I often use my laptop in the shop (OBWW).
I was using a Netgear router and had indifferent connectivity in the
shop. The shop is about fifty feet on line of sight from the router
and is at a point at about forty five degrees down from the router's
position on the third floor of the house.
The signal must pass through a sliding glass door and the roof of the
shop, which is insulated with R-19 fluff (6 inches) and is further
composed of composite shingles and 5/8" decking.
We gave our daughter a Macbook for her birthday on the 23d.
I was against her joining Mac cult - but there it is.
It did not play well with the Netgear router.
I purchased a Linksys WRT160N router and five out of our six boxes
hooked up happily (including the Mac) - leaving only a Win95 era
laptop, whose USB adapter did not speak the current encryption (WPA2)
- no great loss.
I semi justified the purchase by assuming that the alleged increase in
range for the N router would mean that I would not have to be so fussy
about my positioning the laptop out in the shop.
Not so.
Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
the router signal?
All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
Tom Watson
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet
www.home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
Tom Watson <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
*snip*
>
> Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
> wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
> the router signal?
>
> All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
>
> tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
You'll never get away from the need for a decent antenna for good signal
strength. However, some routers (with third party firmware such as DD-
WRT) can have their signal power turned up so your current antenna
transfers the signal farther.
Bigger antennas are available, but usually not cheap. However, Fry's
Electronics sells some for less than $10 that do a decent job. For
hotels, I have a "game adapter" with an external antenna on it. Solves
the problem of signal strength quite nicely.
Someone's already answered your question about the N equipment, so I'm
just adding my two pennies worth. I've got a laptop with N on the way,
but that'll be my first and only 802.11N device for a while yet. (Not
ready to give up my WRT54GL.)
Puckdropper
--
You can only do so much with caulk, cardboard, and duct tape.
To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm
Well, there's one thing you can do that's fairly cheap. And that's
build this reflector
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/index.html
Since you're using this in a house which I assume has more than one
computer in it. I would suggest using the refector only on the
computers and not the wireless hub that you have connected to your
router. Course this doesn't apply to the computer you have sitting
next to the hub just plug it straight into one of the wired ports.
On Thu, 01 May 2008 21:02:33 -0700, Mark & Juanita
<[email protected]> wrote:
> I have a similar problem as the OP. We can't get our wireless G to reach
>across three rooms (office, through living room to breakfast area), a
>distance of about 40 feet. Since replacing the Linksys router with a Time
>Capsule, I haven't checked to see if the new router works better yet.
You need wireless N on both ends of the connection to gain any benefits.
Some extended range antennas would help too. In my opinion the B and G
working range is a joke. I can't even make it work inside from one end of my
house to the other. N is the first one to really be useable, but like I
said, you need N at both ends of the wireless connection for it to work
right. Having it on only one end doesn't buy you anything, but having N on
your router will probably make all your neighbors very happy if you haven't
made your network secure. You need a firewall too. Your neighbors be able to
connect much more easily to your internet connection, and your personal data
too if you haven't set it up with good security and a firewall to keep them
out.
Charley
"Tom Watson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I often use my laptop in the shop (OBWW).
>
> I was using a Netgear router and had indifferent connectivity in the
> shop. The shop is about fifty feet on line of sight from the router
> and is at a point at about forty five degrees down from the router's
> position on the third floor of the house.
>
> The signal must pass through a sliding glass door and the roof of the
> shop, which is insulated with R-19 fluff (6 inches) and is further
> composed of composite shingles and 5/8" decking.
>
> We gave our daughter a Macbook for her birthday on the 23d.
>
> I was against her joining Mac cult - but there it is.
>
> It did not play well with the Netgear router.
>
> I purchased a Linksys WRT160N router and five out of our six boxes
> hooked up happily (including the Mac) - leaving only a Win95 era
> laptop, whose USB adapter did not speak the current encryption (WPA2)
> - no great loss.
>
> I semi justified the purchase by assuming that the alleged increase in
> range for the N router would mean that I would not have to be so fussy
> about my positioning the laptop out in the shop.
>
> Not so.
>
> Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
> wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
> the router signal?
>
> All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
>
>
>
> tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
>
>
>
> Tom Watson
> tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet
> www.home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:20:51 -0600, Han wrote
(in article <[email protected]>):
> Tom Watson <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> Thanks to those who responded.
>>
>> I picked up a wireless n adapter for the laptop that I use in the shop
>> and the range and throughput are greatly enhanced.
>>
>> This really is much better than the g ever was.
>>
>> Thanks again.
>>
>
> That's valuable info, Tom! Thanks.
>
>
Cantenna:
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
-Bruce
"Andrew Barss" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Charley <[email protected]> wrote:
> : You need wireless N on both ends of the connection to gain any benefits.
