How can I boost a signal? Help Please!

[dgodesky]

I am new to wi-fi but not tackling tech problems. This week I take my daughter to her college town - small rural town which the university has wired a 1-street downtown for LAN access and 802.11b wi-fi. I understand that the bookstore and 3 stores on the street have routers/access points all hooked from the university LAN.

My daughter and 5 others are living in apartments above and one store over from one of the stores with a router/wireless box (it's a Linksys but I don't have the model # right now).

Our concern is that we need to go up there with everything we need to assure that all the kids in the apartments get a good signal, so I thought I'd buy something to boost it (this town is very friendly and I expect if we need any numbers from the unit in the store like the MAC code, we'll be able to get it).

I called Linksys and they said (1 of 4 trys), buy a WAP11 and put into repeater mode and I'm all set. But now I find the instructions don't speak to repeater mode and when I call back I'm told I need to have 2 WAP11s to do it!

The WAP11 instructions show 3 modes: access point, access point client and wireless bridge (with either point to point or point to multi-point). No repeater mode. The illustrations seem to support the idea that this unit doesn't do what I want without getting 2 units (one note says: "in wireless birdge mode the WAP11 can ONLY be accessed by another wireless bridge. I order for your other wireless devices to access the WAP11 you must reset it to accesspoint mode. The two modes are mutually exclusive").

I've found a couple of manufactures like D-Link and Buffa****** that make repeaters but only say they work with when used with other equipment they make.

Can anyone help and fast!? We leave Thursday and the area is so rural it's too hard to get equipment when we are up there.

Thank you!!!!!

Doug.

[x586]

From what you have said they should not need anything they're probably around 100ft from the AP and any decent Wifi nic should get a reasonable signal.

I would wait until you get up there and check out the signal, or maybe you could call the landlord/mang. and asked them if thet can check the signal str.

You said the college is using a Linksys product at the location. You could just buy them a Linksys signal booster and that would probably be more then enough. Again I would wait till you get there and see what the singal is like. cost around $100.00

Alternately: Worst case and I do not reccomend it, (because the Linksys WET adapters are not reliable) would be to get a WET11 and your own AP and a directional antenta. This will certainly get a good signal, but the WET-x adapters are meadie-oaker at best. D-link's wired to wireless bridge might be better the WET-x Linksys products, but I have not tested those.

At any rate this will cost in the range of 300-400 dollars. So I would seriously reccomend you find out what is neccessary before you do anything.

x586

[dgodesky]

Thank you, that does make perfect sense to you and me but I'm dealing with 6 college students without internet access can be a risky group! :-) I can purchase and return what I don't use - stores where we live are very generous about that.

These are old buildings and my fear is that the construction can have unpredictible impact on signal - given the stories I've read about problems in homes from a basement to an upper floor.

But I do agree with you - I am expecting to get a good signal immediately.

I don't think the store below/to the side would allow us to put a booster right on top of their router - when you say a signal booster, you're speaking about the kind that mounts piggyback on top of the original signal point, right? Or is it something else?

re: your recommendation about a WET11 and my own AP - do you mean we'd need a hard wire internet connection too or is that a way to hook into the signal on the street and boost it?

Sorry, learning this.

Thanks.

[x586]

"re: your recommendation about a WET11 and my own AP - do you mean we'd need a hard wire internet connection too or is that a way to hook into the signal on the street and boost it? "

If you went this route which is the most expensive least reliable then you would plug the WET11 in the single port on the back of the AP or into the one of the lan ports on the WIFI router.

The directional antenna connects to the WET11 antenna connection (Reverse polarity SMA female) via RP-SMA male to N-type Male pigtail.

You point the antenna towards the AP in the shop and configure the WET and AP.

Now the WET11 gets a wireless connection form the shop, and passes that through a cat5 cable to the AP in the Apt. The AP in the apt then works normally.

This is semi complex and not for a beginner as there as are many things that can go wrong, and would most likely take several hours to get going, and thats assuming that the college is running an open network on the WIFI side. This doesn't boost the signal the directional antenna concentrates both the send and recieve of the WET so that it gets more of the signal. The AP being in the Apt. is what's actually giving out the signal.

This can work over a couple hundred yards maybe even a mile with "line of sight" but cost a lot more is harder setup and less reliable. This is an absolute worse case senario.

I suggest some reading material:
Some of my 1st attemps at setting up non standard configs.
http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=78&threadid=37433&highlight_key=y&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=
http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=78&threadid=37386&highlight_key=y&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=
http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=78&threadid=38255&highlight_key=y&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html

http://www.hyperlinktech.com antenna's and many radio related hard to find items.
http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/hg2414d.php The antennas that I wound up using, they're about the size of a pie pan works well and easy to setup.

http://www.fab-corp.com good deals on jumper cables (long pigtails)

Browse those links and you'll get an idea of the headache this can be.

x586
At least call them and ask before you start buying stuff.

[x586]

Missed answering this one:
"I don't think the store below/to the side would allow us to put a booster right on top of their router - when you say a signal booster, you're speaking about the kind that mounts piggyback on top of the original signal point, right? Or is it something else?"

Yes I was talking about the piggyback signal booster.

[dgodesky]

Dear X586 - perfect advice - exactly what I needed. Even though it's complex and might give me trouble getting it to work, I have dealt with adapting things to work so often with PCs over the years, I'm used to it.

The campus net/wi-fi is running, we know that, so I can get on campus where signal is strong, set up a notebook or two, and then go to appt. and see where we stand. If the signal there is a problem, I needed something that I could understand would work as a last resort. I checked and with the rebates they're giving out the equipment will be inexpensive vs. the alternatives (paying for cable/DSL into the appt., etc.). Thanks again.

(Now as soon as I'm done Linksys will announce they have a repeater just like the other brands!).

Thank you.

Doug.

[stingray116]

Linksys does have a repeater. You have to go to there website and download the firmware update for the WAP11

[dgodesky]

You are exactly correct; firmware version 1.07 gives you the repeater option - off of other Linksys products. Thank you.

[WiKDMoNKY]

With this firmware that allows a wap11 act as a repeater, can I repeat off of a repeater?

In other words, I have 3 wap11's and a big house.

I want to flood the whole house (7300 sq ft.) with wireless. I want to put one wap11 on the left side of the house (plugged into the router) and one in the middle and one on the right of the house.

Will the wap11 on the right side of the house be able to repeat off the wap11 in the middle of the house (already acting as a repeater)?

Sorry if this is confusing, thanks for any help in advance...

[dgodesky]

A qualified "yes." The qualification is that I'm new to this. But from what I've learned, absolutely.

You need to know the MAC number for each WAP11, that should be easy to get off the settings since you own them (my problem was the first WAP11 was not mine!).

You set the second WAP11 as a repeater using the MAC address for the first original WAP11 at the router. Set the third WAP11 to use the MAC for the second WAP11.

You go to the www.linksys.com site, go to support, firmware downloads, download Firmware 1.07, unzip it and install, and presto, your set up for each WAP11 now gives you repeater mode choice and asks only for the WAP11 MAC address from the one you want to repeat.

You should love this solution.