Any reccomendations to improve this wireless network so that it works?

[mcveigh]

So I goto this guys house last night...

it's at least a million dollars, 3 stories , on the water, etc...

the cable modem is in his daughters room. his room is on the same level but about 50 ft down the hall. the shape of the builing is curved. so i was hoping the signal would go through the inside part of the curve to his bedroom. It did. and according to netstumbler I was getting about 50% signal strength. But when I would ping a host like yahoo.com I would drop 25-50% of my packets most of the time. and trying to surf the net was impossible.:|

it was a SMC7004VWBR and the car was an orinoco gold (dell trumobile 1150).

would 802.11A work better, different wifi router? external antenna?

Do the make an external wifi antenna the works through glass? like car cell phone antennas?

My last choice is to put another cable modem in his bedroom.

 

[JackMDS]

802.11A will cost more and probably will do less.

The SMC Wireless Router, as well as all other Wirless Routers can not take an external Antenna.

You better off buying an Access Point, and a nice external Antenna and put it high in the center of the Area.

Or buy a D-Link 900AP+ and use it as a repeater at the edge of the SMC signal. (Make sure you can return the D-Link if it does not work with the SMC, mine works with the 7004WBR).

Antennae here: A selection of aux. Antennae.

 

[amdskip]

Is there a basement or a crawl space to just run a cat 5 and network the computers? It would be much better IMHO and worry free considering the cirumstances.

 

[Soybomb]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Is there a basement or a crawl space to just run a cat 5 and network the computers? It would be much better IMHO and worry free considering the cirumstances.

Heh thats what I was going to say. If its a million dollar + house make him spring for some cat5 and have it pulled. Try to move the ap closer to being in the middle of the two rooms if possible. A higher gain antenna could help if you have an ap capable of taking one.

802.11a would probably be worse.

Cat 5 is easier and probably no more expensive than the above options though.

 

[JackMDS]

Most of my current installations are CAT5e.

However, resisting Wireless is like the Horse owners resisting Cars at the turn of the 20th century.

Sooner or later all, but heavy backbone commercial installations, will go Wireless.

 

[mcveigh]

well the construction of the house is weird, it's sort of wavy, odd angles and poured concrete. and this guy thinks it would cost too much to run wire. I don't think so. I know a guy who is awesome at wiring, does a lot of high end audio stuff. I'd just give the job to him.

The guy like the idea of wireless so he could be at his desk or couch, or bed and be conncted.

I can actually see to WAP from his bedroom. that's the weird thing. I might just run cat5e to his bedroom anyways then put the wap there.

thanks for the input everyone

 

[Soybomb]

Just to be sure, have you tried different channels?

 

[mcveigh]

Originally posted by: Soybomb
Just to be sure, have you tried different channels?

no I didn't why would that make a difference?

 

[Soybomb]

One channel may have intereference on it from anything (microwave, 2.4 gig cordless phone, another ap, etc). By default your router is probably using channel 6, try channels 1 and 11.

This is why when say you want to start a wireless isp you have a spectrum analysis done. Sometimes there is alot of noise in 2.4 gig.

 

[rw120555]

I don't know how well it actually works, but in theory I think this is a great idea:

Speedstream Powerline 802.11b Wireless Access Point

Get one or more of these along with a powerline/ethernet adapter that you hook up to a router. (I wish somebody would try some of this powerline stuff out so we could hear if it is as good as it claims to be.)

 

[taxi]

If the house is a concrete structure, there is a grid of steel rebar within the concrete that blocking a lot of wireless signals. Great for keeping your signal from leaving the house. PITA if you have interior walls that you are trying to work with.

I am wiring my uncles new house for him, that is a concrete structure. I tested some 802.11b equipment before I started wiring. It worked fine when you only had a standard wall between you and the AP, but as soon as you walked behind one of the concrete walls, by-by signal. (Was not a fully accurate test as the drywall and insulation was not in)

You have several options to try to get the wireless to work in the house. First being antennas. Start by putting a 5 to 10Bd omni on the AP (first would be getting a AP that accepts antennas, with out hacking one in). This may or may not be enough. Better would to put a Directional panel antenna on the AP. A 60 degree 5 to 10Bd should do. Obviously aim the antenna in the direction of the bed room.

This is just a couple of ideas.

I would guess though, that as soon as the client gets a taste of wireless, they are going to want to take it other places in the house. Having the house wired would not be a bad idea. Do a site survey to determine locations of APs that would cover the house, and have the locations wired. Have the bedrooms and A/V area wired as well.

Don't even bother with 802.11a The frequency range that it operates in has a hard enough time making it through a regular wall, let allow a concrete wall.

Also the suggestion to try changing the channel is not a bad one ether. I have seen when channel 1 had no other 802.11b AP using it in the vicinity, but the signal level at the client just sucked. Changing it to 6 helped a ton. (Channels 1, 6, and 11 are the only non overlapping channels to pick from in the US for 802.11b)

Hope some of this helped.

The phone network to Wi-Fi deal looks interesting. Had never thought about such a combo.

 

[rw120555]

The phone network to Wi-Fi deal looks interesting. Had never thought about such a combo.

The device I referred to is actually powerline, not phoneline. But, you could do it with phoneline too. You could, for example, buy two Netgear PE102's (Phoneline/ethernet bridge), hook one up to your router and another to a WAP, plug the PE102's into phone jacks, and you'd be set. (I do something similar in my house -- my router is in a crummy location for my WAP, but thanks to the PE102 I can place my WAP in a much better spot.) Given current pricing, the powerline option looks to be more economical.

I think you'll see more such devices in the future. If all goes according to plan, upcoming versions of both phoneline and powerline will offer 100MB+ speeds, comparable or better than ethernet. You'll see a much greater emphasis on AV and home entertainment uses once such speeds become reality. People will still want wireless though, so I bet more vendors will come up with WAPs that have built-in phoneline or powerline adapters. When and if this happens, discussions like we are having now will be a lot less common.