Extending Wifi

I was wondering if anyone could recommend something to extend the range of
my router, is a belkin wireless g-router. I need to get it to work in my
next doors neighbours house when im over with my laptop. I have heard of
things that can plug into wall sockets to boost signal. will this do and if
so where can I buy them and will they work with belkin?

Thank you
John

In article <d496f9$4e7$(E-Mail Removed)>, John
says...
> I was wondering if anyone could recommend something to extend the range of
> my router, is a belkin wireless g-router. I need to get it to work in my
> next doors neighbours house when im over with my laptop. I have heard of
> things that can plug into wall sockets to boost signal. will this do and if
> so where can I buy them and will they work with belkin?
>
The best thing you can do is forget using crappy USB WiFi Adapters and
either use a Wireless Access Point in client mode or get a PCMCIA WiFi
adapter with an external aerial socket.


--
Conor

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." O.Osbourne.

"John" <johnemailguard2000-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d496f9$4e7$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I was wondering if anyone could recommend something to extend the range of
> my router, is a belkin wireless g-router.

A high gain antenna, it'll cost about £25 for an 8db stick. Works a treat.


> I have heard of things that can plug into wall sockets to boost signal.
will this do and if
> so where can I buy them and will they work with belkin?

I doubt it, certianlly not legally, in the UK the tx power is limited to (I
think) 66mW. It's under 100mW anyway. The only way you can legally increase
the transmit power is to use a high gain antenna. I can pickup wireless
networks over 1km away with my antenna, so I'm sure it'd solve your problem.

Besides that, remember that you're playing with microwaves! You really
wouldn't want to much power being radiated around you anyway ;o)

Good luck.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 21:37:45 +0000 (UTC), "John"
<johnemailguard2000-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I was wondering if anyone could recommend something to extend the range of
>my router, is a belkin wireless g-router. I need to get it to work in my
>next doors neighbours house when im over with my laptop. I have heard of
>things that can plug into wall sockets to boost signal. will this do and if
>so where can I buy them and will they work with belkin?

This sounds like you're taking about a WiFi Repeater. I use one and it
works for me.

Many, but not all, WiFi Access Points can be configured to work as a
Repeater. Once configured, you simply plug it in to the mains on the
edge of your good signal area, and it rebroadcasts the signals.

For instance, I have a D-Link DWL-700AP access point running from my
study. This gets about half-way down my garden. I then have another
DWL-700AP configured as a Repeater in my shed, this rebroadcasts the
signals all the way down the garden.

I don't use Belkin so I'm not an expert on them, but from looking at
their website, their "802.11g Wireless Network Access Point, Part #
F5D7130uk" seems to have Repeater capability, this MIGHT be what you
need.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=141071

There are a couple of gotchas:

* By default most of them are shipped in Access Point [1] mode. You
will need to follow the manual to change it to Repeater mode.

* The repeater must work at the same speed as your original access
point. In your case, you have a Wireless-G router so you will need a
Wireless-G repeater (or a Wireless-G access point that can work as a
repeater). Buying an 802.11b 10-megabit repeater won't work on an
802.11g 52-megabit network! I think the easiest thing to do is to
stick to the same brand and series - so if you have a Belkin G router
then use a Belkin G repeater (or a Belkin G access point which can be
configured as a router).

* I *think* the repeater must be from the same country. USA WiFi seems
to run on slightly different channels to UK WiFi; a spare American
repeater that was donated to me didn't work reliably with my British
access point. This seems further confirmed by models which have "uk"
or similar appended on the end of the part number.

* Obviously you should ensure that your private network is secure
before extending the range! WEP encryption is a good start (but by no
means completely secure).

I am running a public WiFi Hotspot, open to everyone such as my
neighbours (no encryption, just a bloody great bandwidth-throttling
port-restricting firewall). Not only am I running a repeater in my
shed, but a neighbour has set up another WiFi Repeater in his house to
extend my signal even further. You can find out more about my project
at: http://www.nam-vets.org/frampton

>Thank you

Cheers, hope this helps.

