Wireless Access Point

[hampy]

Hi all, Fitted a Buffalo G 54 yesterday to increase my wireless range, which it does, however the unit intermittently ( about every 3 mins ) goes into diagnostics and drops my internet connection. after about 10 secs it resets and reconnects.
Anyone any ideas, or have I just bought a faulty unit.
Thanks,
hampy

 

[JonnyT]

Is there a firmware update available for it?

Fail to see how a 54 Meg unit will increase your range, they actually reduce it...

The bigger the bandwidth the smaller the range. Thats how the standard works.

What they do do is drop the bandwidth as the signal quality reduces.

After testing many units I have found that Cisco kit has a range around 1/3 better than other manufactures and a throughput generally 50% greater...

Remeber the power output is the same for all these units.

JonnyT

 

[TheBramble]

JT - I'm using a BT Voyager 2000 myself and the range specified (indoors) of 50m is an absolute joke. Seems BT expect most locations to have completely unsupported ceilings in order to meet that criteria.

Do you know any way of boosting these specific devices?

You have a range of 11 frequencies to use, but there's not alot in them, so even dropping to the lowest freq. (longest range) wouldn't make a scrap of difference.

 

[jklondon]

try switching down to 11meg and change the channel.

 

[TheBramble]

Don't know what you mean.

The 11 channels switch me through a range of 2412-2472 Mhz.

What do you mean 11 Meg?

 

[JonnyT]

The range depends on how good the electronics and software are as on the Wireless devices as the power output is limited by law.

You might find that manually choosing a channel might help.

However I maintain that if you want range then buy Cisco Access points and cards for your PC's.

Cost a lot more but then so does a Porsche compared to a mini.

JonnyT

 

[hampy]

Thx for the reply's. I'm only looking for about an extra 10 m to reach the extension. I suspect the unit may be faulty so getting a replacement tomorrow.
cheers,
hampy

 

[wysinawyg]

JonnyT,

If you add another WAP does it act as a repeater? i.e. could you chain them together to increase range?

wysi

 

[Glenn]

Out of curiosity, what kind of working range are people experiencing, indoors and outdoors ?
I'm thinking of a wireless lan in the house to avoid cabling up to the kids bedrooms.
Glenn

 

[madasafish]

I have a Belkin wirless router attached to my PC on the ground floor. My son's PC is in his bedroom upstairs: about 7 meters away: through a stone wall, up the stairs and through a bedroom door.
Walls are about 1 metre thick stone.

Reecption is OK after we placed wireless receiver on top of wardrobe and fiddled with antennae to improve signal. Not tried anywhere else but suspect the wall thickness would mean not much more range possible in this house.

Stone is millstone grit with varying hardness and quartz inclusions if you are intererested Stairs are wooden.

 

[TheBramble]

Out of curiosity, what kind of working range are people experiencing, indoors and outdoors ?
I'm thinking of a wireless lan in the house to avoid cabling up to the kids bedrooms.
Glenn

BT Voyager 2000 hub with USB 1010/1020 on the desktops/laptops.

Specified range 50m indoors/ 250m outdoors. Rubbish!!!

More than one internal wall - forget it.

Take the laptop out on the patio (about 20m from router - one internal and one external wall - NADA!

Be good to find a site that provided comparative and user tested' values for the various wireless devices.

Mind you, I've heard 'wireless Ian' is quite good...but I wouldn't leave hom alone with the kids.

 

[JonnyT]

Yes some Wireless Access Points will act as repeaters i.e. No Ethernet connection. Some won't.

Cisco does, most cheap stuff doesn't, some that say they do don't!!!

JonnyT

 

[Glenn]

Thanks Mike/Tony
Should be ok here then, there's pretty well a line of sight from my study up to the two boys rooms, so only their doors to get through.

Another thought in the event of problems; someone I know has poor Mobile reception at home and so connects his mobile to a longer aerial. Maybe that would help with a wireless lan too ?

Glenn

 

[JonnyT]

You have to be carefall as power output is regulated by law.

If you then install a higher gain antenae then you probably are breaking the law for transmit power...

You can of course use a directional antenae and point it towards were you want to be.

Being serious the toilet roll carboard over the antenae or PCMIA card does exactly that!

JonnyT

 

[Glenn]

Hi Paul
"If you then install a higher gain antenae then you probably are breaking the law for transmit power..."

How about a bigger aerial at the receiving end ?

Glenn

 

[madasafish]

a word of warning: too high a transmission power means unless you have built in encoding:
1. another person outside your house can read your signals
or
2. use your ISP to send and receive information.

Done a lot in US cities I believe with a laptop

 

[JonnyT]

The same aerial is used to transmitt and recieve.

Providing you use the latest security measures then no one should be able to listen in. Its no really a major problem for individuals.

Afraid to say Cisco is the best for this!

JonnyT

 

[thereheis]

try changing the channels - i get 2 or 3 times the range on channel 7!

 

[JonnyT]

Yes I've aready suggested that little trick earlier.

It does depend if you have people using wireless near you.

JonnyT

 

[dougal4]

Voyager 2000

BT VOYAGER 2000 EXTEND RANGE REPEATER SIGNAL BOOST STRENGTH


Sorry. All that was for Google's benefit. I've had a epic struggle trying to sort out my parents Voyager 2000, because they live in a big old house with stupidly thick walls, and the range of the thing is frankly lousy. If you haven't already bought one, don't. If you have, read on.

There is no available repeater that works with a Voyager 2000. BT claim that any 802.11b one will work, but refuse to name particular products for some legal reason. Regardless, they are wrong. The thing is a heap of crap.

However, if you are stuck with one, and need to boost range, do what I did:

1. Buy 2 D-Link DWL 700AP Access points. Shop around. You can get them for around £35 in the UK these days.

2. Set up one to work as an access point. Give it the same ID as your Voyager 2000. Connect the two through a LAN cable.

3. Set up the second to work as a repeater. It will thus be repeating the other 700AP, not the Voyager bag of ****, and the problem is solved. From then on, you can add as many other repeaters as you like, at a modest cost of £35ish a time.

It took me a while to sort this all out, but it shouldn't have done - I'm just a novice, but a determined one. You may need to spend a while positioning the various devices correctly, but you will get there. My parents now have a consistent, strong signal everywhere in their house. From where I type this, I am on the other side of two 3-ft thick stone walls. Whatever the dimensions of your house, it can be done.

g'luck.

d.

JT - I'm using a BT Voyager 2000 myself and the range specified (indoors) of 50m is an absolute joke. Seems BT expect most locations to have completely unsupported ceilings in order to meet that criteria.

Do you know any way of boosting these specific devices?

You have a range of 11 frequencies to use, but there's not alot in them, so even dropping to the lowest freq. (longest range) wouldn't make a scrap of difference.