Range and reliable connection of home wireless LAN

Bit of an old chestnut, I know.

My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
very old (and thick walled) house.

All the stuff downstairs is fine, my squeezebox, laptop, PDA and
desktop all talk to the router well through a couple of internal walls.

Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming PC
which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
antenna stuck on the back.

The options I am considering to improve the quality of the connection
are :

-Purchase of higher gain antennas for my router (larger ones are 5 dbi
as opposed to 3 dbi ones it came with)

- Have a twiddle with the position of the base station and aerial
alignment (should they be at an angle to give vertical coverage?)

- Try and find an antenna for my upstairs PC which is on a cable so I
can move it away from being jammed between a wall and the back of the
PC. - Any recommendations of suitable devices here?

Anyone had any notable successes with better quality antennas etc

Specs :

Draytek 2600W (802.11b)
Dynamode PCI g cards (WL-GI-600XA)
Squeezebox, laptop etc downstairs
18th century cottage with

Any comments before I start shopping?

PS Never had this problem when I lived in my Barratt box - its walls
were made of cardboard!

Cheers

Chunky

"Chunky" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>
> Bit of an old chestnut, I know.
>
> My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
> very old (and thick walled) house.
>
> All the stuff downstairs is fine, my squeezebox, laptop, PDA and
> desktop all talk to the router well through a couple of internal walls.
>
> Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming PC
> which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
> intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
> antenna stuck on the back.
>
> The options I am considering to improve the quality of the connection
> are :
>
> -Purchase of higher gain antennas for my router (larger ones are 5 dbi
> as opposed to 3 dbi ones it came with)
>
> - Have a twiddle with the position of the base station and aerial
> alignment (should they be at an angle to give vertical coverage?)
>
> - Try and find an antenna for my upstairs PC which is on a cable so I
> can move it away from being jammed between a wall and the back of the
> PC. - Any recommendations of suitable devices here?
>
> Anyone had any notable successes with better quality antennas etc
>
> Specs :
>
> Draytek 2600W (802.11b)
> Dynamode PCI g cards (WL-GI-600XA)
> Squeezebox, laptop etc downstairs
> 18th century cottage with
>
> Any comments before I start shopping?
>
> PS Never had this problem when I lived in my Barratt box - its walls
> were made of cardboard!
>
> Cheers
>
> Chunky

Sounds like you could do with a signal booster. I cant remember the details,
but if you google this group it was discussed a month or so back.

Chunky wrote:
> Bit of an old chestnut, I know.
>
> My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
> very old (and thick walled) house.
>
> All the stuff downstairs is fine, my squeezebox, laptop, PDA and
> desktop all talk to the router well through a couple of internal
> walls.
>
> Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming
> PC which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
> intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
> antenna stuck on the back.
>
> The options I am considering to improve the quality of the connection
> are :
>
> -Purchase of higher gain antennas for my router (larger ones are 5 dbi
> as opposed to 3 dbi ones it came with)
>
> - Have a twiddle with the position of the base station and aerial
> alignment (should they be at an angle to give vertical coverage?)

If your antenna is poining vertically the signal will radiate in a
circle/disc around it in a horizontal plane, (imagine swingball) with only a
weak signal extending upwards(and downwards). Adjust the antenna so that it
is horizontal(ish) and directed so that the imaginary "disc" of radiation
passes wherever you need it both upstairs and down.

Good one, I had considered the possibility that the alignment of the
antennae was important and will have a fiddle to see if I can improve
things.

Cheers

Chunky

On 6 Jan 2005 00:34:30 -0800, "Chunky"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
>very old (and thick walled) house.

>Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming PC
>which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
>intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
>antenna stuck on the back.

May well be the insulation in the walls of the extension.

Tiny Tim explained the aerial, try that first but you may end up with
a better signal upstairs at the expence of your downstairs signal.

The Access Point needs to be roughly central, many, icluding myself,
have them by external walls and half the signal ends up in the street
(Encrypted though).

