Long Range Router?

triggerthat

triggerthat

triggerthat

Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2005
Posts
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Location
London
Hi,

I tried a selection of standard 54G routers and unfortunately I cannot get a signal between the front and the back of the house (a large wall is blocking it). I've tried two Routers (a Belkin and a Netgear) both 54g which doesn't do justice. Will a long range router do the job? I'll be using a laptop so I wasn't sure if the wireless chip in there will be fine. I can get a signal upstairs with a USB reciever, but not the laptop. I've also tried 2 laptops.
 
You can get a Linksys one that has a RangeBoost facility but you need a RangeBoost card in your laptop.

You could always get a another access point (not router) and set it up to extend the range of your network.

Or as above get a better anttena
 
Alternatively you can use 108Mbps equipment, or Netgear's Rangemax products (which also work at up to 300Mbps with the Intel 4965AGN mini-PCIE card).
 
This sounds like a job for homeplug technology (ethernet over the mains), any wireless kit you buy is going to be a gamble whereas if you link your exsting router via homeplug to a hompeplug adatper or a wirelless access point near wher your having problems than you just about certain to have a usuable signal wired or wireless.
 
I think i've tried them all and i still don't know which one to suggest, Homeplugs are good but it all depends on your house's wiring. I found that once most of my house mates got back i lost a lot of signal with the homeplugs and i couldn't get a decent download speed. If you game though, homeplugs are pretty decent for ping.

If you still wanna connect via wireless i've just been reading up on DD-WRT latest revision of their firmware. If you have a few people that need to connect to the network wirelessly on the other side of the house then you could get a compatible router such as the WRT54GL and setup "Repeater Bridge" it's pretty much WDS but just a much better version of it. This means that you can have the router sit in the middle of the house or where the signal starts to get worse, it'll then pick up the main routers signal and then transmit it again. Like a wireless extender but with full routing.

Wireless Bridging: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Repeater_Bridge
WRT54GL: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-052-LS
DD-WRT guide to flashing firmware: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G/GL/GS/GX#WRT54GL
 
Beware that a lot of 108Mbps kit just uses two bonded 802.11g channels, and as such will give you no extra range.
 
Mr Sniper said:
If you still wanna connect via wireless i've just been reading up on DD-WRT latest revision of their firmware. If you have a few people that need to connect to the network wirelessly on the other side of the house then you could get a compatible router such as the WRT54GL and setup "Repeater Bridge" it's pretty much WDS but just a much better version of it. This means that you can have the router sit in the middle of the house or where the signal starts to get worse, it'll then pick up the main routers signal and then transmit it again. Like a wireless extender but with full routing.

Wireless Bridging: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Repeater_Bridge
WRT54GL: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-052-LS
DD-WRT guide to flashing firmware: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G/GL/GS/GX#WRT54GL
Click to expand...

Sorry for the hijack, I have a similar problem (see here) This new version of DD-WRT sounds perfect for what I want to do, especially as it allows for both wired and wireless connections on the second router. Assuming I was to use a WRT54GL as the second router, what would people recommend as an initial router? (Will it need to have DD-WRT installed as well?)

Thanks
 
From DD-WRT Wiki:
In the case in which we are interested, a secondary router running DD-WRT v24 is configured as a Repeater Bridge between a Primary wireless router (of any make/brand/FW) allowing the above configuration.
Click to expand...

So it can be any router, i would personally suggest another linksys router of some kind but it really doesn't matter. Just something thats reliable for you really.

What would people recommend as an initial router? (Will it need to have DD-WRT installed as well?)
Click to expand...

Nope, just one router needs the custom firmware :)

Hope that helps, just a bit of a disclaimer though the v24 RC5 is a beta release so if you do have any bugs then its to be expected. Although i have found this to be more stable than the v23 SP2 release :)
 
Excellent, thanks. So the primary router will need to support some sort of bridging/WDS? Could you recommend a linksys model? (I'm out of the loop when it comes to routers)

Thanks again
 
The primary router can be any old wireless router, it acts like WDS but without the hassle. Just as long as it has wireless then the secondary router with DD-WRT installed will do the rest of the work for you :)

I'd always recommend the WRT54GL as its linux based and its the easiest to flash. All other versions from linksys use VXworks i believe and you need to fully remove that first before installed the linux firmware.
 
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