WiFI - Directional Antennas

[Pug]

Completed a wifi install in a family friends house as it seemed easier than getting them to route wires around.

They were on AOL so router choice was limited - went for a Netgear DG834G and Linksys 54g card as i had to buy them locally - figured wouldnt be a problem and they should work fine. Heh, boy was i wrong. Both devices work together well, but the range is appaling. Piccy below shows you the layout roughly.

Turned off Broadcast SSID, set to use g only, and channel 11 only (tho tried others too).

PC lives in like a wardrobe desk, so that cuts out signal too, but a few inches of aerial poke out the back opf the cupboard - its still really poor signal strength she gets 1 bar best, which then drops off and closes the connection.

Any advice?

Thinking of buying a directional antenna, anyone had any experience with them? Cant see a way out other than going for powerline networking, but really dont want them to incur more expense.

 

[Uhtred]

Try moving the router higher if you can. Maybe even the 1st floor if you can.

 

[benjo plz.]

figured wouldnt be a problem and they should work fine.

Don't bet on it, Linksys uses BroadCom (or RALink) and I think the Netgear uses Atheros. Mixing chipsets is never a good idea.

Check you've got the antennas stuck on for starters, but yes, two (or even just one) directional antenna should help. Having two with direct line of sight, or atleast aimed at each other properly should sort the problem. Using NetStumbler will help find the best antenna signal. (just moving the current antennas around might help).

 

[Pug]

dont suppose you know what chipset is used in the DLink DWl-520+?

Have that lying around spare, and possibly might benefit swapping it then? Tho that one is only .11b

cheers for the mention of netstumbler.

 

[benjo plz.]

dont suppose you know what chipset is used in the DLink DWl-520+?

Have that lying around spare, and possibly might benefit swapping it then? Tho that one is only .11b

cheers for the mention of netstumbler.

It's a TI chipset (I used to have them in some Binatone cards, they were awful ), but that doesn't mean it might not be a good short term fix (might not be the same chip etc). 11b generally has better range, but is a hell of a lot slower. .

Edit : It is the same chipset as I had in mine . Still worth a try though .

 

[Pug]

cheers mate.

Bought a £20 directional effort, with her linksys card and she has 2 hopefully solid bars. If it persists i'll move them to line of sight and maybe try the DLink card before investing in another directional adapter.