Need help with wireless networking

[thenew3]

I am picking some brains here and see what you all can suggest.

I seem to have problem getting reliable wireless connection in my house.

I've tried a dozen different 802.11g routers/access points. I've also tested 2 802.11n access points.

In my master bedroom I can hardly get any signal strength.

Even with my latest laptop with the intel 5300 N card with 3x3 antenna, I can not establish a reliable connection.

There is only 1 other AP in the area and it is pretty weak (about 10 to 20% signal strength from within my house). so I don't think it is causing that much interference.

My house is only 2400 sqft. I've used my laptop at a work site with a single 802.11n AP and I was able to maintain connection throughout the entire 20000 sqft building. (even in a lead sealed xray room).

So besides buying an $800 cisco 802.11n AP, what else can I try to get better coverage at home?

I can spend about $100 max if it will work.

Thanks!

 

[spidey07]

That wreaks of noise and interference. There are many other things that could cause interference/noise so keep these away from the AP and client - microwave ovens, phones, bluetooth or other 2.4 Ghz wireless devices like web cameras, etc. Also change channels to 1, 6 or 11 to see works best. See the sticky as well on antennas.

You could try 5 Ghz 802.11a or non-standard pre-draft 802.11n stuff that works in 5 Ghz.

 

[thenew3]

Thanks for the response.

I've tried all 11 channels, doesn't seem to make any difference. No other known device in the 2.4ghz band deployed in the area. (there may be unknown devices) I've even made my wife stop using the microwave oven.

I tried some 2db and 3db gain antennas and they did not make a difference.

I think I may need to find an AP that allows me to adjust output power. The cisco 802.11n AP at the work site was set to max power (1 watt), I think most home/consumer AP only has 0.1 watt.

 

[JackMDS]

There is No magic Wireless thagt one unit covers evry thing.

Wireless was Not designed to work this way.

The general approach that I take for Coverage issues is the following.

The best way is to lay few CAT6 cables to central locations in the house, install Access Points, or Cable/DSL Routers configured as an Access Points ( Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point ), and connect them to the Main Router.

You do not want/can not/hate/your client hate to lay Cables.

You start with One affordable Router that can Do WDS (the reason for the WDS support is in case you need to add more Wireless hardware).

If you are lucky and your environment is conducive to get covered with one Wireless Router you are done.

Routers that can do WDS as is are old by (Zyxel, SMC, Belkin, and some others have models that do WDS as is out of the Box ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...ss_Distribution_System ).

Linksys WRT54GL, and Asus, 520GU can do WDS when flashed with DD-WRT firmware ( http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page ).

Using a Laptop loaded with Netstumbler, do a Wireless survey in the house, http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/

According to the Netstumbler's signal strength reading, identify spots that have strong signal. and spot with weak, or No signal.

Evaluate how you can cover the space and start placing WDS units.

Additional Wireless Routers in WDS Mode (Wireless Network - Configuration Modes. ) has to be placed in spots were the signal is good about Half way to the dead spots.

How many WDS units are needed? It depends on your specific environment (that is a good the reason to buying WDS units one at the time, try it, and decide on the Next step).

Otherwise.

Extending Distance - http://www.ezlan.net/Distance.html

Wireless Router as an AP - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Wireless Modes - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Modes.html

Wireless Bridging - http://www.ezlan.net/bridging.html

Hi Gain Antenna - http://www.ezlan.net/antennae.html

 

[spidey07]

If they are running that AP at 1 watt with an omni the FCC needs to give them a smack down.

It's not the power output. It's the signal to noise. What you describe is a very noisy envionment. Can you describe your environment? House? Distance from other dwellings? Any commercial buildings in your area? There are wireless systems that view you as a threat and will take countermeasures.

 

[thenew3]

the network guys at my work place has all of their cisco AP's cranked to 1 watt (or so they claim).

The environment at home is not too bad for wireless (I don't think). There are houses all around me. In front and back they are about 80 to 100 ft away, on the sides they are about 30 to 40 ft away from me.

Running netstumbler on my laptop with the intel 5300 card found only 1 other wireless network and it was very weak.

Most of the places around my house I can get 80% signal strength, but in the master bed it drops to about 20% or less and frequently drop connection.

