WLAN in building only 15-20m?

Hi,

I set up a Allied Telesyn WLAN with 1 AccessPoint, 1 PC and 2 Laptops.

The Laptops can only move down a hall from the AP about 15-20 meters. As
soon as I go further or walk into a room off of the hall the connection
is lost. 2MBit or 11Mbit makes no difference.

It's an old building with thick walls, but no metal barriers.

What is wrong?

Bernard

Where is the AP placed? Is it in the hallway? Brickwalls tend to degrade
signals.

Bernard M. Piller wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I set up a Allied Telesyn WLAN with 1 AccessPoint, 1 PC and 2 Laptops.
>
> The Laptops can only move down a hall from the AP about 15-20 meters. As
> soon as I go further or walk into a room off of the hall the connection
> is lost. 2MBit or 11Mbit makes no difference.
>
> It's an old building with thick walls, but no metal barriers.
>
> What is wrong?
>
> Bernard
>
>

Net-Trend.com wrote:

> Where is the AP placed? Is it in the hallway? Brickwalls tend to degrade
> signals.

It's in a room at the end of the hallway, near an open door.

What options do we have? Antenna? Which type? Can I use any antenna or
do I need an Allied Telesyn?

I am new to wavelan.

Bernard

--
www.piller.at

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 16:49:11 +0200, Bernard M. Piller <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I set up a Allied Telesyn WLAN with 1 AccessPoint, 1 PC and 2 Laptops.
>
> The Laptops can only move down a hall from the AP about 15-20 meters. As
> soon as I go further or walk into a room off of the hall the connection
> is lost. 2MBit or 11Mbit makes no difference.
>
> It's an old building with thick walls, but no metal barriers.
>
> What is wrong?

Several possibilities.

1. Something in the walls blocking the signal.
2. Some other wireless device causing interferance (2.4GHz cordless
phones?)
3. Defective AP, maybe the antenna isn't fully attached?
4. Some other source of interferance very near the AP, putting an AP right
next to a cable modem for example.


I'd start by unplugging any cordless phones, even if you're shure that's not
the problem try it anyway. Then try moving the AP to different locations,
moving it just a few feet will eliminate #4 and moving it to different rooms
will help isolate #1. You can eliminate #3 by setting the laptops to Ad-Hoc
mode where they talk directly to each other rather than through an AP and
see if the maximum distance you can get between the two laptops is similar
to what you were seeing with the AP.

BTW how much farther do you need to go? If the problem turns out to be #1
your best solution may depend on if you just need a few more feet or a lot
more.

--
Ray

Any 2.4 ghz omni antenna should be OK.
You could make one from sections of coax soldered together.
http://wireless.gumph.org/articles/homemadeomni.html
or if you are feeling really adventureous, this thing should go though a few
walls ;o)
http://trevormarshall.com/waveguides.htm

You could think about a bi-quad (directional), small, cheap and easy to
build, if you plan to restrict the place you want to use your laptop or
whatever.

If you live in the UK your could try these people:
http://www.wlansource.co.uk/catalog/catalog/

Cheers

"Bernard M. Piller" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bg90tj$m60ap$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Net-Trend.com wrote:
>
> > Where is the AP placed? Is it in the hallway? Brickwalls tend to degrade
> > signals.
>
> It's in a room at the end of the hallway, near an open door.
>
> What options do we have? Antenna? Which type? Can I use any antenna or
> do I need an Allied Telesyn?
>
> I am new to wavelan.
>
> Bernard
>
> --
> www.piller.at
>