[1] An "Access Point" is what converts FROM a LAN cable (Cat5) TO a
wireless network. A "Repeater" has NO LAN CABLE attached at all, just
mains power. So if you buy an Access Point and configure it to work as
a Repeater, it will have a socket for a LAN Cat5 cable, but you will
not plug anything in to that Cat5 socket.

--
Andrew Oakley andrew/atsymbol/aoakley/stop/com

"Treefrog" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d4ifmb$e52$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "John" <johnemailguard2000-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:d496f9$4e7$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I was wondering if anyone could recommend something to extend the range
> > of my router, is a belkin wireless g-router.
>
> A high gain antenna, it'll cost about £25 for an 8db stick. Works a
> treat.
>
> > I have heard of things that can plug into wall sockets to boost signal.
> > will this do and if so where can I buy them and will they work with
> > belkin?
>
> I doubt it, certianlly not legally, in the UK the tx power is limited to
> (I think) 66mW. It's under 100mW anyway. The only way you can legally
> increase the transmit power is to use a high gain antenna.

The limit is defined in terms of EIRP, so even fitting a high gain antenna
to a transmitter can be illegal (unless you have a licence, of course).

BTW, a quick websearch suggests the UK (and EU) limit is in fact 100mW EIRP.

Alex

"Andrew Oakley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 21:37:45 +0000 (UTC), "John"
> <johnemailguard2000-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I was wondering if anyone could recommend something to extend the range of
>>my router, is a belkin wireless g-router. I need to get it to work in my
>>next doors neighbours house when im over with my laptop. I have heard of
>>things that can plug into wall sockets to boost signal. will this do and
>>if
>>so where can I buy them and will they work with belkin?
>
> This sounds like you're taking about a WiFi Repeater. I use one and it
> works for me.
>
> Many, but not all, WiFi Access Points can be configured to work as a
> Repeater. Once configured, you simply plug it in to the mains on the
> edge of your good signal area, and it rebroadcasts the signals.
>
> For instance, I have a D-Link DWL-700AP access point running from my
> study. This gets about half-way down my garden. I then have another
> DWL-700AP configured as a Repeater in my shed, this rebroadcasts the
> signals all the way down the garden.
>
> I don't use Belkin so I'm not an expert on them, but from looking at
> their website, their "802.11g Wireless Network Access Point, Part #
> F5D7130uk" seems to have Repeater capability, this MIGHT be what you
> need.
>
> http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=141071
>
> There are a couple of gotchas:
>
> * By default most of them are shipped in Access Point [1] mode. You
> will need to follow the manual to change it to Repeater mode.
>
> * The repeater must work at the same speed as your original access
> point. In your case, you have a Wireless-G router so you will need a
> Wireless-G repeater (or a Wireless-G access point that can work as a
> repeater). Buying an 802.11b 10-megabit repeater won't work on an
> 802.11g 52-megabit network! I think the easiest thing to do is to
> stick to the same brand and series - so if you have a Belkin G router
> then use a Belkin G repeater (or a Belkin G access point which can be
> configured as a router).
>
> * I *think* the repeater must be from the same country. USA WiFi seems
> to run on slightly different channels to UK WiFi; a spare American
> repeater that was donated to me didn't work reliably with my British
> access point. This seems further confirmed by models which have "uk"
> or similar appended on the end of the part number.
>
> * Obviously you should ensure that your private network is secure
> before extending the range! WEP encryption is a good start (but by no
> means completely secure).
>
> I am running a public WiFi Hotspot, open to everyone such as my
> neighbours (no encryption, just a bloody great bandwidth-throttling
> port-restricting firewall). Not only am I running a repeater in my
> shed, but a neighbour has set up another WiFi Repeater in his house to
> extend my signal even further. You can find out more about my project
> at: http://www.nam-vets.org/frampton
>
>>Thank you
>
> Cheers, hope this helps.
>
> [1] An "Access Point" is what converts FROM a LAN cable (Cat5) TO a
> wireless network. A "Repeater" has NO LAN CABLE attached at all, just
> mains power. So if you buy an Access Point and configure it to work as
> a Repeater, it will have a socket for a LAN Cat5 cable, but you will
> not plug anything in to that Cat5 socket.
>
> --
> Andrew Oakley andrew/atsymbol/aoakley/stop/com
>

thanks all, ill try that, very usefull info!!!