So you got another AP or WiFi-router and now you want to use it to extend your range inside your large structure.
If what you want is to extend your range, consider your options in this order:
1) High-gain antenna on the primary AP.
In most cases you can increase your coverage with a single AP by 50-100% *without* supporting a new piece of WiFi network hardware.
If you have a big square and flat structure like a ranch-house, and the AP is near the center, then a medium or high-gain omni will spread the signal in the right directions.
If you have a tall structure, you might consider the omni but lay it on its side, the strong signal zone is perpendicular to the side of the antenna. Or you could buy a directional antenna, or build your own following directions like those found at »www.freeantennas.com/ Particularly if most of your clients are in one direction, you want a directional antenna on the AP.
2) Setup a 2nd AP
Run a *hardline* to the 2nd AP. This could be ethernet or it could be powerline-networking bridges. This is your next best option as far as performance, cost, and simplicity of operation. Set the 2nd AP to same SSID and encryption, but 5 channels different from the first one to avoid interference. If you have a "WiFi-router" you should turn it into a simple AP unit or it, directions are in the FAQ here »Wireless Networking Forum FAQ »Using a Wireless Router as an Access Point
3) Setup "repeater" node.
For non-networking WiFi geeks, this is the most difficult to do. In the sense that many devices do not support it. So you need to find ones that do. And *BOTH* devices must support a compatible version, these protocols are not as standard as they should be and do not always work when crossing vendors lines. The best thing you can do is ask on the VENDOR forums, not Wireless Networking, if your models support WDS which stands for Wireless Distribution System.
If you decide to go this route, there are some gotchas:
*1 Throughput drop: A single-radio repeater has to get some signal to work with. Usually it is located at some midpoint where it's signal is not 100% either. Now it has to spend half of its time repeating a degraded signal. Your reception of this repeated signal may be less than 100% also. So the net is that by the time it gets down to real numbers you can lose 1/2 or more of your throughput.
*2 Interference: Both WDS units must operate on same channel; there will be increase of interference and hidden-node issues.
*3 Setup: Assuming you get two devices which both support a compatible version of WDS, you then have to set it up. This setup is going to vary quite a lot by firmware. No firmware I have found, has a simple "find partner and link-up" button.
I will attempt to outline the basics of WDS here only, and look towards doing a new FAQ entry with more specifics.
You will need the MAC address of the WLAN device on each unit. On my Linksys WRT54GS this is found on the Status page under the Wireless tab. This MAC address is NOT the same as the WAN or LAN address found on the bottom of the unit or other status pages. Then you find the WDS setup tab in your firmware, and tell each unit the MAC address of it's WDS peer. In most cases it is really just that simple to setup a basic home WDS network. Make sure encryption keys match of course....
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by vincentfox  edited by No_Strings
last modified: 2006-03-31 12:51:40 |
