help with implementing home wireless network

[ZippyDan]

helping a friend install wireless network in his house. the house is not -very- big but is very expensive... so i guess there is some tough stuff in the walls. the configuration of the house (and expensive wall/ceiling material factors such as extensive wood paneling), make a hard-wire solution highly impractical

installed a netgear fwag114 wireless router that does a, b, and g wireless in the upstairs 'attic' room (like floor 2.5). the cable modem is there so assume it is the only place to install it.

friend wants to be able to use laptop, wirelessly, and have a printer on the network in the farthest room from the 'attic', the den. which is on the first floor, but still only about 35m away in a straight line, and in the basement, which is almost directly below the attic.

using a netgear b/g pc card for laptop, i am not getting adequate signal in either location

i tried purchasing a D-link 'range extender' (i was told D-link was the only ones who made such a device) - functioning in repeater mode, and placed it halfway between the target areas. the netgear pc card is able to see the signal as a second transmission source and gets 100% signal strength in the den and is able to connect, briefly, and get an IP address. but i havent been able to surf the net, and the netgear card loses connection and restablishes connection regularly in a repeating cycle - 1 min on/1 min off. i believe some combination of netgear and dlink is not working well together...

i need suggestions and options at this point.

i have thought of getting an 11a card for the latop. as i remember, 11a has longer range (and operates on a higher frequency), so is more likely to work fine at that range. problem: also need that wireless printserver in that room. chances of finding a wireless 11a USB printserver at a reasonable cost? yea thats why i chose to go with b/g

i need an access point that can bridge itself to the router wirelessly :/

~Zippy!

 

[HJB417]

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10333144&loc=101&sp=1 can bridge
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10259366&loc=101&queryType=comp can bridge
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10343835&loc=101&queryType=comp can bridge
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10326211&loc=101&queryType=comp can bridge
3com also makes access points, but I don't know which ones support bridging
these devices won't work with 802.11a either.

 

[ZippyDan]

thanks (note linksys comments indicate wap11 can only bridge to another wap11)

what i want to know is:

1. why sell a range extender when you could just get another access point and bridge?
2. why did netgear and dlink tech support not mention their access point solutions, even when i pointedly asked them if they had any other solution to my problem, and specifically asked if they had access points that could wirelessly bridge?

~Zippy!

 

[HJB417]

ok, I read the manual and it has to be in repeater mode to do the wireless bridging
did you install the latest firmware (v1.20) ?

The DWL-800AP+ will repeat the wireless signal of:

AirPlus
----------------------
DWL-800AP+ Wireless Access Point
DWL-900AP+ Wireless Access Point
DI-614+ Wireless Router
DI-714P+ Wireless Router

AirPro
----------------------
DI-754 Wireless Router (with inserted DWL-650+)
DI-764 Wireless Router

AirPremier
-----------------------
DWL-1000AP+ Wireless Access Point

Unfortunately we can not guarantee compatibility with other manufacturers. Repeating mode is not part of the Wi-Fi certification and D-Link, as well as the other manufacturers, are not at liberty to purchase every single wireless product to test compatibility. There are many different chipsets and sometimes connectivity between different chipsets will not work.

 

[ZippyDan]

yes it came with latest firmware already installed. it was in repeater mode. wlan light on it showed activity. netgear card read it perfectly (100% signal strength where before had been 49%), but would not stay connected or surf the internet

i fear the 'repeater' function is somehow confusing. usually access points are on two separate channels and represent two separate 'access POINTS'... the repeater acts more like a... relay? i guess the netgear card chokes when it sees the same signal repeated twice? on the other hand, it did see both the repeater and the router as two separate entities under 'site survey'

that said, id rather go with an access point solution over a repeater... the netgear one is way more expensive... but i fear that dlink and netgear hate each other (never liked dlink much anyway )

~Zippy!

 

[JackMDS]

When using Access Point as Client or Repeater it is advisable to use the same Brand.

While normal 802.11b is highly compatible between brands, all the special modes hardware like 802.11b+ and hardware in special settings mode are much less compatible.

D-Link and Linksys are the two Entry level Wireless manufactures that make A/P s that can be configure as Repeaters.

On Extending Entry level Wireless coverage.

Extending the range of Entry Level Wireless depends on many Environmental variables, thus there is no one simple solution. These solutions need additional work and material (i.e. more money) in top of the initial buying of the Entry Level hardware.

Scenario 1: One floor house, the living room has a cathedral ceiling, and all the rest of the house is basically around the Living room.

A Ceiling Antenna is installed few feet bellow the Apex of the ceiling; it covers the whole house and 60' around the outside. (The Wireless Router is near the computer, the Antenna is connected with extension coax).

Scenario 2: In an other setting, a "normal" two floors house. The AP sits on a high pedestal near the staircase in the hallway. The AP is connected to a Wired Router with long CAT5 cable and covers most of the House and almost nothing outside. Initially when it was placed in the computer room it covered only the Computer room and direct rooms next to it sideway and above.

Repeater solution - This solution is similar to Scenario 2. However by using a Repeater you do not have to connect the WAP via CAT5 to the Wireless Source.

What is a Repeater? Link: Wireless Network - Configuration Modes.

Repeater actually cuts the Bandwidth by half. (Since it has to Flip-Flop between Transmit, and Receive with a single Radio).

However if used correctly it increase the Distance.

The following is for illustration purpose, actual numbers in your settings could be totally different than the following.

Let say you get 1Mb/sec. (1Mb/sec. is probably the limit for Internet surfing) at 80'.

Assuming that the bandwidth at 60' is 2Mb/sec. You put a Repeater at 60', it cuts the bandwidth but it will transmit for another 60-80' so all together you will get the 1Mb/sec. at about 150'.

 

[ZippyDan]

great, but a large investment in all-netgear products has already been made. anyone have any idea where i could get that ME103 access point from netgear? for instance... compusa sells it at their website, but it says not available in stores. any idea where to pick one up locally? i need one fast

~Zippy!