The wireless router that was provided by the IP provider that i have is a piece of junk. I found a Wireless N router on sale this week, but before I buy it , i need to know if my laptop, which is wireless B/G 802.11 compatable , will work with this router?

There are 3 more desktops that I eventually want to convert to wireless, is all of this going to be possible?

I want wireless N because of the added range provided , we have one computer out in the shop.

 

Yes wireless N is backwards compatable with B/G. You wont get full speed or range gains when using B and G clients on a N network though. Also take this into consideration, Wireless N is still in draft stages, it is not officially approved. There are currently two different broadcasting methods that manufactures are making N products with. Neither of which are compatable with each other. Depending upon which method is chosen to be the offical N standard your device that you buy today may not work with offical N products down the road.

 

I wouldn't worry about N. A router with A/B or A/B/G is good to go. There are boosters and repeaters available to increase the range of a wireless router.

MikeyB

 

J,

Check this out:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...72&catid=21119


I just set one of these up last night...works like a charm



For the other desktops:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...73&catid=21120

 

Hey , thanks Doc , that is a good buy on that router. I have to go with PCI cards for the desktops , between printers , camera's , speakers, PDA's , etc , I am maxed out for USB slots on two machines , and the third one doesn't even have USB ports...

What kind of range can I get (reliably) on wireless G? I need to be able to get out across the yard , and into the shop (the shop is wooden frame , tin siding) I don't want to have to mess with low signal , dropped connections etc like I have to now

 

You saw my other thread with my own problems now (I like the hammer idea more and more ) and I am working those out.
As far as range, I have the Linksys 2.4GHz dual antenna blah, blah, blah, and can take my laptop at least 100ft away and use it just fine. HTH ya.

 

You should have said that before....


Im no expert, bet you will likely need wireless N then....(I dont know how big your yard is...)

OR you could bury a network cable....

 

Burying is NOT an option , last time I tried digging in the yard to put an addition on the house , I dug right into an old well... that was fun , found some electrical wires and pipes for the well later too...


I should have mentioned more than this possibly too , there are two different printers in the house also , one on each desktop , is there a way to make everything shared , IE you can access anything on any of the 4 computers from any of the other computers , including printers?

The POS modem/router combination that I have now is worthless , if i go 10' and try to sit on the couch with my laptop , the connection is lost every 15 mins approx. , Don't even ask what happens if i try and go out on the new deck we just built...

The distance from the router to the desktop in the shop is probably about 100-150' , I think I could get wireless G to go that far, but I'm afraid the connection might be rather sketchy. I don't want to get into repeters and range boosters, there is no place between the two computers to mount one.

 

Look at outdoor bridges. takes a little bit of setup w/ manual ip's but great for going from building to building wirelessly.

 

JKM, remember your other thread on UHF or VHF tranceivers?

As far as your lousy range/drops on the wireless, its a 2.4 GHz signal (UHF); just like all of the wireless telephone handsets, and microwave ovens in the neighborhood. The FCC permits a lot of different things to use that 2.4 GHz freq. At dinner and lunch time, my microwave oven can create havoc on both the Xm signal and wireless pc connection.

UHF signals can be blocked by walls, floors, or electrical wires within walls. Do a quick survey around the house and see if any of those items may be causing issues with your connection.

I prefer to use channel 11, rather than the usual default channel 6. If you've got a number of other wireless routers nearby, chances are they're mostly on 6. Your signal could be fighting with them. If I remember correctly, channel 11 also doesn't have any overlap like the other channels do.

What kind of encryption are you using? If you are, its my experience that the encryption can impose some overhead on the signal that cause poor performance.

I can transfer files down the street unencrypted, but cannot when I enable encryption.

A higher gain antenna can help, but not always. For those down the street shots, I've found the cylindrical "pringle potatoe chip looking" can-antenna's work real well - but they do have to be accurately aimed.

I don't know what router you're using, but on one of my old Linksys, its possible to get some "aftermarket" firmware installed to bump up the power if needed. If the connections start to get buggy, I unplug it for a moment and plug it back in. I think its a WRT54G (an older pre-linux version I think). I will unplug it once every two months or so for a re-set.

A higher priced option is installing an external antenna outside your house with an unobstructed view of the shop (with an external antenna at the shop as well). But that option may be a little pricey.

