Detect nearest repeater (WG602v2)

I have just bought a Netgear WG602 (v2) AP to act as a repeater (to
pair with another WG602 (v2)), so that I can boost my wireless
connectivity in my garden (on a laptop running XP Pro). I have a couple
of questions:

1. How can I detect which one of the two AP's I'm connecting to? I
can still pickup a signal (albeit a poor one) from my original access
point, so I'd like to have a way of determining whether I'm getting
the best out of my wireless. I was hoping that tracert or something
similar would show me.

2. Is there a way to force which one I connect to?

3. How do the two AP's, or XP determine which one I connect to? I
suspect that whichever one it detects first, it will stay with until a
disconnection.

Thanks

On 29 Jun 2006 02:10:58 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I have just bought a Netgear WG602 (v2) AP to act as a repeater (to
>pair with another WG602 (v2)), so that I can boost my wireless
>connectivity in my garden (on a laptop running XP Pro). I have a couple
>of questions:
>
>1. How can I detect which one of the two AP's I'm connecting to? I
>can still pickup a signal (albeit a poor one) from my original access
>point, so I'd like to have a way of determining whether I'm getting
>the best out of my wireless. I was hoping that tracert or something
>similar would show me.
>
>2. Is there a way to force which one I connect to?
>
>3. How do the two AP's, or XP determine which one I connect to? I
>suspect that whichever one it detects first, it will stay with until a
>disconnection.
>
>Thanks

As this is a "client side" issue, it would have be productive to post details
on the laptop's wireless setup.

For example, if you were using a Netgear wireless nic in your laptop, it comes
with a utility that will easily identify all of the beacons that can be "seen"
with their respective received signal strengths, and allow you to connect to
the beacon of your choice...

> >I have just bought a Netgear WG602 (v2) AP to act as a repeater (to
> >pair with another WG602 (v2)), so that I can boost my wireless
> >connectivity in my garden (on a laptop running XP Pro). I have a couple
> >of questions:
> >
> >1. How can I detect which one of the two AP's I'm connecting to? I
> >can still pickup a signal (albeit a poor one) from my original access
> >point, so I'd like to have a way of determining whether I'm getting
> >the best out of my wireless. I was hoping that tracert or something
> >similar would show me.

You could always use 'arp -a' to see the hardware addresses of the devices.
Or you could use the netstumbler program to see quite a lot more.

> >2. Is there a way to force which one I connect to?

Most client programs usually seek out the one with the best signal. If you
use netstumbler you could walk around your garden and see which ones are
giving better coverage. You may find it useful to move the access point,
adjust or even change out it's antenna.

Thanks for replying guys, i have it sorted now.

It was ll to do with the pesky "Let Windows manage my wireless"
checkbox. Once I unchecked this, and installed the latest drivers and
software for my Intel network card, things became much clearer. Not
only can I now see both of the AP's associated with my network, and
which one I'm connecting to, I can now specify a mandatory AP! I've now
specified the MAC address of the nearest AP, and all seems to be
working very well.

Thanks.


Bill Kearney wrote:
> > >I have just bought a Netgear WG602 (v2) AP to act as a repeater (to
> > >pair with another WG602 (v2)), so that I can boost my wireless
> > >connectivity in my garden (on a laptop running XP Pro). I have a couple
> > >of questions:
> > >
> > >1. How can I detect which one of the two AP's I'm connecting to? I
> > >can still pickup a signal (albeit a poor one) from my original access
> > >point, so I'd like to have a way of determining whether I'm getting
> > >the best out of my wireless. I was hoping that tracert or something
> > >similar would show me.
>
> You could always use 'arp -a' to see the hardware addresses of the devices.
> Or you could use the netstumbler program to see quite a lot more.
>
> > >2. Is there a way to force which one I connect to?
>
> Most client programs usually seek out the one with the best signal. If you
> use netstumbler you could walk around your garden and see which ones are
> giving better coverage. You may find it useful to move the access point,
> adjust or even change out it's antenna.