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powerful wifi for 12 unit building?

ViviTheMage

ViviTheMage

Lifer
I have internet, and a wireless router (b/g/n), in my condo. I currently have a WDS set up across 2 DD-WRT routers, it works, but the range is pretty crappy for the further out units.

Is there one router I could get to replace the 2 WDS setup? There are 2 issues;

I have to connect it via wireless, no ethernet drop can be run, or ethernet over power.

I have to keep the main internet router...dlink dir-655....the price range is open, but under $300~ would be ideal.

If not a 1 router setup, I could do another 2 WDS set up, but these WRT54G's are not cutting it for range!
 
Not really possible on your budget. You could kludge stuff together like that, with consumer-grade APs and what not. But, what you really need, if you absolutely must backhaul by wireless, is an AP with a second radio for backhaul. Something like a Proxim Orinoco or a Cisco Aironet, and those ain't cheap.

The other thing you could look at is higher gain antennas. You can get some Bountiful Networks 9dbi antennas for the WRT54Gs pretty cheap. But you're still going to have problems (every leg of the network cuts bandwidth in half when backhauling by wireless).
 
I haven't use a newer Aironet, can it do a 5,000 square foot area, with having to push through 7-10 walls at the further point?

Can it also attach itself to another SSID wirelessly - my main router?
 
Without seeing the layout of the building and its construction it is hard to say. Is it brick or wood construction ? Multiple floors ?

something else to check is try walking around with a laptop and seeing where the signal falls off and if there is anything near it that might interfere. Anything that uses a transmitter is suspect, cordless phones (even the DECT models), baby monitors, etc. These devices are not supposed to interfere but I have found they do on more than one occasion.
 
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2 floors, it's mostly wood for interior walls, and drywall. I've walked around with my iphone, and laptop, the worst places are furthest from the access point, which makes sense, it just doesn't have the power.

nobody has a cordless phone in their unit, people barely use their microwaves, half of them put them in storage.
 
ViviTheMage said:
I haven't use a newer Aironet, can it do a 5,000 square foot area, with having to push through 7-10 walls at the further point?

Can it also attach itself to another SSID wirelessly - my main router?
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Not 5000 sq ft by themselves without pure line of sight, no. You'd probably need a couple. Though they do make higher gain antennas for them.

The benefit to something like an Aironet is that you'd have two radios, one for backhaul and one for clients. That will make client wireless connections much, much more stable. But you'd probably need/want 2-3 for that area, depending on how many clients you need to serve.
 
I have used several of them. I have not used any for WDS but it has the settings for it. So far no problems. They can work as a router or AP. You can find a manual online.
 
And I would try one first either hooked directly up to your existing router or replace your existing router. I don't know your physical layout but one might have the coverage you need if you are currently using 2 linksys routers.
 
they work. the wds uses alternating channels so you get full duplex. also mesh'ing helps heal weak areas. not too keen on the cloud control but thats how its cheap. control from within cost big $$
 
Creating a real two radio Repeater by using two Entry Level Wireless Routers working as one unified station can over come some of the short coming of none professional installations that uses single radio repeater.

I.e., instead of putting one Wireless unit doing WDS you put one unit as a Bridge that receives the signal, and at the same spot a second unit configured as an Access Point and is fed via a short cable from the Brdige.

By doing so a successive chain of HotSpot can be created without loosing half of the bandwidth at each point.

P.S. I think that http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/ is a Mexican vendor. That is why they can "indulge" themselves selling some stuff that might not be within the FCC guidelines for Wireless in the USA.


😎
 
Are the units all on the same electrical breaker box, or on a main breaker box, with daughter boxes in each unit? If so you could consider trying powerline networking. You could buy a pair of Powerline AV (200 Mbps) units for less than a hundred bux. If they don't work, return them. If they work, then great. However, you might only get slow speeds out of them, but then again, that's as fast as WDS 802.11n, and it might be more stable. Alternatively, you can use them as a pseudo-wired backbone for your access points.
 
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They are not concerned about speeds, they are concerned about getting a sustainable signal. I've also noticed, if someone is downloading, it gets pretty sluggish, but that's the nature of WDS.

I have 2 powerline adapters for my condo already, which work great.

The router is in my unit, and the other routers/ap/bridges would go out into the hallways, which is on another breaker box ... how bad would it be you think? Could it even jump breaker box's like that?
 
Depends on the wiring and the layout.

In my house I have a main breaker box and then a daughter breaker box in a new addition. I had my powerline setup this way:

Home office powerline adapter ---> Circuit to main breaker box ---> Connection to daughter breaker box ---> Circuit to home theatre room powerline adapter.

So in my setup it is in fact going through two breaker boxes. Actually if you read the instructions they often tell you that you need to set the password, because otherwise a neighbour in the same building could suddenly have access to your internal powerline network if they buy the same adapter with the same default password.

Worked great. I would average around 20-35 Mbps, although the speeds fluctuated wildly. Sometimes it would drop below 10 Mbps which meant streaming HD was sometimes problematic, but for internet access it was perfect. Consistent speeds all the time (considering my DSL pipe is only 3 Mbps).

Since you already have the powerline adapters, why don't you just give it a try?
 
Just a word of caution with powerline networking. They only work properly on single phase electrical installations.

A 12 unit building is likely to have 3 phase power. Powerline networking signals generally stay on the same phase - so if you have one powerline adaptor on phase A, a 2nd adaptor in the building fed from the same panel, but on phase B, it may not pick up the signal. Certainly in my small block of 6 units, the electrical services are arranged 2 units per phase.
 
I used the Netgear Powerline HD stuff, which is similar to your Powerline AV stuff (same speed), but uses a different (and incompatible) chipset. I had as many as 5 running all at once. As long as the password is the same for all of them, they'll work fine together. In your case, all of the units need to be the Powerline AV type, and it would be easier to manage if they're all the same brand.

To change the password, you will need to run their Windows software, with a computer connected directly to a unit. You change the password inside the software.

BTW, even if you don't use these to span your network into the hall, you should change the password. While Powerline networking in general isn't very common, as far as powerline networking goes, these Netgear adapters are amongst the most common.

P.S. I was actually using these to provide a wired backbone to my wireless network, so I wouldn't have to futz around with flaky consumer WDS networks. Worked well, but I have since added wired Gigabit Ethernet for consistent HD H.264 streaming.

Mark R said:
Just a word of caution with powerline networking. They only work properly on single phase electrical installations.

A 12 unit building is likely to have 3 phase power. Powerline networking signals generally stay on the same phase - so if you have one powerline adaptor on phase A, a 2nd adaptor in the building fed from the same panel, but on phase B, it may not pick up the signal. Certainly in my small block of 6 units, the electrical services are arranged 2 units per phase.
Click to expand...
Good to know. Nonetheless, he can give it a shot since he already has the adapters.

I would suggest testing multiple different plugs in the hallway to see if any work. If one does work, in the very least it could mean he's just that little bit closer to the rest of the building with the wireless access point he attaches to it.
 
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Mark R said:
Just a word of caution with powerline networking. They only work properly on single phase electrical installations.

A 12 unit building is likely to have 3 phase power. Powerline networking signals generally stay on the same phase - so if you have one powerline adaptor on phase A, a 2nd adaptor in the building fed from the same panel, but on phase B, it may not pick up the signal. Certainly in my small block of 6 units, the electrical services are arranged 2 units per phase.
Click to expand...

I am unsure about if we're 1,2, or 3 phase. Is there an easy way to check? We have 12 circuit boxes + 1 for the complex, + 1 HUGE breaker box for the entire building.

Are those phased then?
 
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