Wireless Fall Back

Geoff Lane <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

>On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 19:57:59 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed)
>(Vincent Fox) wrote:

>>Usual recommendation is you are better served by putting up a
>>second AP than a booster. Boosters are a poor solution IMHO
>>mainly because they contribute to area frequency pollution and
>>tend to drown out weaker devices. Just run ethernet to a convenient
>>location for placing the second AP. Like this:
>>
>>----WAN---ROUTER/SWITCH--------AP1-Ch.1
>> |
>> |
>> |
>> AP2-Ch.11

>Is AP1 Ch1 a typo error or is it a different channel to AP2?

It's different on purpose so they don't interfere with
each other. You only get 3 "real" channels with 802.11b
which are 1, 6, and 11. The others tend to overlap.

If you had 3 AP's in the same physical area with coverage zones
overlapping at the edges you would use AP1=1, AP2=6, AP3=11.
Your wireless card will bind to whichever AP it sees the
strongest signal from and will use that channel. Ideally
a client card should be like a cellular phone it does all
the magic of associating with the right tower and you
don't see the details. Although you can look at the AP
status page and see which clients are associated with
which AP if it interests you. If all AP's use the same
SSID value and the same WEP key and are on the same LAN
then it's totally transparent to you as you move from
one zone to the other, much like a cellphone.

Actually I extended on this principle and have had 2 houses
bridged together using pair of D-Link 900AP+ set for bridging
mode so that the wired networks in the 2 houses were welded
together into a shared LAN. Then the AP units set up in each
house used the same SSID, WEP key, and you could walk
anywhere in, around, between the two houses without
every being disconnected.

And again, if you run something like NetStumbler and
find out your neighbor is using Ch. 1, it's best that
you not use Ch.1 to avoid the interference on that
channel. Got it?

Here's an article about it at, of all places, MS:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...m_wir_chrb.asp


--
Vincent Fox
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!pri sm!vf5
Internet: (E-Mail Removed)

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 14:14:26 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed)
(Vincent Fox) wrote:


>It's different on purpose so they don't interfere with
>each other. You only get 3 "real" channels with 802.11b
>which are 1, 6, and 11. The others tend to overlap.

>And again, if you run something like NetStumbler and
>find out your neighbor is using Ch. 1, it's best that
>you not use Ch.1 to avoid the interference on that
>channel. Got it?

By the fingertips only, my Netgear PC card is throwing me a bit, it is
giving me different MAC addresses for itself, I've posted under
subject Netgear Incorrect MAC addresses
>
>Here's an article about it at, of all places, MS:
>
>http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...m_wir_chrb.asp

Thanks,

Geoff Lane