Using vs. Avoiding Steel Structures

I have this issue that I've been toying around with for the past few
weeks as a solution to my lack of wireless coverage in my house. The
building i live in is made of concrete and steel (don't know what it's
called exactly). However I live in a duplex, so there is a bright side,
that being that there is a big hole in the floor/ceiling acting as an
open space between the two apartments. Here's where the problem is, the
staircase that links the two floors together is an aesthetically
pleasing, well-decorated STEEL STRUCTURE. Of course that may be good on
the eyes, but it kinda sucks for wireless networking not to mention that
comes right smack in the middle of the house, so it kind of cuts up the
house into zones.


|---------------------|-----------------------|
|Upper Floor Left Zone | Upper Floor Right Zone |
|---------------------|-----------------------|
|Lower Floor Left Zone | Lower Floor Right Zone |
|---------------------|-----------------------|

So as you might have realized by now, I am facing issues deploying a
wireless network to cover the whole house. As I can see it, I have a few
choices:

1. Buy extremely high gain antennas to get a signal penetrated from one
zone to all three others.
2. Buy APs/routers and use them as range expanders.

One other option that I have been thinking of is, what if I could
actually use this immense steel structure as an antenna? Just a little
bit of applied physics, if I were to wrap a coil round my routers
antenna and attached it to the steel of the staircase, wouldn't that
induce a current to and from the steel stair case from/to the antennae
of the router? this in turn would turn my greatest obstacle into the
greatest catalyst that ever happened to my house (from a wireless
networking point of view).

Any ideas, suggestions, comments (bashful or not)??
All is welcome.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
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jlaham wrote:
> I have this issue that I've been toying around with for the past few
> weeks as a solution to my lack of wireless coverage in my house. The
> building i live in is made of concrete and steel (don't know what it's
> called exactly). However I live in a duplex, so there is a bright side,
> that being that there is a big hole in the floor/ceiling acting as an
> open space between the two apartments. Here's where the problem is, the
> staircase that links the two floors together is an aesthetically
> pleasing, well-decorated STEEL STRUCTURE. Of course that may be good on
> the eyes, but it kinda sucks for wireless networking not to mention that
> comes right smack in the middle of the house, so it kind of cuts up the
> house into zones.
>
>
> |---------------------|-----------------------|
> |Upper Floor Left Zone | Upper Floor Right Zone |
> |---------------------|-----------------------|
> |Lower Floor Left Zone | Lower Floor Right Zone |
> |---------------------|-----------------------|
>
> So as you might have realized by now, I am facing issues deploying a
> wireless network to cover the whole house. As I can see it, I have a few
> choices:
>
> 1. Buy extremely high gain antennas to get a signal penetrated from one
> zone to all three others.
> 2. Buy APs/routers and use them as range expanders.
>
> One other option that I have been thinking of is, what if I could
> actually use this immense steel structure as an antenna? Just a little
> bit of applied physics, if I were to wrap a coil round my routers
> antenna and attached it to the steel of the staircase, wouldn't that
> induce a current to and from the steel stair case from/to the antennae
> of the router? this in turn would turn my greatest obstacle into the
> greatest catalyst that ever happened to my house (from a wireless
> networking point of view).
>
> Any ideas, suggestions, comments (bashful or not)??
> All is welcome.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> View this thread: http://www.wirelessforums.org/showthread.php?t=30323
> http://www.wirelessforums.org
>

That steel structure is not an effective antenna at WiFi frequencies.

That opening makes it easy to run wiring (Cat5). No point in trying to
jam wireless into a building where wired can be done; wired LANs are
more secure, more stable, and faster than wireless LANs
--
Cheers, Bob