No other devices I own are in the 2.4ghz band. bluetooth is turned off on my cell phone. Only thing is microwave but like I said in a previous post, I made my wife stop using it until we can get this wireless issue fixed.

most of the wireless AP's I see are about 12db transmit power. I do see a orinoco that has 19.5db of transmit power but it is $700. Just can't afford that for home use. (I might as well get the cisco 1 watt AP, they go for about $700 to $800, if I could afford it).

 

[JackMDS]

I would not let my next door neighbor run 1W AP in a middle of a residential area.

thenew3, FWIW .1W is 100 mW regular entry level Wireless Router transmit at about 33mW.

With a little work and straight thinking you probably can cover the whole house with two of these.

Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833162134

 

[thenew3]

Thanks for the input. I guess I was not very clear. I said the network guys at work are running their cisco AP's at 1 watt. I do not think any of my neighbors are running anything at 1 watt. (only 1 neighbor has a wireless network that I can detect from my home).

I would like to find a 802.11n access point that can output more than 0.1 watt that does not cost more than about $100. thanks!

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: thenew3
the network guys at my work place has all of their cisco AP's cranked to 1 watt (or so they claim).

The environment at home is not too bad for wireless (I don't think). There are houses all around me. In front and back they are about 80 to 100 ft away, on the sides they are about 30 to 40 ft away from me.

Running netstumbler on my laptop with the intel 5300 card found only 1 other wireless network and it was very weak.

Most of the places around my house I can get 80% signal strength, but in the master bed it drops to about 20% or less and frequently drop connection.

No other devices I own are in the 2.4ghz band. bluetooth is turned off on my cell phone. Only thing is microwave but like I said in a previous post, I made my wife stop using it until we can get this wireless issue fixed.

most of the wireless AP's I see are about 12db transmit power. I do see a orinoco that has 19.5db of transmit power but it is $700. Just can't afford that for home use. (I might as well get the cisco 1 watt AP, they go for about $700 to $800, if I could afford it).

THANK YOU! That's the magic bullet - it's one area that has problems. If that is the case then you just need to relocate your AP and try to keep dense material out of the way. With that one point it seems you have some noise, but managable. Simply relocating the AP to remove physical barriers will go a long way.

And if guy at work is doing that he needs to stop.

 

[wlee]

You didn't mention the construction of your house. If it's one of those old houses that has chicken wire and plaster/concrete walls, then forget about WiFi range. WDS will prob not work in this situation either.

It's not as "clean" with the hand-off as WDS,( statefull TCP connections will break ) but as an alternative, you could use a powerline ethernet bridge kit to connect your primary router/access point to another access point in the area you are having signal loss. Just make them the same SSID and encryption, but diff channels. How well your laptop "roams" depends on the AP's you use and the WiFi chipset/driver in your computer. AFAIK, the cell phone type roaming between AP is not yet an official part of the "G" or "N" standard.

 

[imported_hopeless]

Originally posted by: thenew3
Thanks for the input. I guess I was not very clear. I said the network guys at work are running their cisco AP's at 1 watt. I do not think any of my neighbors are running anything at 1 watt. (only 1 neighbor has a wireless network that I can detect from my home).

I would like to find a 802.11n access point that can output more than 0.1 watt that does not cost more than about $100. thanks!

Keep in mind that wireless is two way. Increasing the output of the AP only helps one way. Doing so could make it were your laptap could "hear" the AP better, but your AP still needs to be able to "hear" your laptop.

 

[thenew3]

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up getting a refurb Linksys N AP that is DD-WRT compatible and am running it at 250mw (max dd-wrt will allow).

now getting about 60 to 80% signal in the master bedroom with both and intel 5300 and intel 4965agn card on the N band (currently only 2.4ghz due to limitation of the Linksys AP)

Will have to find one of them AP that can run 5ghz and 2.4ghz N bands simultaneously to try out.

And the house is a 5 year old house. But I found out from the builder that the room between the master bed room and the rest of the house is what they call a "SAFE" room.
From what he tells me, its built as a place to safely hide during hurricanes and tornado's we get here in texas often. Maybe there is some special material in those walls that makes it safer and blocks wifi signals.

thanks!