Geoff Lane

if all else fails try a "Cantenna" here is a few links

http://www.cantenna.com/
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html

Bill M

"Chunky" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>
> Bit of an old chestnut, I know.
>
> My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
> very old (and thick walled) house.
>
> All the stuff downstairs is fine, my squeezebox, laptop, PDA and
> desktop all talk to the router well through a couple of internal walls.
>
> Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming PC
> which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
> intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
> antenna stuck on the back.
>
> The options I am considering to improve the quality of the connection
> are :
>
> -Purchase of higher gain antennas for my router (larger ones are 5 dbi
> as opposed to 3 dbi ones it came with)
>
> - Have a twiddle with the position of the base station and aerial
> alignment (should they be at an angle to give vertical coverage?)
>
> - Try and find an antenna for my upstairs PC which is on a cable so I
> can move it away from being jammed between a wall and the back of the
> PC. - Any recommendations of suitable devices here?
>
> Anyone had any notable successes with better quality antennas etc
>
> Specs :
>
> Draytek 2600W (802.11b)
> Dynamode PCI g cards (WL-GI-600XA)
> Squeezebox, laptop etc downstairs
> 18th century cottage with
>
> Any comments before I start shopping?
>
> PS Never had this problem when I lived in my Barratt box - its walls
> were made of cardboard!
>
> Cheers
>
> Chunky
>

"Chunky" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>
> Bit of an old chestnut, I know.
>
> My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
> very old (and thick walled) house.
>
> All the stuff downstairs is fine, my squeezebox, laptop, PDA and
> desktop all talk to the router well through a couple of internal walls.
>
> Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming PC
> which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
> intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
> antenna stuck on the back.
>
> The options I am considering to improve the quality of the connection
> are :
>
> -Purchase of higher gain antennas for my router (larger ones are 5 dbi
> as opposed to 3 dbi ones it came with)
>
> - Have a twiddle with the position of the base station and aerial
> alignment (should they be at an angle to give vertical coverage?)
>
> - Try and find an antenna for my upstairs PC which is on a cable so I
> can move it away from being jammed between a wall and the back of the
> PC. - Any recommendations of suitable devices here?
>
> Anyone had any notable successes with better quality antennas etc
>
> Specs :
>
> Draytek 2600W (802.11b)
> Dynamode PCI g cards (WL-GI-600XA)
> Squeezebox, laptop etc downstairs
> 18th century cottage with
>
> Any comments before I start shopping?
>
> PS Never had this problem when I lived in my Barratt box - its walls
> were made of cardboard!
>
> Cheers
>
> Chunky
>
I use a D-Link DWL 700AP in repeater mode (my problem is opposite i.e. no
signal downstairs) which extends the signal nicely to almost the bottom of
the garden (situated immediately below the router)

most belkin cards come with a little rubber duck which has about 2ft of
coax,
i had the same problem and it worked a treat.
you might find a better signal is gained by laying the router and the
offending pc's aerials flat
an upright aerial will produce a mushroom type of radiation with little
produced signal radiated above the aerial.
if you lay it down, you can perhaps imagine what will happen most will be
up/down

mike

"Chunky" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>
> Bit of an old chestnut, I know.
>
> My wireless LAN (details below) has been moved to new location in a
> very old (and thick walled) house.
>
> All the stuff downstairs is fine, my squeezebox, laptop, PDA and
> desktop all talk to the router well through a couple of internal walls.
>
> Upstairs is a different story and I am having trouble with my gaming PC
> which is hidden away in an extension built on the house. Signal is
> intermittent through the dynamode PCI card with the customary crap
> antenna stuck on the back.
>
> The options I am considering to improve the quality of the connection
> are :
>
> -Purchase of higher gain antennas for my router (larger ones are 5 dbi
> as opposed to 3 dbi ones it came with)
>
> - Have a twiddle with the position of the base station and aerial
> alignment (should they be at an angle to give vertical coverage?)
>
> - Try and find an antenna for my upstairs PC which is on a cable so I
> can move it away from being jammed between a wall and the back of the
> PC. - Any recommendations of suitable devices here?
>
> Anyone had any notable successes with better quality antennas etc
>
> Specs :
>
> Draytek 2600W (802.11b)
> Dynamode PCI g cards (WL-GI-600XA)
> Squeezebox, laptop etc downstairs
> 18th century cottage with
>
> Any comments before I start shopping?
>
> PS Never had this problem when I lived in my Barratt box - its walls
> were made of cardboard!
>
> Cheers
>
> Chunky
>

Thanks, I will have a look at this as the price looks good.

Any compatibility issues? I assume it will work OK with my Draytek
unit...

Cheers

Chunky