Sizzle! SMC Barricade Wireless Broadband Router $59 after rebate!

[joedish]

You should be able to use two of these to increase signal over different parts of the house. You will have to wire them together though on their switch ports with a crossover cable. Configure them with two different channels on the wireless side and of course set up the same SSIDs and WEP keys. I am unsure about the DHCP though. You may have to set these for different dhcp ranges, or disable one of the devices from vending IPs, and definetely set one for a different mangement IP. Static IPs, may work a little better here if you plan to roam. The laptop wireless card will typically choose to associate with the strongest signal if not, you could force them to one channel or the other.

 

[brock]

i can't even seem to get the wireless connection to work approximately 25 feet down the hall. doesn't seem right...

everything else is working fine so far. we'll see.

 

[daMachine]

Originally posted by: brock
i can't even seem to get the wireless connection to work approximately 25 feet down the hall. doesn't seem right...

everything else is working fine so far. we'll see.

Yeah, if you don't have any dense barriers (i.e. concrete walls, steel doors, etc.) between the computer and wireless router you should definately be able to hit 25 feet. I have the same router, and it gives me about 50 feet through two concrete walls, two regular walls, and some kitchen appliances. I keep the computer at about 40ft so it can usually maintain a signal, ableit a weak one. Just to see how much the concrete was messing things up, I relocated the router a bit (10 ft to the side, but no closer to the computer) to avoid the concrete walls and appliance (I did add another two "regular" walls). Well, my signal strength went way up (from 10-17% to 65%).

If you are using a low quality wireless NIC you might not be getting as stong of a signal as you could/should be. I use a SMC wireless NIC with the router, and from what I've heard they work well together (i.e. better signal strength than "other" combinations). The Onricon/Lucent wireless NICs are also highly rated and would probably be your best choice if you do have some problems with the environment.


Edit: fixed typos