Structured Wiring box

Ring.... It's a friend with a wireless problem. His new home
wireless installation has very poor range. After a short
interrogation, I determine that he has a Leviton structured wiring box
for his home network and phone system.
<http://assets.twacomm.com/assets/pdf/25149.pdf>
I also determine that he has crammed into the box a Type 110 punchdown
block, a mess of wires, an ethernet switch, a DSL modem, and a WRT54GC
wireless router. I had a somewhat difficult time explaining that the
wireless router isn't going to work inside a metal box and that he'll
need either an external antenna, or a router relocation. "The saleman
told me it didn't need an antenna, so I figured it would work
anywhere". Welcome to life in the slow lane.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Ring.... It's a friend with a wireless problem. His new home
> wireless installation has very poor range. After a short
> interrogation, I determine that he has a Leviton structured wiring box
> for his home network and phone system.
> <http://assets.twacomm.com/assets/pdf/25149.pdf>
> I also determine that he has crammed into the box a Type 110 punchdown
> block, a mess of wires, an ethernet switch, a DSL modem, and a WRT54GC
> wireless router. I had a somewhat difficult time explaining that the
> wireless router isn't going to work inside a metal box and that he'll
> need either an external antenna, or a router relocation. "The saleman
> told me it didn't need an antenna, so I figured it would work
> anywhere". Welcome to life in the slow lane.
>

I'll bet he got that information from the "experts" at one of the big
box stores.

On Jan 8, 7:28 am, George <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> "The saleman
> > told me it didn't need an antenna, so I figured it would work
> > anywhere".

> I'll bet he got that information from the "experts" at one of the big
> box stores.

Nope. I think it was Frys and the salesman was right. The WRT54GC
does not come with an external antenna (although there is a well hidden
antenna connector available). My friend asked for a small router so it
would fit inside the Leviton box. The rest of the logic was all his
own. Lacking a visible antenna, I guess he thought the RF was radiated
through the ethernet or AC power wiring, but we didn't get that far.
He apparently didn't consider the possibility that there might be an
internal antenna. Also, a plastic structured wiring box would have
worked somewhat, but it was too late to exchange it.

Ring.... I received another phone call this morning from my friend.
Wireless coverage inside the house is still awful, but coverage all
over the neighborhood is quite good. The structured wiring box is in
the garage, where the common wall to the house is a "fire wall" which
requires foil backed insulation to prevent the spread of fire. It
makes a nice reflector. So, I get to put the router back inside the
box, punch a hole in the wall, and run an inside antenna. Of course
this has to be done for free and immediately so his kids can play
online games with their new Christmas toys.

"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>Ring.... I received another phone call this morning from my friend.
>Wireless coverage inside the house is still awful, but coverage all
(...)

Ring.... Same friend again. He can't connect via wireless to his
WRT54GL router from one of his laptops, which was working when I left
last week. WPA encryption handshake failure. I spend 30 mins on the
phone helping him put the laptop setting back to where there is some
hope of proper function. No luck. Several times, I ask him to power
cycle the WRT54GL in the garage in case it was the problem. Still no
luck. I eventually determine that he's power cycling the power to the
entire structured wiring box at the (easy to reach) AC outlet.
Unfortunately, that goes to a small UPS which continues to supply
uninterrupted power to the WRT54GL. The UPS has the buzzer disabled
so it doesn't freak out the dog that lives in the garage. I
eventually convince him to climb up a ladder, power cycle the router,
and all is well.

He also did me a big favor by dealing with the wirless coverage
problem from the garage. The garage "fire wall" had aluminum foil
backed glass mat insulation inside the wall. So, he just cut a big
chunk of drywall out of the wall, removed the foil, shoved what was
left of the insulation back into the wall, patched the damage, and
planted the wireless router in front of the foil free area. He says
it works much better now.




--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558