Wlan-range Extender

[Samuian]

We got WLAN, sometime I can recieve a signal strong enough

to use on Skype chat and web-cam, sometimes way too weak

to even have a simple website building up.

Anyone, any experience with these things?

if so which ones would you recommend?

i would prefare anything that doesn't need a intensive

set-up procedure, anything like "PnP"...?

[mmcsusnret]

I have had good luck with using Belkin products for my laptop. One is a plug-in to a USB port which I use a USB extension cable for and hang out the window for better reception. Another is an extender/access point. Either way get the anntenae as close to line of sight to the source if you can. The 2nd example I unscrew the anntenae from the unit and use a coax cable to position the actual anntenae in the best position. Both are user friendly to install.

[Samuian]

Thanks!

Anyone seen or has experience with these "plug-em into the Plug things"?

[Crossy]

USB Wifi dongle, 5m USB extender cable and one of these http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

Job's a good un

[phazey]

If you search the forum, you'll find a thread about this. There are some links to examples and plans to make amplifiers. I did and got a link from an AP 3.5km away....

[stumonster]

it can be as simple as changing to channel 13

FCC allows channels 1 to 11

ETSI ( europe , singapore , australia ) allows channels 1-13

japan channels 1-14

most wifi units are on channel 6 by default , some will be ch 1 and some ch 11

also you may have to change your laptops location so windows will aloow the extra channels - if it is location set to an FCC it will only allow ch 1-11

look on your laptop wireless utility where it does an access point scan - note the channels other APs are on and change ours to a little used channel 2 numbers away from a much used channel.

else start experimenting with the home made ones

http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/

http://www.freeantennas.com/2400/

fun and learning

[Guest Reimar]

Follow the tip[ from phazey, he points to the right direction!

If you use Vista or Windows 7, you can use Gadgets for to show you how good the signal is. A gadget which shows the Signal strength and also Date, Time, R-Bin, HDD pp. is Technostat which I'll attach to this post. This could help you to find the best location for the computer/Antenna for to get the best signal. The Gadget is RAR compressed.

Good luck.

Technostat_v1.1.rar

[nikster]

I second Reimar, the key to extending your WiFi network in any way is to be able to measure the signal.

I used NetStumbler back when. The great thing about NetStumbler is the graph view which will show you a signal strength signal/noise ratio over time. This helped me a lot because I found that a weak connection sometimes has a strong signal but many dropouts. A usable connection didn't need a very good s/n ratio, but rather a consistent signal with no dropouts. This is what you don't get from many tools which just show you a number with the current signal/noise and the min/max.

Not sure you can change the antenna / base station but if you can, and if you just have issues with thick walls in your house, you should try a Wireless-N router first (MIMO). Most laptops can do this these days.

Otherwise a bigger antenna would be good. Dedicated range extenders would also work well.

[stumonster]

Signal strength is only a part of the equation.

because of the way the wifi protocol works , the more wifi devices on a channel ( including phones , baby minders , av extenders , leaky microwave ovens , bluetooth devices ) will effect your throughput.

a recent study in Britain showed it was mainly non-wifi devices not playing nice in the spectrum that caused the most problems.

there are a few things you can do with aftermarket firmwares on routers , like increasing your beacon rate ( decreasing interval ) to stop 2.4 GHz phone that freq hop from using your channel - short preamble - utilising frame burst

[nikster]

Signal strength is only a part of the equation.

because of the way the wifi protocol works , the more wifi devices on a channel ( including phones , baby minders , av extenders , leaky microwave ovens , bluetooth devices ) will effect your throughput.

Well tools like NetStumbler always show the signal/noise ratio, so I'd think that's already taken into account as the noise part? Not sure though.

The biggest problem are other WiFi networks on the same channel, easy to fix by setting it to another channel (the further away the better).

[namoo]

Change to a Wireless N router / access point not as acceptable to interference or signal loss due walls / floors etc. as B and G - much better signal quality and data throughput.

[stumonster]

5Ghz will not penetrate as well as 2.4Ghz

a nice beginners tutorial on wireless networking using 802.11 - detailed but helpful

http://www.telecom.otago.ac.nz/tele301/stu..._html/wifi.html

[namoo]

5Ghz will not penetrate as well as 2.4Ghz

a nice beginners tutorial on wireless networking using 802.11 - detailed but helpful

http://www.telecom.otago.ac.nz/tele301/stu..._html/wifi.html

Wireless N does give greater range in doors as it uses lots of things within the protocol even tho it is in the 5ghz range. Everyone is reporting greater range and speed increases over b and g after switching to N.

People who have not researched all elements of the draft N protocol always state decrease in range/penetration because its 5ghz as opposed to 2.4ghz this is certainly not the case with N.

"multiple transmit and receive antennas, spatial multiplexing, channel-bonded 40-MHz operation, and frame aggregation."

This link explains the Draft N protocol in further detail. N does give greater range and speed full stop.

Wireless N

Edited May 17, 2009 by namoo

[monty]

Wireless N does give greater range in doors as it uses lots of things within the protocol even tho it is in the 5ghz range. Everyone is reporting greater range and speed increases over b and g after switching to N.

People who have not researched all elements of the draft N protocol always state decrease in range/penetration because its 5ghz as opposed to 2.4ghz this is certainly not the case with N.

"multiple transmit and receive antennas, spatial multiplexing, channel-bonded 40-MHz operation, and frame aggregation."

This link explains the Draft N protocol in further detail. N does give greater range and speed full stop.

Wireless N

Wireless N standard uses 2.4 and/or 5 Ghz. Any N equipment bought in Thailand will only use the 2.4 Ghz band as the 5 Ghz is not yet licensed over here.

The older A standard uses only 5Ghz.

[namoo]

Any N equipment bought in Thailand will only use the 2.4 Ghz band as the 5 Ghz is not yet licensed over here.

Thats not the case. Dlink, linksys, netgear and Apple Time Capsule, Airport Express and Airport Extreme available in Thailand anywhere use the full range of Wireless N capabilities and are no way inhibited because of licensing issues.

I have a Apple Time Capsule and Airport Express and Linksys wireless N router all of which use the 5ghz band and all purchased in Thailand.

[Guest Reimar]

Any N equipment bought in Thailand will only use the 2.4 Ghz band as the 5 Ghz is not yet licensed over here.

Thats not the case. Dlink, linksys, netgear and Apple Time Capsule, Airport Express and Airport Extreme available in Thailand anywhere use the full range of Wireless N capabilities and are no way inhibited because of licensing issues.

I have a Apple Time Capsule and Airport Express and Linksys wireless N router all of which use the 5ghz band and all purchased in Thailand.

That's true!

But monty was telling that the use of 5 GHz isn't licensed which just means nothing else but that the use of 5 GHz is illegal! Clear spoken, the use of 5 GHz could result in legal action against the user. On the other hand the selling of the 5 GHz product's, as long as they also capable to use the 2.4 GHz, isn't prohibit in Thailand. It's up to to the user to follow the law or break it!

Cheers.

[anthos]

We got WLAN, sometime I can recieve a signal strong enough

to use on Skype chat and web-cam, sometimes way too weak

to even have a simple website building up.

Anyone, any experience with these things?

if so which ones would you recommend?

i would prefare anything that doesn't need a intensive

set-up procedure, anything like "PnP"...?

You can also try to put an additional wi fi access point in repeater mode between your computer and the router

many APs from Asus and Linxys support the repeater mode

much easier and gives you moremobility than antennas or wifi adapters on 5m cables