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› Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
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Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender? (Read 69950 times)
Dan Goodell
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Posts: 552
N California
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #30 -
Jun 8
th
, 2008 at 1:10am
Brian,
Ironically, yesterday I was in the middle of doing exactly this--setting up a repeater bridge. I saw your post yesterday and was going to respond, but the project wasn't going well here, so I thought I'd better hold off ... maybe it wasn't as easy as I thought it was.
The customer had an existing WRT54G (very old--version 1.0), placed at one end of the house (no, not ideal, but that's where Comcast came into the house). He was complaining of "weak signal" at the other end of the house, so I figured I'd plug in a WRT54GL with dd-wrt on it at the other end and configure it as a repeater. Wasn't working.
After some troubleshooting, I eventually came to the conclusion the old WRT54G was flaky--its radio would show up as available to the clients but they couldn't connect. (Turns out it wasn't a signal strength problem--he eventually admitted his laptop couldn't even stay connected in the same room as the old router.)
So I reconfigured the new GL back to a gateway router, swapped it for the old WRT54G, and voila! He didn't need a repeater, he needed a new router.
So, dd-wrt wasn't the problem. But I see I don't need to tell you what settings I use because you got yours working. That's good to hear, and sorry about the prolonged silence here.
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Brian
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Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #31 -
Jun 8
th
, 2008 at 2:04am
Dan,
There was no need for an earlier reply as you provided all the information in your previous post. I just had to understand what I was reading and that took a while. After numerous errors (mine), I finally understood what I was supposed to be doing and in retrospect it's easy. A five minute job.
It definitely works. I found a spot outside the house, behind a brick wall, where I couldn't see the signal from my WAG54G, primary router. I positioned the WRT54GS in the bathroom with a view of the laptop and the laptop received a good to excellent signal from that router and connected to the internet.
We don't have reception problems even though there are a few potentially difficult areas. For the signal to reach my son's room it has to travel through the edge of a concrete slab, a double brick wall and a plaster wall. So he doesn't see a maximum signal but it's quite satisfactory. It was interesting that having the WRT54GS next to his computer gave him a stronger signal than the signal from the primary router.
My front door is 20 metres from the primary router. I can get a signal on my laptop 30 metres beyond the front door. So 50 metres with several plaster walls in between. When I positioned the WRT54GS near the front door I got a signal 40 metres beyond the front door. A small increase in range but I see the ability to send signals around obstructions to be the main benefit.
I'm a wiser man.
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John.
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #32 -
Jun 9
th
, 2008 at 12:25pm
Brian, each situation is unique. But I've had luck with a combination of techniques for homes and small offices.
First, be sure the router AND the pc antennas are up HIGH and in the clear. I don't like pci adapters because the antenna is typically on the floor behind the pc. Bad location for radio waves. I suggest USB adapters because you can move them around and higher and in the clear.
Besides up high and in the clear, try changing channels which sometimes helps. Channel 1, 6, and 11 are non-overlapping. 6 is default for a lot of routers so I avoid that one if there are problems.
Look for other 2.4 ghz devices in the office, such as cordless phones etc. which can cause interference.
It's best if pc and router both are same manufacturer. Don't mix b and g models. Some of the advanced functions of the g models require corresponding adapter on the pc.
Some people expect wireless signals to be perfect from front of the house in the garage to back bedroom upstairs. Oh well .... I can only do so much.
Ghost4me Ghost 9, 10, 12, 14, 15. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
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Brian
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Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #33 -
Jun 22
nd
, 2008 at 12:20am
Dan and John,
I meant to ask, what SSID do you use on your WRT-54G repeater? The same as the primary wireless router or a different one. When I did my tests I was using a different SSID on my repeater so that I could tell that the system was working. But I recall I had problems transferring files between computers that were receiving different SSIDs.
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John.
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #34 -
Jun 22
nd
, 2008 at 7:47am
Brian, I haven't used the WRT54G as a repeater. But I would think you would want to use the same SSID as the primary router/access point. That way the user does not have to reconnect when moving within the range of one or the other. Also enable SSID Broadcast on both units.
Linksys makes a Range Expander (aka repeater), the
WRE54G
.
Ghost4me Ghost 9, 10, 12, 14, 15. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
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Dan Goodell
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Posts: 552
N California
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #35 -
Jun 23
rd
, 2008 at 1:01am
"what SSID do you use on your WRT-54G repeater?"
I set it up as per
this dd-wrt link
. As in the diagram, two SSIDs are used--a matching SSID in "basic wireless" and a different SSID in "virtual interfaces".
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Brian
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Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia
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Re: Wireless Repeater vs Range Extender?
Reply #36 -
Jun 23
rd
, 2008 at 1:33am
Thanks. I'll leave it that way. Different SSIDs.
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