Anyways, just wanted to give you some food for thought. Its been a while since I've messed with this stuff - my wireless network is pretty strong and solid now (keeping fingers crossed). This stuff isn't witchcraft or all smoke and mirrors; but it sometimes takes some thought to sort out the issues to make it work.

Good luck, and try to have some fun with this stuff. One rule that I try to abide by is not screw with computers and router settings after 10pm. Otherwise it can often be a really late night getting it fixed.

edit: try setting the router to wireless B only and see if your connectivity improves. FWIW, there aren't many ISP's that can match B speeds anyways.

 

I'm not sure about being able to change the channel on this router , it is a modem/router/wireless router , provided by the ISP when we got high speed.

It is a Siemens "speedstream" 6520

I know of at least a dozen other people with one , and they all HATE it , for the same reasons I do, dropped connections, and i can throw a rock outside of it's range. I presently do not have ANY encription , this is the other problem with this junk router, if you enable encription , you can't even connect to the network , even sitting right infront of it with the laptop, the connection is so weak and slow you can't get the password info into it.

I don't want a really complicated/expensive wireless setup. I just want to be able to have a fast,reliable,encripted wireless setup here, there is only 15' between the house and shop , but the computer in the shop is going to be at the other end of it, I paced it off yesterday , and it will be more like 90' straight line to where the PC out there will be , from the window nearest the computer in the house, but that leaves 2 walls in the shop to get the wireless signal through.

 

I set up a D-link wireless router (DI 624 I think) at work, but its range varies depending on which building you are in. I can sometimes get a signal over 100' away in a different building, but if I move 30' closer it is totally reliable. I am gettting ready to hardwire an access point in that back building which should solve the problem. I need to run about 150' of cat 5 cable to make it happen. We tried a wireless repeater/range extender but it didn't work at all, that's why I am going with hardwired this time. It doesn't go through multiple walls so well. Rooms that are on the side of the big building nearest the router are great, rooms on the other side not so great. We did change the cordless phone because the old one was 2.4 GHz. Oh, I did add optional higher power antennas to the router and the access point at about $40 each I think. That made a big difference with the routers range.

Almost everyone I know who has tried to use what their ISP provides has been annoyed. Our router cost about 80$ I think and the new access point cost another $100, plus about $50 worth of cabling. And with that setup, we should be covering 5 different buildings with a total span of over 300'. Other than the goofy repeater, the Dlink stuff has been reliable and easy to use, at least with the Macs.

I would go with a good up to date and well supported wireless router from dlink, linksys or netgear and get one that you can add a bigger antenna to. Ditch the other 2.4 GHz stuff like cordless phones and you should certainly be able to hit the end of your shop I would think.

 

If you want proffesional grade signal and performance go to CDW and look up Cisco 124 Access point. You will have to get a router to run with it, but it offers a 100mW radio A/B/G and you can get 12dBi omni directional antennas to go with it. I put wireless networks in warehouses and these are really great. I have one at my buddies house and with a single 12dBi omni it lights up the whole block (about 12 acres) in the 5.5MBPS range. Remember if you want to go on the cheap a B radio will work fine for most ISP's. The best speed advertised in KC is 10MBPS so a B radio at 11MBPS works just fine. Unless you are doing file transfers between different computers Via wireless you will never get 54MBPS to the outside world so why waste the money to get an unacheivable speed? Cisco equipment is not cheap (about $600 for a 1242) but I have an old Cisco 350 b radio Access Point that is 5 years old and still kills everyone around me who has netgear and linksys AP/Router setups. Most of the cheaper units have a 30mW radio installed whereas these units are at 100mW. You also always want to go through your channels to find the best signal try each one and test the limits of your signal. Typically 1,6 or 11 are used as these channels have the least overlap. If you do want to set up a wireless bridge from building to building you do not need a static IP address. A wireless bridge works on the MAC layer (the root and slave recognize each other by MAC address and not IP address) so that is also an option to get the next building going, it will need to feed into a switch that will then feed all of your users in the new area.

 

dang!

I wish I'd had that kind of dough to spend, but the boss was trying to go on the cheap side, and for what we spent, I think we got a pretty good setup.

I was about 13 when the Commodore and VIC 20 were big names in personal computers. It is totally amazing what can be done these days for so cheap. Wireless internet and laptops and even cell phones were pure science fiction back then...

 

English PLEASE....

Just kidding...great info.