upstairs to down

20 Feb 2005 9:15 AM

Jon Vaughan

Hi all,

I guess from all the conflicting information I have read over the internet
that its fairly common to struggle to get a good single from downstairs in
an office to upstiars. I also have this problem and have come up with 3
solutions, can someone verify these ideas and possible suggest a better one
if I havent seen it. They are :

1.) Get a high gain antenna set to increase signal strength / range
2.) Get a repeater / booster
3.) Run CAT5e through the walls for a gaurenteed link from up to down.

For obvious reasons if replacing the antenna would do it that would be the
ideal solution, but I believe I read that a higher gain antenna will flatten
the broadcast angle giving more horizontal and less vertical (Is this
correct ?) signal which is the opposite of what im looking for.

Option two doesnt seem to sensible as the repeater for linksys runs on WEP
security (im trying to stick to wpa), will only work with other linksys
products and I have read bad reviews about repeaters / booster in gerneral.

Option 3, would be the ideal solution , but a) will be quite expensive as it
would have to be a proffesional job placed in the walls and b.) I kinda feel
its cheating having wired in a wireless network..

If anyone has a similar problem to me of getting the signal down to upstiars
and came up with a good solution can you tell me please ?

Thanks

Jon

20 Feb 2005 11:25 AM

Eric Parker

Show quote Hide quote

"Jon Vaughan" <jonnyvaug***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0zYRd.2831382$f47.511017@news.easynews.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I guess from all the conflicting information I have read over the internet
> that its fairly common to struggle to get a good single from downstairs in
> an office to upstiars. I also have this problem and have come up with 3
> solutions, can someone verify these ideas and possible suggest a better one
> if I havent seen it. They are :
>
> 1.) Get a high gain antenna set to increase signal strength / range
> 2.) Get a repeater / booster
> 3.) Run CAT5e through the walls for a gaurenteed link from up to down.
>
> For obvious reasons if replacing the antenna would do it that would be the
> ideal solution, but I believe I read that a higher gain antenna will flatten
> the broadcast angle giving more horizontal and less vertical (Is this
> correct ?) signal which is the opposite of what im looking for.
>
> Option two doesnt seem to sensible as the repeater for linksys runs on WEP
> security (im trying to stick to wpa), will only work with other linksys
> products and I have read bad reviews about repeaters / booster in gerneral.
>
> Option 3, would be the ideal solution , but a) will be quite expensive as it
> would have to be a proffesional job placed in the walls and b.) I kinda feel
> its cheating having wired in a wireless network..
>
> If anyone has a similar problem to me of getting the signal down to upstiars
> and came up with a good solution can you tell me please ?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jon
>
>

Jon

I'm fairly new to this but if you're only using wireless to connect the 2 sites
(downstairs & upstairs), can you not change the angle of the antennae to
move the "horizontal" field to intersect the other antenna ?

Eric

--
Remove the dross to contact me directly

20 Feb 2005 1:29 PM

Airhead

Show quote Hide quote

"Eric Parker" <news***@thedrossericparker.plus.com> wrote in message
news:37rad9F5h92kaU1@individual.net...
>
> "Jon Vaughan" <jonnyvaug***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:0zYRd.2831382$f47.511017@news.easynews.com...
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I guess from all the conflicting information I have read over the
internet
> > that its fairly common to struggle to get a good single from
downstairs in
> > an office to upstiars. I also have this problem and have come up
with 3
> > solutions, can someone verify these ideas and possible suggest a
better one
> > if I havent seen it. They are :
> >
> > 1.) Get a high gain antenna set to increase signal strength /
range
> > 2.) Get a repeater / booster
> > 3.) Run CAT5e through the walls for a gaurenteed link from up to
down.
> >
> > For obvious reasons if replacing the antenna would do it that

would be the

> > ideal solution, but I believe I read that a higher gain antenna
will flatten
> > the broadcast angle giving more horizontal and less vertical (Is
this
> > correct ?) signal which is the opposite of what im looking for.

> > Option two doesnt seem to sensible as the repeater for linksys

runs on WEP

> > security (im trying to stick to wpa), will only work with other
linksys
> > products and I have read bad reviews about repeaters / booster in
gerneral.
> >
> > Option 3, would be the ideal solution , but a) will be quite

expensive as it

> > would have to be a proffesional job placed in the walls and b.) I
kinda feel
> > its cheating having wired in a wireless network..
> >
> > If anyone has a similar problem to me of getting the signal down
to upstiars
> > and came up with a good solution can you tell me please ?

What do you have upstairs, is it possible to add a higher gain antenna
there,
possibly a semi directional aiming toward the area downstairs.
Also settin you downstairs AP higher off the floor will yield better
upstairs signal.

Versus running wires you might check out this
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGXB102.php

20 Feb 2005 1:57 PM

dold

Jon Vaughan <jonnyvaug***@hotmail.com> wrote:

> For obvious reasons if replacing the antenna would do it that would be
> the ideal solution, but I believe I read that a higher gain antenna will
> flatten the broadcast angle giving more horizontal and less vertical (Is
> this correct ?) signal which is the opposite of what im looking for.

Turn the antenna on its side, so the flattened vertical is pointed in the
right direction. This is also true of the original antenna, on both WAP
and PC. I added EZ-10 reflectors to the sideways WAP.
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/

Turning the antennas sideways allowed the connection to become stable,
which it wasn't before. Adding the reflectors moved it from "poor" to
"very good".

If you have a PCI card in the PC, the little antenna might be blocked by
the PC itself. Can you reorient the PC to uncover the antenna?

A USB-Wifi adapter allows better placement, including up high.
I see Fry's has the Microsoft USB for $29.95 in store, but not online.
mini-USB dongles are sometimes as low as $9.95 after rebate for 802.11b.
I have the DLink DWL-122. I see one today at $19.95.
<http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=866783&CatId=369>

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

20 Feb 2005 5:34 PM

dold

d***@xrexxupsta.usenet.us.com wrote:

> A USB-Wifi adapter allows better placement, including up high.

<http://www.compusa.com/adproducts/product_info.asp?product_code=312889&pfp=ADPRODUCTS>
Netgear WG111NA USB-mini 802.11g - $9.99

Or an antenna for your existing card:
<http://www.compusa.com/adproducts/product_info.asp?product_code=304558&pfp=ADPRODUCTS>
Hawking Technology HAI6SIP
Hi Gain 6dB Omni-Directional Wireless Antenna, 802.11b, g

--
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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

20 Feb 2005 6:53 PM

Ed Williams

I know I'm going to get flamed. But I use these to get thousands of feet and
you don't need to have anything special on you computer.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5753259414
Ed
<d***@XReXXupsta.usenet.us.com> wrote in message
Show quoteHide quote

news:cvahn0$k8j$1@blue.rahul.net...
> d***@xrexxupsta.usenet.us.com wrote:
>> A USB-Wifi adapter allows better placement, including up high.
>
> <http://www.compusa.com/adproducts/product_info.asp?product_code=312889&pfp=ADPRODUCTS>
> Netgear WG111NA USB-mini 802.11g - $9.99
>
> Or an antenna for your existing card:
> <http://www.compusa.com/adproducts/product_info.asp?product_code=304558&pfp=ADPRODUCTS>
> Hawking Technology HAI6SIP
> Hi Gain 6dB Omni-Directional Wireless Antenna, 802.11b, g
>
>
> --
> ---
> Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5
>