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Wireless repeater/access point, little help

Coooleeey

By Coooleeey
in The Tailgate

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Coooleeey

Coooleeey

Posted
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Hey, what up people?

I have used three different routers now. An old MS, a new Linksys, and now a wireless router provided by VZ through my FiOS. All of them provide a dead spot in my house in my brothers room. I'm sick of hearing him ***** about his internet connection not working.

His machine has a external USB wireless NIC. I let him use my laptop with built in wireless for a few weeks and he is getting the same problem.

My question is whether I should buy a built in PCI card for his machine, which I'm 90% sure won't work, or purchase some sort of repeater to increase the signal from the basement to the upstairs.

Does anyone have any experience with repeaters? Verizon has their POS router on lockdown so I can't mess with any of the settings.

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Larry

Larry

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1) I think at least the Linksys routers have antennae you can buy that will increase the range/strength of the signal.

You may also experiment with moving the WAP some. Maybe there's a heating duct in the way, or something.

2) If the USB NIC doesn't work, then I wouldn't even try a PCI one. I recommend USB NICS to all my wireless users, because the USB NIC allows you to move the antenna to try to get better signal. With an internal NIC, the antenna can't be moved (and is located right next to the metal housing of the computer.)

3) Have you considered just running an ethernet wire? (This may be tough depending on what kind of router you've got now.) Running wire isn't that tough. (Or, run a wire to someplace else in the house, and put a WAP there.)

4) Wireless repeaters are dirt cheap. (I think the basic Linksys WAP54G can be set as a repeater.)

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EnFoRcEr_uPu

EnFoRcEr_uPu

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My suggestion, personally, would be to move the access point if at all possible. No real reason for it to be in the basement, as you're wasting a lot of it's coverage area. Placing it someone more centered in the house would provide much more coverage and probably solve his problem as well.

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HOF44

HOF44

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I used a powerline wireless repeater. For me I plug it in the wall upstairs, then plug the other unit in the wall downstairs. Then plug a cat5 from the router into the one upstairs and it sends the signal to the basement via powerlines to the unit in the basement where is is transmitted.

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Coooleeey

Coooleeey

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I used a powerline wireless repeater. For me I plug it in the wall upstairs, then plug the other unit in the wall downstairs. Then plug a cat5 from the router into the one upstairs and it sends the signal to the basement via powerlines to the unit in the basement where is is transmitted.

I'll look into this option, if nothing else it sounds pretty cool.

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Coooleeey

Coooleeey

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1) I think at least the Linksys routers have antennae you can buy that will increase the range/strength of the signal.

You may also experiment with moving the WAP some. Maybe there's a heating duct in the way, or something.

2) If the USB NIC doesn't work, then I wouldn't even try a PCI one. I recommend USB NICS to all my wireless users, because the USB NIC allows you to move the antenna to try to get better signal. With an internal NIC, the antenna can't be moved (and is located right next to the metal housing of the computer.)

3) Have you considered just running an ethernet wire? (This may be tough depending on what kind of router you've got now.) Running wire isn't that tough. (Or, run a wire to someplace else in the house, and put a WAP there.)

4) Wireless repeaters are dirt cheap. (I think the basic Linksys WAP54G can be set as a repeater.)

The problem is that my house was built in 1964 so instead of a metal -I- beam in the basement for support the idiots built a cinder block wall. It's a split level home...my room is in the basement on one side of the wall and my twin bro's room is upstairs on the other side of the wall. That being said I can't run an ethernet wire, which I thought about :)

Verizon installed their equipment in the basement so I can't really move it too far.

I have a Linksys WRT54G router, everything I have read about it said it won't act a repeater. Have you ever messed around with the WAP54G? Does it play well with non-linksys devices?

Thanks for the help so far :)

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Coooleeey

Coooleeey

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Yep, I am seeing that but want to explore all options before just paying for another piece of equipment cause I have bought numerous cards and routers adn I'm sick of trying to throw money at the problem...although new toys are fun :D

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Coooleeey

Coooleeey

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Just make sure you secure it so no college kids living next door to you steal music through your connection.

Haha, I used to sell my connection at my last apartment down in Richmond. I worked for an internet company so it was free to me. I had a guy on the top floor and another across the hall who would connect via my WEP. They both had to buy me a case of beer a month.

Damn I'm good sometimes :)

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Patrick86L

Patrick86L

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if adding another access point near or in your brother's room didn't work and you cant move the main access point to the center of the home, this seems like the next step. But obviously the range expander must be compatible with your linksys router...

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Slacky McSlackAss

Slacky McSlackAss

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Hey, what up people?

I have used three different routers now. An old MS, a new Linksys, and now a wireless router provided by VZ through my FiOS. All of them provide a dead spot in my house in my brothers room. I'm sick of hearing him ***** about his internet connection not working.

His machine has a external USB wireless NIC. I let him use my laptop with built in wireless for a few weeks and he is getting the same problem.

My question is whether I should buy a built in PCI card for his machine, which I'm 90% sure won't work, or purchase some sort of repeater to increase the signal from the basement to the upstairs.

Does anyone have any experience with repeaters? Verizon has their POS router on lockdown so I can't mess with any of the settings.

The D-Link router Verizon gave us has worked fine. No problem inside or outside the house. There may be something interfereing with the signal somewhere in the room.

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Art

Art

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I use the repeater shown in this. It's kind of tricky to set up if you're not ready for it, but, it works nice. For security, to be honest, the EASIEST way is not to use WEP or any other encryption key. Just leave your wireless open for connections and secure it with the MAC filter. My view is it's a lot easier and more secure to have someone provide you their MAC address to use your network than having you provide them your encrypted key. Just get the MAC addresses of any NIC you want to attach to the network and only allow them in :).

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Coooleeey

Coooleeey

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I use the repeater shown in this. It's kind of tricky to set up if you're not ready for it, but, it works nice. For security, to be honest, the EASIEST way is not to use WEP or any other encryption key. Just leave your wireless open for connections and secure it with the MAC filter. My view is it's a lot easier and more secure to have someone provide you their MAC address to use your network than having you provide them your encrypted key. Just get the MAC addresses of any NIC you want to attach to the network and only allow them in :).

So you use the Linksys repeater with a linksys router? What brand router do you use?

I'm curious how this repeater works with different manufacturers...

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