> : Some extended range antennas would help too. In my opinion the B and G
> : working range is a joke. I can't even make it work inside from one end
of my
> : house to the other.
>
> How big is that house of yours?
>
>
> -- Andy Barss
Sorry Andy,
I didn't use enough words to fully explain my range problems. My house is
all brick and about 150' long. With a wireless G setup, when I got past
about 60' from the router it started getting very spotty, requiring my
laptop to be held in just the right position for it to work. Sitting in my
favorite living room chair and using the laptop required me to turn
sideways, holding the laptop about 45 degrees from the normal sitting
position to get enough signal for me to be able to access the internet, and
this is where I wanted to be able to use it the most. The transfer rate fell
off rather quickly as I moved away from the router, making a good and
reliably fast data rate connection impossible at more than about 30'. Trying
other locations in the house for the router, and adding range extenders
helped in some areas, but made others worse. The big antennas helped and
made the wireless G system useable in almost the whole house, but switching
to N made all the difference in the world. I can now get a good solid
connection just about anywhere in the house, outside on the patio, or in my
shop, except for one place. When I go on the opposite side of a large brick
fireplace at one end of the house (there must be a lot of metal in it) the
connection is still useable here , but at about 1/2 data rate. It now even
works from down by the lake (about 300'), but it's quite unreliable from
there and I can't always get a connection of any quality (never expected
to-but it would have been nice).
If you go with a wireless N router, make sure you encrypt it and install a
firewall. The whole neighborhood will be on it otherwise.
Charley
"Upscale" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > Hey people I need some help. I have telstra bigpond adsl connection. I
> > was wondering because i want to go wireless, do i have to use the
> > wireless routers telstra are introducing? the gateways as they call
> > them? because its 250 bucks and i was wondering if i can just use any
> > wireless router around to share my internet connections and stuff. any
> > advice please??
>
> You can use whatever wireless router you want. The wireless signal
bouncing
> around your place will have absolutely nothing to do with the adsl signal
> that's going through your phone lines.
>
>
But don't get the idea that you will be able to go anywhere in town and
still have a wireless connection between your PC and your router. At best
you will be limited to less than about 300 feet (100 meters) distance from
it. You can sometimes discover areas around town where others have not
secured their wireless connections, and if you hang around within range of
their homes/businesses you can have internet access through their router,
but most smart users set up their connections with security passwords to
keep others like you and me out. These wireless connections work on
different frequencies from other types of wireless
so you will only connect with PCs and routers using this.
Charley
Puckdropper wrote:
> Tom Watson <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
> *snip*
>
>> Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
>> wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
>> the router signal?
>>
>> All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
>>
>> tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
>
> You'll never get away from the need for a decent antenna for good signal
> strength. However, some routers (with third party firmware such as DD-
> WRT) can have their signal power turned up so your current antenna
> transfers the signal farther.
DD-WRT states that you might not want to go much higher the 70mw
transmit power or you might considerably shorten the life of the
transmit hardware. I think 28mw is standard.
On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:27:39 -0400, "Charley" <[email protected]> wrote:
>In my opinion the B and G
>working range is a joke. I can't even make it work inside from one end of my
>house to the other. N is the first one to really be useable, but like I
>said, you need N at both ends of the wireless connection for it to work
>right. Having it on only one end doesn't buy you anything, but having N on
>your router will probably make all your neighbors very happy if you haven't
>made your network secure. You need a firewall too. Your neighbors be able to
>connect much more easily to your internet connection, and your personal data
>too if you haven't set it up with good security and a firewall to keep them
>out.
We use the "G" and are pretty happy with it..
Our house is concrete block with lots of re-bar in the walls and we still use
the notebook computers in the shop, which is in the other end of the house..
We share our Satellite internet with our friends next door and they do fine, if
you can call our connection fine (even on our desktop units with hard wire),
unless we forget and park my truck in between the houses..
Being cheap, we gave them the firewall and router passwords in exchange for them
paying 1/2 of the $60 a month for access..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
On May 2, 9:01 pm, Mark & Juanita <[email protected]> wrote:
> Upscale wrote:
>
> > "Mark & Juanita" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >> I have a similar problem as the OP. We can't get ourwirelessG to
> > reach
> >> across three rooms (office, through living room to breakfast area), a
> >> distance of about 40 feet.
>
> > Possibly some type of interference, wiring in walls, etc?
>
> I suppose that's possible, but we have a conventional drywall and 2 x 4
> construction.
>
> --
> If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough
Hey people I need some help. I have telstra bigpond adsl connection. I
was wondering because i want to go wireless, do i have to use the
wireless routers telstra are introducing? the gateways as they call
them? because its 250 bucks and i was wondering if i can just use any
wireless router around to share my internet connections and stuff. any
advice please??
