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Extending wireless network, what do i need?

A

antyler

Golden Member
A friend of mine knows a guy who owns some condos at the beach, and he has a wireless network set up for the customers.

The network does not reach to every corner of his property, and he wants it to.

The longest it will have to go is about 400 feet from the original wireless router to the farthest corner, maybe a little more or less. For some reason or other, the existing router is not reaching all locations, most likely buildings/interference.

Can this problem be fixed with something as simple as a range extender/repeater being placed somewhere in the middle area of the farthest point and the wireless router?

and if it is solvable with an extender/repeater, do i need to worry about wireless g,n,a, etc, or are will the hardware be pretty universal?

thanks for the help.


tyler.
 
It sounds like your friend will just need to have multiple access points placed so that they cover all of the area he wants to give wireless access to his customers.
 
Originally posted by: owensdj
It sounds like your friend will just need to have multiple access points placed so that they cover all of the area he wants to give wireless access to his customers.
Click to expand...

An access point is basically a wireless router no? When looking to buy, do i actually need to search for an access point.

p.s. the way you said "your friend" sounds like you think im making it up or something haha.

it really is for a friend.
 
Well there is only one physical connection, which the current wireless router is using, so i need something that will just plug into a power outlet, and have no physical connection to the network, but still extend my range.
 
The general approach that I take for Coverage issues is the following.

The best way is to lay few CAT6 cables to central locations in the house, install Access Points, or Cable/DSL Routers configured as an Access Points ( Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point ), and connect them to the Main Router.

You do not want/can not/hate/your client hate to lay Cables. 🙁

Buy a Pair of Wireless Routers that can do WDS (Zyxel, SMC, Belkin have models that do WDS as is out of the Box.

Linksys WRT54GL can do WDS when flashed with DD-WRT firmware.

Using a Laptop loaded with Netstumbler, do a Wireless survey in the house, http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/

According to the Netstumbler's signal strength reading, identify spots that have strong signal. and spot with weak, or No signal.

Evaluate how you can cover the space and start placing WDS units.

Additional Wireless Routers in WDS Mode (Wireless Network - Configuration Modes. ) has to be placed in spots were the signal is good about Half way to the dead spots.

How many WDS units are needed? It depends on your specific environment (that is a good the reason to buying WDS units one at the time, try it, and decide on the Next step).

Otherwise.

Extending Distance - http://www.ezlan.net/Distance.html

Wireless Router as an AP - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Wireless Modes - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Modes.html

Wireless Bridging - http://www.ezlan.net/bridging.html

Hi Gain Antenna - http://www.ezlan.net/antennae.html
 
Jack just broke it all down for you, His commendation for using a WRT54GL router from linksys as well as using DD-WRT to setup WDS is probably the best bet(without laying cable). Do a search for this on the DD-WRT wiki site. Make sure you buy the right routers or you may have a more difficult time flashing it.
 
thanks for all the advice guys. Im going to try to get something to do WDS or something similar to that, without having to replace the original wireless router. Im going in blind basically because all i know is that the current one is a linksys so hopefully i can get some sort of linksys repeater or router that will support wds.
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
If the Original Router is Not WDS compatible you need to replace it.

This Wireless Router can be Flashed with DD-WRT and do WDS it also have strong 802.11g signal.

Asus WL-520GU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833320023
Click to expand...

makes sense, ill be buying the parts in store, at a local retailer, so ill need a model that can be purchased offline.

easy way to tell if the current wireless router is wds compatible?
 
Originally posted by: timot
how about linksys WAG200G and WAP54G? Will they be compatible?
Click to expand...

we ended up using the wre54g, which after a bunch of setup, finally started working for us.
 
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