Wireless range extension?

nuckpang

Solid State Member
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7
Hmm, this is a little trickey to explain, but I'll do my best to be clear. There's a small shed/office nearby our house which my parents use for their work, it has a working broadband connection, but the house doesn't. Yesterday I set up a wireless router in the shed, and a wireless card in my pc which I had hoped would let me access the broadband. As it happens, there's a few brick walls in the way, and it's kind of on the edge the the router's range anyway (range is about 100m, shed is about 80m away), so I can't pick it up. But if I move the pc to an upstairs room, which is in direct line of sight of the shed I can pick it up. I'm thinking if I can get something to pick up and retransmit the signal from that room, I should be able to get it (there'll only be a ceiling to get through then). So here's my questions, will I need to set up another router, or will a bridge do? I've read that a bridge just connects two networks, but the broadbandless pc hasn't got a router, just the ariel to recieve, so it's not broadcasting a network (I don't think it is anyway :S ) so would that still work? If not, and I have to get a second wireless router, there's no computer in the room which can pick up the signal, does a wireless router have to be connected to a computer to work properly? Last question, I have a 811somethingorother B router broadcasting from the shed, is this compatible with a 811somethingorother G ariel/bridge/second router? The card I got for the recieving pc is compatible with both, so that's no problem, but I'll need to know what type of router/bridge to buy.

Thanks a million, and fair play to you for reading through all this crap.
 
first suggestion would be to swap the 802.11b router at the shed with an 802.11g router. Greater signal strength and distance with g. Doing this might just solve your problem. If you still need more signal strengthening ... try an access point. Netgear makes a fairly decent eXtended Range 802.11G Access Point. I'll look up the exact model of it ... it would serve your needs just fine.
 
Thanks for the advice, but I do have a couple of other questions. When you say access point, does that mean a second wireless router, like the one I have in the shed, or is an access point a different piece of equipment? If so, if I buy a 802.11g router, put that in the shed, and it doesn't work, can I then take the 802.11b, stick it in the upstairs room, and then use THAT to pick up and redirect the signal down to the pc? (I'm assuming that 802.11b and g are compatible)
 
Hi, Yes buy the 802.11g router and put this in you shed. If this cures the problem then ok, But if still things are hairy then place your old 802.11b router in your house (prefably somewhere high), then bridge it. 802.11g is backward compatible with b, so luck there!!

Ta
 
Hi, okay, so I bought a new router (an 802.11g) and that didn't seem to fix the problem. I really thought it would, it was a strong one, which was WELL within the range, but that's life I guess. I'm now trying to use my old router, the 802.11b, to pick up the signal from the g and rebroadcast it to the pc, but I haven't had much luck. How do I do it? CAN I do it? Can the router recieve as well as broadcast?
 
It's possible, but you might have some trouble. Setting up routers can be difficult,and they tend to be finnicky. I suggest just getting a range extender.
 
Hi, thanks to everyone who's given me advice so far, but I'm still floundering :S

I understand that if I buy an access point it would probably be far easier, but I'm a student, and just a little strapped for cash right now, so I'd like to avoid spending any more money than I absolutely have to. There's two pcs, and two routers, one in the shed, and one in the house. The pc in the house has an airel for wireless reception, the pc in the shed is linked to it's router by ethernet. I'm having trouble getting the routers to "talk to each other" if you get what I mean. The house pc is currently moved to the upstairs room, and is happily chatting away to the router in the shed, but I can't get the signal to bounce off the house router to the house computer. It doesn't help that I have absolutely zero experience with networks, let alone wireless ones, so if anyone could point me in the right direction, that'd be really great? Should I start playing around with ip adresses and that kind of thing or what? ANY help would be really appriciated, I'm kinda over my head here.
 
You could always return the new router to get a plain old range extender. It would be a lot easier.
 
Yeah, i'm trying to get in touch with the shop I bought the router in to see what their poilicy is on trading in equipment, and even to see if they have any access points in stock yet (they didn't last time I was there, which is why I bought the stronger router instead), but just in case I can't get my hands on one without buying a shiney new one, can anyone point me in the direction of getting the two routers I have linked together?
 
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