Wireless Network Range Extenders?
 

The problem I have is that on ACK there is a wifi broadband service that covers most of the Island, the trouble is we don't stay in a part of the island that it reaches well.

So I thought what about getting a wireless network range extender putting that in a spot in the house that does get a signal and then using the signal it puts out. However I am unsure as to whether this would work (but being positive I'm assuming it will), as it's not our router producing the signal that it will be repeating. I would appreciate any advice anyone has or any experience of using one and any good cheap makes.

I've used a couple of products like this, for GETTING A signal that is at a distance.

The traditional CANTENNA actually DOES work, but it is pretty large and cumbersome to travel with, I have moved to a smaller antenna for that.

What one NEEDS though is a network card, dongle, pccard, usb wifi dongle etc. WITH an antenna in. Then, one needs the connector to connect whatever antenna you buy to that dongle. Sounds like a pain, but it really isn't. Finding a card with an antenna in is really the hardest part.

That said, I have had very good results. Mostly around hotels and resorts where I knew the hotspot was ONLY in the main area (or, sometimes that is the only FREE hotspot) I did have very good success at The Bitter End Yacht club, where the wifi access is only in the main building (or on an island in the middle of the bay) both of which are about 300 yards away, the island of course is situated in the middle of a body of water where the winds blow sometimes 50+ mph, all of which don't make for BETTER signal travel. But, it DID work and I got solid 60-70db signals which meant I could make phone calls, do normal web work, emails and even stream content with my slingplayer app from my slingbox nearly 5K miles away. :-)

this is an example of a wifi dongle one needs if they go that route:

http://www.frys.com/product/5279887?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

you can them upgrade the RANGE with such and antenna

http://www.frys.com/product/5164056?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG


As an alternative, these new devices are suppossed to get quite good results, although I haven't tested them per se, and cannot imagine that they would work AS WELL as getting a good antenna up in the air with a longer cable and attaching to a dongle.

Here is a link the newer wifi enhancers

Thanks for that I've actually been to the Bitter End as well, got the polo shirt to prove it, and Biras Creek (to go OT slightly).

I was thinking of bunging something like one of these which someone has just suggested off-line to me, then it wouldn't just be one machine that can access the signal. Also as my netbook runs on Linux I don't have to try an get it to work with a USB adapter. I do own the one you suggested but it's branded Edimax, and does not want to work with the aforementioned netbook.:(

If you have a pretty decent signal, then something like the unit you posted would work fine, I think the protocol is WDS, many apple product do this, a couple of the portable travel routers do this and other AP's. But, this requires that this device can GET/SEE the signal we are talking about. They basically act as a repeater, whereas the other solutions act as a way to REACH the signal that is far away. In the above example, there was NO WAY I was going to be able to see/reach the signal at BI or other locations, but once I could get it, then I could distribute it.

Ah yes I understand, we do get a signal it is just very weak to non existent in most parts of the house but in a place you do not want to spend long periods there is a useable signal. I might try a cantenna (someone will be bringing a windoze machine) but this would be a bit extreme just to be able to use the free wifi at the library in town, whilst it is open.

Thanks for your suggestions it has got me thinking.

one of the things I often do, is use the wifes windows machine with a DONGLE either pccard or wifi dongle, to GET the signal, THEN I'll use ICS (internet connection sharing) on that same laptop to share the DONGEL WIFI connection with the built in WIFI connection. Or, sometimes I will share it with the pc ethernet connection and then connect that to a travel router. There are a lot of options,

First question to answer is, do I get enough signal to share, if not must go to distance antenna solution, if YES, then there are a lot of options for getting and repeating.

If you are VERY tech savvy; consider re-flashing a Linksys WRT54GS
(or WRT54G-TM) with DD-WRT and [re]configuring it to act as a repeater.

If you are not VERY tech savvy; buy the kit from JefaTech:

http://www.jefatech.com/c=fq1xxzn24y...category/a050/

-doug

I have used both the Belkin and the Linksys range extenders/repeaters and find them excellent.

Per a previous poster, I've also used a re-flashed Linksys allied with two Netgear WAPs in bridge mode and a cantenna with excellent results.

I think I will go for one of the two that you mention above and will get them shipped either to a friend on the island or to the house when someone is there.

Thanks for all the replies.

Uh, jimmie76, I just wanted to let you know I do HOUSE CALLS and am willing to set everything up, even provide the hardware for FREE,

just send me the keys (I'll pay postage!!!)

;-)

Just a thought, but have you looked at the sprint broadband solutions on the island? It would appear that sprint shows coverage on the island and there are some sprint paygo mobile broadband plans out there. Would be cheaper too, unless one uses more than 5GB a month.

One of the reasons that we like the on island wifi service is that we can just use the inbuilt wifi in the netbook/laptops and the fact that I run linux doesn't matter. I have yet to see a mobile broadband donlge that runs out of the box on linux.

Also cell phone coverage on the far west of the island is a bit hit and miss indoors and you again have to be in the correct part of the house to get a signal. Despite what the websites say I have hit and miss coverage on my 3g phone in Central London, and where I am right now there is no signal strength at all.

And thanks for the offer but I suspect that owners of the property might find it a little odd if you pitched up.

The MiFi will run anything because it's just a router. It doesn't care how you connect to it as long as you can connect to it with wifi. It makes the connection to the network, and then lets up to 5 devices share that connection.

I'm not saying it's a better solution then the wireless one, but it is a mobile broadband solution that works with anything.

Have a look at the Zoom 4506
 

Spec here.

Saved my working life a couple of weeks ago when my home broadband was down.

I fixed the GSM Dongle to a fishing pole out of an upstairs roof window to get a GSM signal (4 meter USB extension lead), then ran the router into my home network. (The wifi signal was good, by my office is in an outbuilding).

Depending on the strength of the 3G signal, this may work for you, without the fishing pole, etc. giving you your own wifi. You could add range with and extender or ethernet cable.

So, I was going to say you might look into something like the cradlepoint routers. They accept pretty much ANY mobile wireless dongle, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, others. From there, it is just a router like any other so Linux, iphones, cell phones with wifi are no issue at all.

There are many types of products, some more business capable (20+ users at once) than others, and some more portable. I use a combination of both. One at home for when I have outages, or am doing a lot a business at one customer - with a team.

Nice thing about this, is one puts the router WITH the dongle where the signal is best and then the router acts as the wifi access point for the domicile.

http://cradlepoint.com/products/mbr1...ireless-router

Nice thing about a solutoin like this is that you can use the thing anywhere, car, home, work, remote, they have plans that are paygo and plans which can be turned on and off at various times of the year. Essentially a vacation suspension type plan. This is what I do when I don't use it, costs me 5$ a month to suspend it.