extending wifi access ??

lensman

I work in a large building which has wifi access but once I move to the other end of the building it's not possible to logon, my question is,...is there a device I could use to extend the coverage of the wifi ?
Thanks

Saruman

Yep! Assuming the building is cabled for normal network access just stick in wireless access points anywhere you need coverage.

bminish

Saruman wrote:

Yep! Assuming the building is cabled for normal network access just stick in wireless access points anywhere you need coverage.

Hmm, discuss fully with your IT dept first! Unauthorized Access points can create all sorts of gaping holes in the security of the network

.brendan

aidan_walsh

bminish wrote:

Hmm, discuss fully with your IT dept first! Unauthorized Access points can create all sorts of gaping holes in the security of the network

QFT. Not to mention setting up your own network points is likely to be held as against the IT policy.

eoinok

Simple to really. Buy one of these http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-indoorantenna-omni-5ord.htm and stick it onto the back of your wireless AP. "normally" internal house AP's come with a 2dbi omni. This is a 5dbi onmi and the "rule of thumb" is that for ever 3dbi, you double your signal strenght.

We use them all the time to extend coverage around a house and the results are impressive. Remember though there is a timeout value on the internal house AP's so sometime no matter how godd your signal, the ack getting back to the AP may take too long and you will loose connection anyway.

We use the above when coverage is poor due to thick walls etc. At the price of them, it is worth a shot and see what u can knock out of them anyway.

bminish

eoinok wrote:

Remember though there is a timeout value on the internal house AP's so sometime no matter how godd your signal, the ack getting back to the AP may take too long and you will loose connection anyway.

With Prism Kit the ACK distance is about 12 Miles, with the newer Atheros (802.11G) kit the standard Ack distance is greater than 1Km

.brendan

eoinok

that is not entirely correct. Atheros and prisim are two types of chipsets. The ack/syn stuff is set by the vendors firmware using this particular chipsets. Hence, why it is so low on internal stuff, and so high on external stuff...
I could say that for instance we have an external wireless link running using Atheros cards at 802.11a and we are running it over 17 miles no bother... I do know of someone else running an atheros link over 240KM at 802.11a!!!!!!
Of course, those types of links are all down to the gain of antenna's etc and what sort of gear you are using either side. Dont for a second dream of hacking an internal house AP and try to get it to run over this sort of a distance!!!!!!

bminish

The In house AP kit meets the relevant specifications for ACK timings, I cant be arsed to Google them right now but for both B and G these are well in excess of 1KM even at all the minimum timings

Your in house issues have nothing to do with ACK timings

.brendan

lensman

eoinok wrote:

Simple to really. Buy one of these http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-indoorantenna-omni-5ord.htm and stick it onto the back of your wireless AP. "normally" internal house AP's come with a 2dbi omni. This is a 5dbi onmi and the "rule of thumb" is that for ever 3dbi, you double your signal strenght.

We use them all the time to extend coverage around a house and the results are impressive. Remember though there is a timeout value on the internal house AP's so sometime no matter how godd your signal, the ack getting back to the AP may take too long and you will loose connection anyway.

We use the above when coverage is poor due to thick walls etc. At the price of them, it is worth a shot and see what u can knock out of them anyway.

Thanks folks,
I was looking at this on ebay,..seems to be much the same item as the one in eoinok link.
There would be security issues with this & I would have to get the nod from the IT dept, is there anything I could connect to my laptop that would help ?
Thanks

bushy...

I'd reckon go with the ones eoinok recommended to you , the ones you found look a bit optimistic , esp when he has tried n tested them

eoinok wrote:

We use them all the time to extend coverage around a house and the results are impressive.
We use the above when coverage is poor due to thick walls etc. At the price of them, it is worth a shot and see what u can knock out of them anyway.

Cabaal

moved to wireless

robinph

Get your IT people to set up something similar to one of these.
No extra network cabling required, just a mains socket to power it hopefully half way between the access point and where you are that does receive the signal from the access point OK.

lensman

eoinok wrote:

Simple to really. Buy one of these http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-indoorantenna-omni-5ord.htm and stick it onto the back of your wireless AP. "normally" internal house AP's come with a 2dbi omni. This is a 5dbi onmi and the "rule of thumb" is that for ever 3dbi, you double your signal strenght.

We use them all the time to extend coverage around a house and the results are impressive. Remember though there is a timeout value on the internal house AP's so sometime no matter how godd your signal, the ack getting back to the AP may take too long and you will loose connection anyway.

We use the above when coverage is poor due to thick walls etc. At the price of them, it is worth a shot and see what u can knock out of them anyway.

Hi, back again, I found out what type of router I need to buy the antenna for
it's a netopia 2247nwg but I can't order until I know what type of connector I need,.Reverse SMA Socket...Reverse TNC Socket..Lucent connector.. ???
the netopia site does say that the antenna's are removable but thats all,..
anybody out there know ??
Rgds