Can I use an AP as a better client/receiver for my PC?

In my home I have ADSL broadband over the phone line, coming into a BT
Home Hub (DSL modem/firewall/wireless router). The wireless coverage
is not good, especially to an office where my wife's PC is located.
Moving the router is not an option. But...

My wife's PC has a little USB dongle as a WiFi client. I also have a
spare NetGear wireless access point. Would it be a good idea to
replace my wife's PC's dongle with the NetGear AP? Is it possible to
configure an AP to act as a client? How?

Thanks

Bob

bob.sather@gmail.com wrote:
> In my home I have ADSL broadband over the phone line, coming into a BT
> Home Hub (DSL modem/firewall/wireless router). The wireless coverage
> is not good, especially to an office where my wife's PC is located.
> Moving the router is not an option. But...

If you have some signal, a simple reflector on the router might make things
very good.

http://www.freeantennas.com EZ-12, printed on photo paper for thick stock,
with aluminum foil glued to the sail, provides a substantial boost in
signal. http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/EZ12-windsurfer.jpg

Make the tabs longer than the template drawing, for easier assembly.

> My wife's PC has a little USB dongle as a WiFi client. I also have a
> spare NetGear wireless access point. Would it be a good idea to
> replace my wife's PC's dongle with the NetGear AP? Is it possible to
> configure an AP to act as a client? How?

Some, what model do you have?

You can put the little dongle in a coffee can for improved performance

Bob Alston's USB coffee can
http://members.cox.net/tulsaalstons/Computer.htm
"My Tin Cantenna"

Clarence Dold's two coffee can USB picture
http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/u...42-800x600.jpg

--
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

bob.sather@gmail.com wrote:
> In my home I have ADSL broadband over the phone line, coming into a BT
> Home Hub (DSL modem/firewall/wireless router). The wireless coverage
> is not good, especially to an office where my wife's PC is located.

If I were setting things up at home again, I wouldn't have bothered with
a WiFi reflector to our "downstairs" PC; I'd have gone for Homeplug.

Chris

On Mar 12, 6:22 pm, Chris Davies <chris-use...@roaima.co.uk> wrote:
> bob.sat...@gmail.com wrote:
> > In my home I have ADSL broadband over the phone line, coming into a BT
> > Home Hub (DSL modem/firewall/wireless router). The wireless coverage
> > is not good, especially to an office where my wife's PC is located.
>
> If I were setting things up at home again, I wouldn't have bothered with
> a WiFi reflector to our "downstairs" PC; I'd have gone for Homeplug.
>
> Chris

So you are saying that you had marginal reception and the reflector
did not increase your reception? Did you aim it correctly? Or was it
zero reception before and still not enough after. Or was it an
interference problem?

Home plug is often a great solution, but a reflector is about $100
cheaper and CAN make the difference in a marginal (not impossible)
setting.

dold@59.usenet.us.com wrote:

>Clarence Dold's two coffee can USB picture
>http://www.rahul.net/dold/clarence/u...42-800x600.jpg

Is this the better way to go above since the "radio"
part is actually built into the antenna/can?

On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:59:23 -0700 (PDT), bob.sather@gmail.com wrote:

>In my home I have ADSL broadband over the phone line, coming into a BT
>Home Hub (DSL modem/firewall/wireless router). The wireless coverage
>is not good, especially to an office where my wife's PC is located.

How many walls are you going through?
What are the walls made from?
Any metal in the walls (chicken wire, foil backed insulation)?

>Moving the router is not an option.

That's what happens when you buy an all-in-one unit. If the wireless
part were seperate from the modem, it might have been possible to move
just the wireless access point section. You can still do that by
adding a 2nd wireless access point to your system. It would have the
same SSID as your existing BT Home Hub but on a different RF channel
(1, 6, or 11). CAT5 cable between the BT Home Hub and the wireless
access point completes the connection.

>My wife's PC has a little USB dongle as a WiFi client. I also have a
>spare NetGear wireless access point. Would it be a good idea to
>replace my wife's PC's dongle with the NetGear AP? Is it possible to
>configure an AP to act as a client? How?

I have no idea. You didn't bother supplying a model number. Different
products have different features. If the unspecified model Netgear
device has a client mode, it would be possible. Where it does
anything useful depends more on the distance between it and the BT
Home Hub and the number of walls you're trying to penetrate. I would
try the reflector as others have suggested before doing anything
complicated.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

On Mar 12, 6:22 pm, Chris Davies <chris-use...@roaima.co.uk> wrote:
> If I were setting things up at home again, I wouldn't have bothered with
> a WiFi reflector to our "downstairs" PC; I'd have gone for Homeplug.

seaweedsteve <seaweedsteve@gmail.com> wrote:
> So you are saying that you had marginal reception and the reflector
> did not increase your reception? Did you aim it correctly? Or was it
> zero reception before and still not enough after. Or was it an
> interference problem?

It was zero before, and it's satisfactory now. The downside is that it
required a lot of fiddling (and juggling around of the AP's placement
and its aerials) before I got anything like a solid signal. The upside
is that I now have coverage over the whole house apart from a few
spots (!) on the kitchen table.

Chris

On Mar 18, 6:40 am, Chris Davies <chris-use...@roaima.co.uk> wrote:
> On Mar 12, 6:22 pm, Chris Davies <chris-use...@roaima.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > If I were setting things up at home again, I wouldn't have bothered with
> > a WiFi reflector to our "downstairs" PC; I'd have gone for Homeplug.
> seaweedsteve <seaweedst...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So you are saying that you had marginal reception and the reflector
> > did not increase your reception? Did you aim it correctly? Or was it
> > zero reception before and still not enough after. Or was it an
> > interference problem?
>
> It was zero before, and it's satisfactory now. The downside is that it
> required a lot of fiddling (and juggling around of the AP's placement
> and its aerials) before I got anything like a solid signal. The upside
> is that I now have coverage over the whole house apart from a few
> spots (!) on the kitchen table.
>
> Chris

Sounds like an endorsement for trying a reflector to me !

Cheers,
Steve