On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:59:36 -0400, Tom Watson <[email protected]>
wrote:
>I often use my laptop in the shop (OBWW).
>
>I was using a Netgear router and had indifferent connectivity in the
>shop. The shop is about fifty feet on line of sight from the router
>and is at a point at about forty five degrees down from the router's
>position on the third floor of the house.
>
>The signal must pass through a sliding glass door and the roof of the
>shop, which is insulated with R-19 fluff (6 inches) and is further
>composed of composite shingles and 5/8" decking.
>
>We gave our daughter a Macbook for her birthday on the 23d.
>
>I was against her joining Mac cult - but there it is.
>
>It did not play well with the Netgear router.
>
>I purchased a Linksys WRT160N router and five out of our six boxes
>hooked up happily (including the Mac) - leaving only a Win95 era
>laptop, whose USB adapter did not speak the current encryption (WPA2)
>- no great loss.
>
>I semi justified the purchase by assuming that the alleged increase in
>range for the N router would mean that I would not have to be so fussy
>about my positioning the laptop out in the shop.
>
>Not so.
>
>Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
>wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
>the router signal?
>
>All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
>
>
>
>tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
>
>
>
>Tom Watson
>tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet
>www.home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
Thanks to those who responded.
I picked up a wireless n adapter for the laptop that I use in the shop
and the range and throughput are greatly enhanced.
This really is much better than the g ever was.
Thanks again.
Tom Watson
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet
www.home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
Andrew Barss wrote:
> Charley <[email protected]> wrote:
> : You need wireless N on both ends of the connection to gain any benefits.
> : Some extended range antennas would help too. In my opinion the B and G
> : working range is a joke. I can't even make it work inside from one end
> : of my house to the other.
>
> I have a Linksys wireless-G router (with extended range built in), and I
> can connect a laptop to the net with it with the router in the house,
> through three double brick walls with wiring in them, to laptop in the
> backyard, about 150 feet.
>
> How big is that house of yours?
>
>
> -- Andy Barss
I have a similar problem as the OP. We can't get our wireless G to reach
across three rooms (office, through living room to breakfast area), a
distance of about 40 feet. Since replacing the Linksys router with a Time
Capsule, I haven't checked to see if the new router works better yet.
--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough
Upscale wrote:
>
> "Mark & Juanita" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> I have a similar problem as the OP. We can't get our wireless G to
> reach
>> across three rooms (office, through living room to breakfast area), a
>> distance of about 40 feet.
>
> Possibly some type of interference, wiring in walls, etc?
I suppose that's possible, but we have a conventional drywall and 2 x 4
construction.
--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough
"Tom Watson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I often use my laptop in the shop (OBWW).
>
> I was using a Netgear router and had indifferent connectivity in the
> shop. The shop is about fifty feet on line of sight from the router
> and is at a point at about forty five degrees down from the router's
> position on the third floor of the house.
>
> The signal must pass through a sliding glass door and the roof of the
> shop, which is insulated with R-19 fluff (6 inches) and is further
> composed of composite shingles and 5/8" decking.
>
> We gave our daughter a Macbook for her birthday on the 23d.
>
> I was against her joining Mac cult - but there it is.
>
> It did not play well with the Netgear router.
>
> I purchased a Linksys WRT160N router and five out of our six boxes
> hooked up happily (including the Mac) - leaving only a Win95 era
> laptop, whose USB adapter did not speak the current encryption (WPA2)
> - no great loss.
>
> I semi justified the purchase by assuming that the alleged increase in
> range for the N router would mean that I would not have to be so fussy
> about my positioning the laptop out in the shop.
>
> Not so.
>
> Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
> wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
> the router signal?
>
> All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
>
>
>
> tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
>
>
>
> Tom Watson
> tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet
> www.home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
They are still draft-N are they not? If so, I will pass.
Jim
Tom Watson <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Thanks to those who responded.
>
> I picked up a wireless n adapter for the laptop that I use in the shop
> and the range and throughput are greatly enhanced.
>
> This really is much better than the g ever was.
>
> Thanks again.
>
That's valuable info, Tom! Thanks.
--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid
<[email protected]> wrote in message
> Hey people I need some help. I have telstra bigpond adsl connection. I
> was wondering because i want to go wireless, do i have to use the
> wireless routers telstra are introducing? the gateways as they call
> them? because its 250 bucks and i was wondering if i can just use any
> wireless router around to share my internet connections and stuff. any
> advice please??
You can use whatever wireless router you want. The wireless signal bouncing
around your place will have absolutely nothing to do with the adsl signal
that's going through your phone lines.
"Mark & Juanita" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> I have a similar problem as the OP. We can't get our wireless G to
reach
> across three rooms (office, through living room to breakfast area), a
> distance of about 40 feet.
