a tad weary of recommending a possible solution as it may not help at all.

If an external aerial would help in this kind of situation then I'd go that route. If not then I'm thinking the best way forward may be to get something like the WPN802 Rangemax and see if that helps with the existing laptop wireless hardware, then if it doesn't look at getting a couple of Rangemax compatible PC cards for the laptops to use the full capability of the AP.

Any thoughts?

tolien · 14 Jul 2006 at 17:35

Vertigo1 said:
Do you have any knowledge of external aerials and how much they might help?

Not particularly, and how much they might help is something like the length of a bit of string.

First step I'd suggest would be better aerials before you even consider MIMO kit (a la Rangemax).

Vertigo · 14 Jul 2006 at 17:59

I think a mini site-survey with my lappy & a copy of NetStumbler might be in order to start with.