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Wireless line-of-sight problems, help

Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
So I built a machine for someone, and part of it is wireless networking. At my home, I can get a half-way decent signal from 30+ feet away, through several walls (WRT54GC, Zonet Ralink card). However, at the client's house, this is not the case! OTOH, here, it's only going through wood, basically.

The PC is in a corner, and around another corner in where the router is, connected to another PC and DSL modem. Going around the corner is the difference between a very good signal, and nothing (about 3 feet, but in the 'good signal' area, anyone could just step on it 🙂). Here's a diagram.

I'm thinking something like this, mounted around the wall near the router (which does not have an external antenna), would be a good solution.

Anyone have any advice, in general?
Is the router's internal antenna just not up to the task (IE, is it not coincedence the other WRT54s are $10-$20 more, with antennae)?
Should this solution work, just adding an antenna and moving it closer to line-of-sight (note that the PC itself is just as much of a problem--moving it out from the corner a bit helps the reception)?
If not, would two antennae work well (one mounted a bit away from the PC, one a bit away from the router), or would that be overkill (and more crap to look at--a mess!)?

Lastly, is there a better place to look than Newegg, especially for cheaper directional antennae?
 
Would a hi-gain antenna help significantly, or would a repeater work better? I've not seen any trouble like this before. The router/repeater and nice antenna (since this router has no external antenna at all) are both about the same as far as cost.

Distance is not at all an issue (it's just over 20ft, B is plenty fast enough, and it works great w/ a line-of-sight). A repeater could work, but would that help enough w/o extra antennae? It would need to be installed in some out-of-the-way place, visually, so probably wouldn't be ideal (but could offer good line-of-sight to both, I guess).

I really don't know which would be a better solution. The antenna means no more 'real' parts added to the system, but may not make it work (let's assume a nice hi-gain directional antenna on at least one end, not the omni that I linked). The repeater solution adds more stuff, and may or may not work physically and aesthetically--it has to go somewhere around a wall with pictures on it to have LOS to both ends.
 
There is No way to tell unless you try, if you have a week signal may be a better Antenna would stretch it.

If positioned in a good spot, a second Router as an Access Point or a repeater for sure would help.

:sun:
 
Have you tried using different channels? 20-30ft is a very short distance. I go through 2 walls and still get 13 kb/s. Perhaps there is interference from other devices, so try different channels, namely 1, 6, 11. Also, try to position the router and the antenna of the remote PC (if possible) away from other electronic devices, including the computer. This will also reduce interference.

Another possible reason for the poor signal might be the angles of the walls (relative to the router). According to your diagram, the signal would have to travel diagonally through the width of the wall, making the apparent thinkness of the drywall/studs bigger. Would it be possible to position the router/computer elsewhere to minimize this effect? The wireless network probably has some dead spots, and the remote computer happens to be in one of them.
 
Tried channels, moved around and disconnected cordless phones, and working the antenna of the PC.

Angles makes a lot of sense. Here when I tried it, it may have had to go through more walls, but it would have been normal to all of them.

Unfortunately, I know of no way to move either computer (one is beside a hutch/desk, one is under a desk with lots of stuff it needs plugged in). I also can't think of a way to move the router into a space to have LoS to both PCs and keep it from being an unsightly mess (with the DSL modem having to be attached, anyway). I've thought of going with giving both PCs wireless, with the router elsewhere, but then that means the DSL modem has to move with it (the router is small enough to stick about anywhere, I think, but not the DSL modem--also, I don't think the walls in that area have phone jacks).

Thanks so far, guys.
 
What about using a USB wireless connection for the remote machine? You can use a long (10'-16') USB cable (or extension cable) to position the USB adapter in a better spot.

You can reposition the router without having to move the DSL modem if you use a PC as the gateway. Plug the modem into one of the PCs and install a second wireless network card. Next, use the internet connection sharing feature built into Windows to share internet access through the wireless card. This makes the PC into the router. The wireless router would not be connected to anything, just sitting by itself. Its routing capability would not be used, and it would just act as a wireless access point. The biggest problem with this setup is that the remote PC becomes dependant on the other one, ie. the gateway machine will have to be turned on and restarting will interrupt service.

A pricier solution, but less troublesome, would be to use two wireless routers acting together (similar idea to the one you mentioned using two wireless network cards). Connect one of the PCs and the modem to one of the routers so that it acts as the internet gateway. The other router should be placed somewhere between the two machines. Next, the routers need to communicate with one another. There are two ways to do this, WDS and bridge mode. WDS is a protocal that can allow multiple wireless access points to appear as a single one whose range is that of their union (unfortunately, the bandwidth is reduced in half). Bridging is a bit more complicated, where the gateway router acts as a wireless client connecting the wired and wireless networks together. Bridging might be a little faster than WDS. Not all wireless routers support WDS or bridging. The WRT54GS support WDS, and the WRT54G can do both WDS and wireless bridging if you upgrade it with third-party firmware. I think some of SMC and D-Link routers also support WDS.

Btw, as already mentioned, the effectiveness of antennas are hard to say, but I've heard that omnidirectional antennas (like the one you've listed) are less effective than directional ones.
 
Originally posted by: mjia
What about using a USB wireless connection for the remote machine? You can use a long (10'-16') USB cable (or extension cable) to position the USB adapter in a better spot.
Click to expand...
...that was the point of the antenna, to move it 🙂. However, with a longer one, I might be able to do it.

I'll look into the other 2/3 options.

 
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