relaying a signal

Hi -

I have a linksys wrt54g in my basement that sends a wireless signal to
three machines in my house. One is just across the room, one is one
floor up, and the third is my laptop. The machine across the room and
the machine one floor up get their signal just fine, but the laptop
gets rather poor signal when it is positioned on the small desk next to
my bed on the top floor of my house. Moving the wrt54g isn't really an
option due to the way things are set up in the basement, and I'd
strongly prefer not to rearrange the furniture in my bedroom. So what I
thought I might be able to do is to place some sort of device on the
ground floor (physically connected to the machine on that floor, if
neccesary) that receives the signal from the wrt54g and "forwards" it
onto further points in the house. I think if my laptop were to be
pulling its signal from that part of the house, it would be able to get
the signal upstairs just fine. So, a few questions:

A) what device would perform this function? would another wrt54g do the
trick?

B) The machine on the ground floor receives its signal via a linksys
WUSB54G. Does this device have any capability of performing this task?
My belief is that it doesn't, but I am not sure.

For the sake of consistency, I'd prefer whatever device I use to be a
linksys device, but I'm not entirely opposed to looking at other
manufacturers.

Thanks in advance -

Brian Mc

On 25 Nov 2006 06:38:35 -0800, "Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com>
wrote in <1164465515.557274.221580@j72g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>:

>I have a linksys wrt54g in my basement that sends a wireless signal to
>three machines in my house. One is just across the room, one is one
>floor up, and the third is my laptop. The machine across the room and
>the machine one floor up get their signal just fine, but the laptop
>gets rather poor signal when it is positioned on the small desk next to
>my bed on the top floor of my house. Moving the wrt54g isn't really an
>option due to the way things are set up in the basement, and I'd
>strongly prefer not to rearrange the furniture in my bedroom. So what I
>thought I might be able to do is to place some sort of device on the
>ground floor (physically connected to the machine on that floor, if
>neccesary) that receives the signal from the wrt54g and "forwards" it
>onto further points in the house. I think if my laptop were to be
>pulling its signal from that part of the house, it would be able to get
>the signal upstairs just fine. So, a few questions:

Have you tried angling the antenna on the WRT54G horizontally so it
better "illuminates" upwards? Have you considered using a higher gain
directional antenna? A repeater will cut your network throughput in
half.

>A) what device would perform this function? would another wrt54g do the
>trick?

Any Linksys device with WDS. Depending on model of your WRT54G, 3rd
party firmware can be a good option. See wikis below.

>B) The machine on the ground floor receives its signal via a linksys
>WUSB54G. Does this device have any capability of performing this task?
>My belief is that it doesn't, but I am not sure.

It doesn't.

>For the sake of consistency, I'd prefer whatever device I use to be a
>linksys device, but I'm not entirely opposed to looking at other
>manufacturers.

Stick with the same brand.

A better solution for extending wireless is to install a remote wireless
access point (same _unique_ SSID, different channel) connected by wire
(Ethernet, powerline networking, phoneline networking, coax networking)
to the original wireless access point.

See wikis below.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

> Have you tried angling the antenna on the WRT54G horizontally so it
> better "illuminates" upwards? Have you considered using a higher gain
> directional antenna? A repeater will cut your network throughput in
> half.
>

I did try the Linksys "higher gain" antenna kit that is widely
available, and it made no difference whatsoever. However, I simply
positioned them in the same manner that I had / have the included
antennae positioned, which is straight up in the air perpendicular to
the router box. I will monkey around with the positioning of the
antennae in a bit.

> >A) what device would perform this function? would another wrt54g do the
> >trick?
>
> Any Linksys device with WDS. Depending on model of your WRT54G, 3rd
> party firmware can be a good option. See wikis below.
>
I've examined that option, and a friend helping me out informed me
that v5 of this router doesn't have any good third-party firmware out
there. I will look over the wikis though to verify.

> >B) The machine on the ground floor receives its signal via a linksys
> >WUSB54G. Does this device have any capability of performing this task?
> >My belief is that it doesn't, but I am not sure.
>
> It doesn't.
>

Didn't think so! thanks for clarifying.


> >For the sake of consistency, I'd prefer whatever device I use to be a
> >linksys device, but I'm not entirely opposed to looking at other
> >manufacturers.
>
> Stick with the same brand.
>
> A better solution for extending wireless is to install a remote wireless
> access point (same _unique_ SSID, different channel) connected by wire
> (Ethernet, powerline networking, phoneline networking, coax networking)
> to the original wireless access point.

Assuming that the positioning of such a device is crucial, this
solution would essentially involve drilling a hole through the basement
ceiling / main-level floor. I am not sure I am willing to do this.
>
> See wikis below

Thanks for all your advice. I will read around mess with the antenae
positioning and see how that goes.

I am wondering, with regards to the linksys wrt54g v5's antennae: is
one antenna assigned for reception and the other assigned for
transmission? If I were to build an antenna, I am not sure which I
would need to connect it to. Would I need to build two?

