Wireless Repeaters - I approve

[AZRedhawk44]

I have no dead spots anywhere on my home's property.  I'm probably glowing on a WAP-hacker's utility, but I can take my laptop, while streaming high-def from Netflix, all the way out to my workshop.  From there, I can smooth/fast launch a video (or do other bandwidth intensive actions) and while it's streaming, walk out of my workshop (the farthest away from AP1 I can get without defaulting to AP2), and walk all through my house, through my garage, try and get my truck's metal body to block the signal, experience a seamless transition to AP2 with no hiccup in video feed, walk all the way to my mailbox and still have a 90% signal.

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Dang, it's hard to get ASCII drawings to align.  Anyways, you get the idea.

Gigabit switches and cable run through the house for superfast internal communication, moderate 10mb download / 3.5mb upload connection from Cox, and wireless smoothly pervading the whole property.  AP1 is 802.11n, AP2 is 802.11g.

[CNYCacher]

So you have two wifi access points, wired to your main router?

[AZRedhawk44]

Correct.

AP1 is my main router.

AP2 is one of these:

http://www.encore-usa.com/us/product/ENRXWI-G

It is set in Repeater mode, and hardwired to a gigabit switch as an uplink.  Using the same SSID and WPA2 credentials as AP1, just a different radio frequency.  Seamless switch from one to the other, without so much as an annoying WinXP system tray alert that I changed wireless networks.  Completely seamless.

Hardwired, plugged into the router directly, I get 14.4mb download, 4.4mb upload.  But, that's also with a more powerful computer... the other test I did, was with a netbook, on battery power, on wireless, as I walked around the house.

[taurusowner]

Have you considered switching over to n?

[AZRedhawk44]

Have you considered switching over to n?

I have a mix of G and N network adapter cards.

The stuff I do over wireless tends to be WAN-oriented communication.  Web pages, Citrix, Terminal Svcs.  The biggest hog would be intermittently streaming Netflix from a laptop, but mostly that's done over hard cable to eliminate intermittent drop-outs (back when I only had AP1, I got lots of drop-outs from the living room (where AP2 is)... now that I have a run in there, the computer attached to the TV can stream video off the 'net with no problems).  Relatively low bandwidth stuff anyways, where my bottleneck is my ISP (not wireless speeds).  I don't notice a difference for G or N communications for that stuff.

I've got gigabit switches and cable runs through the house that my desktop computers attach to, and the laptops can if they need high bandwidth for file copies or software installs from a network share.

[GigaBuist]

Why is AP2 in repeater mode if it has a hardwired connection back to AP1?  That's not making any sense to me.  All you have to do is put it in access point mode and be done with it.

[CNYCacher]

Why is AP2 in repeater mode if it has a hardwired connection back to AP1?  That's not making any sense to me.  All you have to do is put it in access point mode and be done with it.

This is what prompted my question actually.

I needed to clarify that they were both hard wired before I asked it.

[AZRedhawk44]

Why is AP2 in repeater mode if it has a hardwired connection back to AP1?  That's not making any sense to me.  All you have to do is put it in access point mode and be done with it.

Changed.  Y'all are right.

Last night I went for a walk with my netbook.

I got all the way to the end of the cul-de-sac with 100% signal strength, streaming Netflix with no issues.  Round the corner, back behind the house on the end of the cul-de-sac, still 100%.  Get to the cinderblock wall that contains their backyard, signal drops to about 60%.  Netflix still streaming fine.  Move to the next house and add 1 more cinderblock wall, and signal dies completely.  Netflix was still fully buffered and by the time I got back to the head of the cul-de-sac and wireless re-autoconnected, I didn't lose a second.

I was about 100 yards from my access point.

If I put repeaters in the attic, I bet I could get 200-300 yards.  Get up over the cinder block walls of everyone's yards.  I could use my wireless access at the neighborhood park, I bet, if I tried hard enough or implemented directional antenna on the attic repeaters.

[CNYCacher]

If I put repeaters in the attic, I bet I could get 200-300 yards.  Get up over the cinder block walls of everyone's yards.  I could use my wireless access at the neighborhood park, I bet, if I tried hard enough or implemented directional antenna on the attic repeaters.

By Zardoz, stop calling them repeaters! :)

You can setup what's known as a wifi repeater, which basically allows you to extend your range by placing a non-hardwired wifi device between the access point and yourself.  You get double the range but half the speed, since the repeater needs to rapidly cycle between receive and transmit.  There only needs to be a power source, no ethernet.

What you are doing is basically setting up multiple access points with the same SSID.  The best way to cover a larger area if you have the cable to run.

[AZRedhawk44]

By Zardoz, stop calling them repeaters! :)

If I put any in the attic, they will be repeaters... Arthur Frayn be damned.  I've had just about enough of running cable for right now.  I'm still coughing up insulation.

I'm thinking a repeater out in my workshop attic (which is physically a separate building, so no conjoined attic to run cabling through) and a repeater above my garage.  That might get me line of sight to the neighborhood park, except for trees.  But those are much less dense than rebar/cinderblock/concrete walls.