Expanding Wireless Signal Range

[[L]imey]

Hi guys,

Wasn't sure where else to post this, so general seemed like the most logical place.

A little preface:

My parents own a small Inn that consists of 11 cabins, the cabins are all about8 feet apart and separated into a row of five and a row of 6. At the top of the hill sits the office/parents house where the Qwest wireless modem is.

They are having trouble getting the signal out to the cabins at the end of the rows.

In the middle of the row of 6 cabins is a laundry room (only used by my parents) where we could place... something to help with the signal issue. They don't want to run cat5 out of the main office though.

The wireless modem Qwest gave them is a Motorola 3347. I don't know if this is just a crappy modem with bad signal and perhaps a good strong router with good antennas would suffice.

Anyone have ideas or any resources I could check out to help this situation?

 

[Superdemon]

More information like the landscape or the distances you are trying to cover this is going to be a shot in the dark. That said, I think a directional outdoor antenna connected to a good quality access point should do what you need to do.

Something like this mounted to the outside of the office: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164156

You could attach this directly to the quest modem assuming the antenna is detachable and you find the right adapter. Keep in mind this antenna will not provide a signal behind or to the sides of it.

 

[Old Hippie]

You're going to need a little background on the different ways to extend the signal and you'll probably want to check the signal strength at various locations in your coverage area.

I'd start here and the sky's the limit after that.

Good Luck!

 

[[L]imey]

Thank Hippie, I'll read this stuff over the weekend.

 

[Old Hippie]

Thank Hippie, I'll read this stuff over the weekend.

No problem!

You'd probably get a better response in the Networking & Security section here.

Or if you need a little more in-depth, specific info after you do a site survey, the guy that publishes this site hangs out at Anandtech and he definately knows what he's talkin' about.

 

[I3roknI3ottle]

those netopia 3347's have the smallest wireless antenna I've ever seen, definitely get a dedicated AP with a aftermarket antenna solution and your parent's cabins will have have nice wireless solution in place.

 

[keenan]

A map (even done in MS Paint or something) with some distances and current signal strengths at the laundry and problem areas would be helpful.

Based on a lot of assumptions about the geography I'm thinking of two options:

a) Depending on the distance involved, using a decent AP and either a directional or sector antenna (depending on spread) up high at the office building might be sufficient, but if signal is currently very weak and you want devices with crappy antennas like cell phones to work through a couple walls I'm not sure it's enough.
b) Run a directional PtP link between the office and laundry as a 'trunk', then put a decent omni antenna/AP at the roofline for users to connect to. Sounds like the cabins are pretty close to this so the mounted antenna may not even be necessary.

Either way I'd consider Ubiquiti for hardware. It's pretty inexpensive, designed to run outdoors without special consideration, and they have self contained units with built-in antennas that are a good match for these kind of deployments (that you don't typically find elsewhere) and very good firmware. I've used their products a few times and been very impressed with the value for money.

 

[jarhead]

i would also consider engenius 2610's. since i doubt they will need a lot of bandwidth, you could simply create a short WDS repeater chain which would enable you to have a single SSID. that's a good budget option. i would also consider getting external antennas for the 2610's, a couple low gain omni's would do you well here. like previous posters have mentioned, without a map, there isn't much more detail anyone can provide. remember, if you get an external antenna, you will almost certainly need an RP-SMA to N-Male pig tail. ubiquiti is also good, but just a little bit more expensive.

if you have a little more money and some networking/tech know how, a microtik RB11 or RB333 with a R52H and a high gain sector antenna sounds like it might work as well.

www.titanwireless.com is a good retailer for microtik stuff, and www.wlanmall.com is a good place for antennas.

if you have any other questions, feel free to PM me, i set up wireless ISP's all around the world and i'd be happy to help.