Problems with wireless network

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16 Mar 2004
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Oxford
I currently have a wireless access point (Netgear WG602) installed in the attic, this gives excellent wireless coverage throughout the house, however so that I could use my laptop in the garden I bought a better antenna, which didn’t really help the matter although it did slightly improve speeds when indoors. I also have another WG602 and I have configured that so that it uses the same channel and SSID as the other access point (As discussed in a previous thread a few days ago) this works and the laptop switches to the access point that it is nearest to. As a test I put the second access point in the conservatory and walked off down the garden with the laptop (~25m) although there is direct line of sight with the access point, the speed drops down to around 2Mbps and sometimes disconnects totally. I have considered using the larger antenna in the conservatory, however I think it may be difficult to keep this concealed.

Is there anything I can do to improve the wireless connection, The laptop has a Linksys WPC54G PCMCIA card in it, I have wondered if this is the weak link where it simply doesn’t have the power to transmit the signal (is this possible?), if this is the case would a different card help? One thing I am considering is installing the access point in the shed, as there is trunking under the ground between the house and the shed, however I would like to do this as a last resort as it is considerably harder to route the cable this way.

So, any help in getting the wireless network to work properly outside would be appreciated.
 
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