Hi Everyone,
I've got an area of about 70 square yards that we are trying to provide wireless coverage in. We already have a basic wireless router, but need to expand the coverage much further. I've used the Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain USB Wireless 300N Range Extender with great success in the past, however, it's only been on range extender. In this case, we would probably need 3-4 of them.
The project has a budget of about $ 700. I'm wondering if it's a better idea to just place a repeater every few rooms or if there are better high powered routers/aps that might make more sense to go with?
My concern is how much signal degredation we will get if it have 3 - 4 range extenders daisy chained together.
Thanks in advance!
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I would recommend more AP's than more extenders (or better a mixture of both). Keep in mind also, the number of clients accessing this link, as having only one AP with range extenders would mean all users would eventually link through one uplink to the wired network.
That also depends on the site survey to setup the best solution.
I too, am of the opinion that you should first conduct a basic site survey:
1. While using your existing Wireless router (which I hope also does the work of an AP), get hold of a laptop with Wi-Fi connection.
2. On the laptop, install a utility called Netstumbler. (available from: www.netstumbler.com)
3. Move around in the area you want to provide Wi-Fi coverage in with the Netstumbler running. Using Netstumbler, note down the Signal strength, Noise and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). You may refer to this article to know about acceptable SNR levels: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com
4. The results from this activity will help you as well as us, in determining the best course of action.
By the way, I don't think you will need 3-4 repeaters/ range-extenders to cover an area of 70 sq. yds. You will require at the most 1 repeater. (provided that the microwave interference in the area is at an acceptable level).
A lot of it is to do with the placement of the AP and the repeater.
You may also find the following white-paper on wireless site survey best practices, useful:
https://learningnetwork.ci
Hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Sarang
Hi,
I think only one of these would satisfy your requirements:
http://www.keenansystems.c
http://www.keenansystems.c
Or maybe you could buy a couple of these: http://www.keenansystems.c
You can additionally search for high power wireless router to find something that better fits your requirements.
Hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Sarang
Hi,
Any Router/ AP which supports WDS Mode can function as a repeater.
More information on WDS mode here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
From what I know, Senao/ Engenius products are fully 802.11 compliant, and hence should work perfectly well with any other 802.11 compliant device.
Hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Sarang
I'm so sorry for the delay here. This project got sidetracked. I'm looking to order now. Like I said, it's not possible to drop lines for additional access points, so the only option is repeaters.
I looked at the Engenous documentation and it looks like their WDS Link produces the best signal. I'm looking at the info at the bottom of this page: http://keenansystems.com/c
I see it has spots to input multiple mac addresses. Could this be used then to network multiple units? There are a lot of walls in between this building space so I'm thinking of one centrally in the middle, and then one on each corner in the building (essentially create a WDS Link with all 4 repeaters, but all going back to the main repeater).
Do these Engenius routers typically have longer range than your average Linksys or D-Link type routers?
I'm considering purchasing about 5 ECB3500's for the project.
I hope your still following this thread, sorry agian for the delay!
Hi,
The range of a wireless AP/ Router depends on a the following factors:
- The power, in mW (Your country may have certain restrictions on the maximum power you can use for an AP used for domestic purposes)
- The antenna gain, the more is usually better
- How the antenna transmits the signal (directional / omni-directional). While directional antenna can provide much higher gain, omni-directional antenna provide more coverage overall (all directions).
May be, the answer to the first question here, will clarify your doubt:
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com
Personally, I don't think you should be requiring more than 2 or 3 APs to cover the said area.
I would also suggest that you purchase one AP, check the signal strengths at various sections of the premises using a utility such as Netstumbler. Also try and place the AP at different locations, and see if you can find the "sweet spot".
Hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Sarang
So sorry for the delayed response. This ended up working fine. We used three ECB-3500's to provide coverage. There seems to be some flaws in the firemware and instructions with this model. I called their support line because some of the fields from the documentation were missing in the GUI and they told me they knew this. Anyway, it ended up working out in WDS mode, thanks!
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by: jlknappPosted on 2009-11-05 at 16:59:32ID: 25755830
Reapters would have to be closer to each other then adding APs. If u have accessable drops near where new APscould be placed I would recommend that. It would provide better coverage with less units. The antennas you are using also make a difference in what coverage you get.