Thanks -

Brian Mc

On 25 Nov 2006 07:57:23 -0800, "Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com>
wrote in <1164470243.665867.290830@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>:

>> A better solution for extending wireless is to install a remote wireless
>> access point (same _unique_ SSID, different channel) connected by wire
>> (Ethernet, powerline networking, phoneline networking, coax networking)
>> to the original wireless access point.
>
>Assuming that the positioning of such a device is crucial, this
>solution would essentially involve drilling a hole through the basement
>ceiling / main-level floor. I am not sure I am willing to do this.

Only Ethernet involves drilling -- the others don't.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

John Navas wrote:
> On 25 Nov 2006 07:57:23 -0800, "Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com>
> wrote in <1164470243.665867.290830@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>:
>
> >> A better solution for extending wireless is to install a remote wireless
> >> access point (same _unique_ SSID, different channel) connected by wire
> >> (Ethernet, powerline networking, phoneline networking, coax networking)
> >> to the original wireless access point.
> >
> >Assuming that the positioning of such a device is crucial, this
> >solution would essentially involve drilling a hole through the basement
> >ceiling / main-level floor. I am not sure I am willing to do this.
>
> Only Ethernet involves drilling -- the others don't.
>

True, but ethernet is the only option I would have any idea how to work
with.


> --
> Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
> John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
> Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
> Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

"Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>I am wondering, with regards to the linksys wrt54g v5's antennae: is
>one antenna assigned for reception and the other assigned for
>transmission? If I were to build an antenna, I am not sure which I
>would need to connect it to. Would I need to build two?

No. The antennas are switched to form a diversity receive system to
eliminate frequency selective fading in a reflective environment.
Grossly over-simplified, the receiver selects the best antenna for a
given client and uses only that antenna for the client. The same
antenna is used for xmit. If the receiver starts to collect data
errors and noise, it then tries the other antenna to see if there is
an improvement. Diversity reception offers considerable improvement
in reception reliability in a highly reflective indoor environment.

Heavy reading:
<http://www.commsdesign.com/design_corner/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16500279>
<http://www.commsdesign.com/design_corner/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16501888>
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a008019f646.shtml>

If you were to build a high gain antenna, it would connect only to one
of the antenna ports. You will need to either remove or disable the
other antenna. The problem is that a random client radio MIGHT
connect to the wrong antenna. You may get rotten performance until
the access point decides to switch antennas. This effect both breaks
the benifits of diversity reception and sometimes offers even worse
performance. See the case study in the Cisco article above on the
golf course for details.

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

"Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>Assuming that the positioning of such a device is crucial, this
>solution would essentially involve drilling a hole through the basement
>ceiling / main-level floor. I am not sure I am willing to do this.

Drilling a 1/4" hole in the floor for CAT can easily be hidden. If
you have telco or CATV cable running in the walls, it can be routed
through the same conduits or same routes. The real problem is hiding
the CAT5 coming from the ceiling down to the basement. It should be
hidden in the wall. I have a 5ft flexible drill (with extensions) for
drilling through fire breaks and such. Also a "yellow tongue" (fish
tape) for pulling the wires. Most electricians have such tools. Given
the proper equipment and some clues, running the cable is not very
difficult.
<http://www.idealindustries.com/IDEAL-EZ/prodcat.nsf/Tables/Flexible+Drill+Bit?OpenDocument>
If your basement has concrete block walls, surface mount electrical
conduit should work.

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

Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> hath wroth:

>Drilling a 1/4" hole in the floor for CAT can easily be hidden.

I forgot to mumble something about "flat" CAT5 cable. It can't be
used for much distance, but it sure is handy for hiding behind trim
and panels:
<http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/14mm-thick-gigabit-ethernet-cable-035823.php>
<http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1216702>
Lots more...

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

On 25 Nov 2006 09:44:49 -0800, "Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com>
wrote in <1164476689.281926.263880@l39g2000cwd.googlegroups .com>:

>John Navas wrote:
>> On 25 Nov 2006 07:57:23 -0800, "Brian McCabe" <briansmccabe@gmail.com>
>> wrote in <1164470243.665867.290830@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>:
>>
>> >> A better solution for extending wireless is to install a remote wireless
>> >> access point (same _unique_ SSID, different channel) connected by wire
>> >> (Ethernet, powerline networking, phoneline networking, coax networking)
>> >> to the original wireless access point.
>> >
>> >Assuming that the positioning of such a device is crucial, this
>> >solution would essentially involve drilling a hole through the basement
>> >ceiling / main-level floor. I am not sure I am willing to do this.
>>
>> Only Ethernet involves drilling -- the others don't.
>
>True, but ethernet is the only option I would have any idea how to work
>with.

Both powerline networking and phoneline networking are very easy. See
<http://www.netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking.aspx?for=Home+Networking>

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

go to ebay.com and search for "wireless repeater" or "wireless range
extender" or "booster" they cost about $45.

Brian McCabe wrote:
> I am wondering, with regards to the linksys wrt54g v5's antennae: is
> one antenna assigned for reception and the other assigned for
> transmission? If I were to build an antenna, I am not sure which I
> would need to connect it to. Would I need to build two?
>
> Thanks -
>
> Brian Mc
>

--
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