Can I get a wider wireless range?

[NeilBlue]

Hello

I have a netgear access point and a netgear PCMCIA card. They work, but not over both floors of my house. I would like to increase the quality of the signal between the top and bottom floors of my house. Does anyone know if I can do this by adding a second access point on the middle, floor?

cheers
Neil

[Dracnor]

Assuming that the NetGear Access Points support wireless roaming (hopping across subnets even), you should be able to add an additional access point in a different location on a different channel (assuming the 2.4 Ghz spectrum). You should be able to have one set to channel 1, the other set to channel 6 or above. You typically will want to keep 25 mhz. separation between channels --- that way you can overlap and never lose your connection. You may also want to consider adding an antenna (maybe 8 dBi or 13 dBi), which will give extra range for less $ than another AP. They also make a "range extender" antenna for the laptop, to it extra reception. I normally work with Avaya/Orinoco products, and they have all this functionally...not completely sure of the NetGear product line. There are some good sites that tell you how to construct your own antenna to be even more cost efficient...just search Google.

[NeilBlue]

Great,

Thanks Dracnor, just the info I have been after. One more question then please. Can I add an access point, without having a computer attached to it in order to relay the signal?

[Dracnor]

I'm not sure I totally understand your question, but...

You could add an AP on your first floor with an internal address (ex. 192.168.0.10, 255.255.255.0 mask, def. gw, etc.), and set it for Channel 1. Add the 2nd AP to the 2nd floor, with another internal address (ex. 192.168.0.11) set to channel 6. Just run two Cat 5's from the APs back to your hub or switch. Unless you want to set up a wireless bridge (not sure if NetGear supports this.) Typically bridges are more $$ because they require a license (from Orinoco anyway). You can keep adding APs as long as you keep adequate separation between channels (25 mhz. will give you full bandwidth on the 2.4 Gig spectrum of 11 mbps). Hope that answers your question. :D

[NeilBlue]

I am starting to understand this a bit better now. One of the problems is that I can't join both AP's with a Cat 5. I am using wireless as I can't connect Cat 5 between floors. I have my internet PC on the top floor with the first AP, I then want to be able to use the laptop on the bottom floor (but the signal like this is poor), so I wanted to add a stand alone AP (with no PC) to the middle floor to act as a relay for the signal.

From what you have said it sounds as if this won't work though.

[thread_killer]

Take a couple of "C" cell batteries, these are 50 ohm resisitors. Hammer a 16 penny nail halfway into each end (careful not to hurt yourself! Batteries aren't designed for putting nails into. Please follow all warnings, cautions and notes) Take electrical grounding wire and wrap it around one nail in one of your batteries........


Ok, I won't really tell you how to rig up an antenna, but seriously, you might be able to put an amp on your WAP to increase signal strength enabling you to reach the ground floor. Be very careful with amps though, they insert noise into the signal, and the closer your signal to noise ratio gets to 1:1 the worse everything is going to be. Check with your vendor to see if they have something to "give it more juice".

[NeilBlue]

I have found a couple of bits of kit that I think will do the job:

http://www.themindlab.com/previews/dsldsl/xi2000.htm
http://www.themindlab.com/previews/dsldsl/xi3000.htm

at this site

http://www.themindlab.com/previews/dsldsl/wirelessmodule.htm

Do I need a repeater or a router to relay the signal?

Cheers
Neil

[Dracnor]

Those look like very cool APs. I know that Cisco has an Aironet series that will do exactly what you are looking for. They have repeaters that will just take the signal from the one AP and hop it to the other wireless nodes (such as laptop, PDA, etc.). Are you planning to take your NetGear AP and use it in conjunction with the DSLDSL product? I'm not sure if that will work.

As far as amplification goes, I've found that it works really well. They are somewhat expensive, but they definitely improve range, and noise usually isn't a problem. They're probably less expensive than an AP (depending on brand of AP), so you might want to go that route. I think a 100 mW amplifier and an antenna would probably do the trick.

[NeilBlue]

Thanks,

I'm not using DSLDSL, I can't get a DSL line where I am, I just found them on that page after a search. I will try one out then.

Neil