Possibly some type of interference, wiring in walls, etc?
Charley <[email protected]> wrote:
: You need wireless N on both ends of the connection to gain any benefits.
: Some extended range antennas would help too. In my opinion the B and G
: working range is a joke. I can't even make it work inside from one end of my
: house to the other.
I have a Linksys wireless-G router (with extended range built in), and I can connect
a laptop to the net with it with the router in the house, through three double brick walls
with wiring in them, to laptop in the backyard, about 150 feet.
How big is that house of yours?
-- Andy Barss
On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:35:52 -0700, "Kerry Montgomery" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>But, will a wireless router have enough power to shape hardwood molding?
>Kerry
>
Not mine, but it will let me get online in the shop to see how someone else in
the group suggests shaping it, without having to leave the shop.. ;-]
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:59:36 -0400, Tom Watson <[email protected]> wrote:
I was going to buy that same router, to replace my Linksys-g router and was told
(by a techie type working at the computer store) that unless we had "N" on our
computers, it was "backward compatible" to "G" and that's what we would (still)
have...
Bottom line in sorta English was he said that we would see no improvement with
the new router AND that it would not work with the extended range antennas that
I bought for our "G" router..
Ok, I'm out of breath now.. hope that helped a bit..
>I often use my laptop in the shop (OBWW).
>
>I was using a Netgear router and had indifferent connectivity in the
>shop. The shop is about fifty feet on line of sight from the router
>and is at a point at about forty five degrees down from the router's
>position on the third floor of the house.
>
>The signal must pass through a sliding glass door and the roof of the
>shop, which is insulated with R-19 fluff (6 inches) and is further
>composed of composite shingles and 5/8" decking.
>
>We gave our daughter a Macbook for her birthday on the 23d.
>
>I was against her joining Mac cult - but there it is.
>
>It did not play well with the Netgear router.
>
>I purchased a Linksys WRT160N router and five out of our six boxes
>hooked up happily (including the Mac) - leaving only a Win95 era
>laptop, whose USB adapter did not speak the current encryption (WPA2)
>- no great loss.
>
>I semi justified the purchase by assuming that the alleged increase in
>range for the N router would mean that I would not have to be so fussy
>about my positioning the laptop out in the shop.
>
>Not so.
>
>Here is my question - does the extended range depend on having a
>wireless N adapter on the box, or is the range simply a fucntion of
>the router signal?
>
>All of my adapters, both internal and external are B and G.
>
>
>
>tom - still barely in range in pennsyltucky.
>
>
>
>Tom Watson
>tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet
>www.home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
"mac davis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:27:39 -0400, "Charley" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>In my opinion the B and G
>>working range is a joke. I can't even make it work inside from one end of
>>my
>>house to the other. N is the first one to really be useable, but like I
>>said, you need N at both ends of the wireless connection for it to work
>>right. Having it on only one end doesn't buy you anything, but having N on
>>your router will probably make all your neighbors very happy if you
>>haven't
>>made your network secure. You need a firewall too. Your neighbors be able
>>to
>>connect much more easily to your internet connection, and your personal
>>data
>>too if you haven't set it up with good security and a firewall to keep
>>them
>>out.
>
> We use the "G" and are pretty happy with it..
>
> Our house is concrete block with lots of re-bar in the walls and we still
> use
> the notebook computers in the shop, which is in the other end of the
> house..
>
> We share our Satellite internet with our friends next door and they do
> fine, if
> you can call our connection fine (even on our desktop units with hard
> wire),
> unless we forget and park my truck in between the houses..
>
> Being cheap, we gave them the firewall and router passwords in exchange
> for them
> paying 1/2 of the $60 a month for access..
>
>
> mac
>
> Please remove splinters before emailing
But, will a wireless router have enough power to shape hardwood molding?
Kerry
[email protected] wrote:
> Well, there's one thing you can do that's fairly cheap. And that's
> build this reflector
> http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/index.html
>
Thanks-that looks like a good idea. Would have worked really well on the
D-link router, may be a bit more of a challenge on the Time Capsule.
> Since you're using this in a house which I assume has more than one
> computer in it. I would suggest using the refector only on the
> computers and not the wireless hub that you have connected to your
> router.
I think I can direct the energy in the right directions to serve all of
the computers by angling the reflector correctly.
> Course this doesn't apply to the computer you have sitting
> next to the hub just plug it straight into one of the wired ports.
>
Of course, that's been the case since installing the routers.
> On Thu, 01 May 2008 21:02:33 -0700, Mark & Juanita
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I have a similar problem as the OP. We can't get our wireless G to
>> reach
>>across three rooms (office, through living room to breakfast area), a
>>distance of about 40 feet. Since replacing the Linksys router with a Time
>>Capsule, I haven't checked to see if the new router works better yet.
--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough