Networks Wireless Access point defeated by solid walls... options?

We've got a wireless access point mounted on the wall of the wiring closet, then 15 feet away through 1 server rack and 1 solid wall the signal drops to next to nothing.

The previous admin added a range extender, but since the signal is spotty to begin with, it doesn't help much.

I'm going to see about splitting the wired signal and adding a WAP in the ceiling if the walls don't reach the roof, but just in case they do reach the roof, what might some options be other than running cable down the walls? (which may not be possible)

Also, our WAP's don't hand out IP's, they rely on the Firewall for that. Could I just grab a cheap home router (I.E. Linksys WRT54G) and still set my Firewall to hand out IP's?

(I don't see the use in purchasing a $500 Wireless Access Point for one room... we just need the conference room to have access while the doors are closed.)

 

I just found and old Wireless B access point...

Is wireless G backwards compatible?

Also, how do I get into the WAP the first time in order to configure it? (I'm used to working on home networking, where you usually only have one device so you just keep it at the factory default, but since there are multiple devices, what do I do to differentiate this from the rest?)

And my final question, does it matter if your antennas are the same length? I have one super long antenna and one short one. (The previous admin must have done a bit of mix and matching...)

 

802.11G is backwards compatible with 802.11B so you are fine with that.

To get into the WAP for the first time, just find a manual for it, and take a wired client and plug it into the WAP and have them on their own seperate network. Set a static ip on the client that is in the same ip area as the WAP is by default and configure it up to a ip in your existing range, and then just throw it into your netork and set the client as back to before.

If I recall the only difference of antenna height is, the tall the wider the signal is, but the less vertical signal range there is.

 

So, any ideas whether or not a built-for-home-use wireless router will serve the same purpose as a WAP (only with a shorter range?)

I don't care if it goes bad and we replace it once a year, because it is only one room, and we will want to upgrade within five years anyway.

 

A consumerbased wifi router will work fine, just disable dhcp and just don't plug in a WAN cable. The only problem I think you might have is if you put a big load on it, it may crash alot.

 

If you are getting a consumer-level wireless router, why not just get a consumer-level WAP? It might be even cheaper again. I have used a Linksys WAP54G with good results, although only with 2 simultaneous clients.

 

If it's only 15 feet away try "A" 5GHz. It might have a greater penetration, or ethernet over power?

 

A is less penatrative that B/G - higher frequency generally equals less ability to penetrate things like walls and trees although it will travel along apertures better. In the case of a solid wall however all other things being equal B/G will always penetrate it better than A.

 

I thought that was the case, but then something in the back of my mind contradicted it. fake edit: I think you have to select A if you get interference from other 2.4GHz emitters?? Why did they ever do A?

Lower frequency = further distance.

 

Considering I use a consumer wifi router at home, where I have a faster internet connection than we do here at work, and I've never had problems with as many as 5 computers browsing the wireless web at the same time, I'd assume a 10 or 15 person conference room should be fine.

And, just out of curiosity, what do you mean by don't plug in a WAN cable?

I'm actually just plugging this into a switch that is on a port on the router that does nothing but service all of our Wireless Access Points around the campus. (handing out IP's, and blocking users from getting on the LAN.. we don't want any business related traffic going over the WiFi, due to security.)

 

I am talking about the wifi router crashing from too much work on the wireless side of things, nothing about internet speed. I am saying that like 10-15 people may overload the wifi router, because the average consumer will have like half that many wireless devices.

 

drill large holes in the wall

 

Bindibagi,

Higher frequencies do allow you to support more bandwidth easily and originally the 2.4GHz band only managed 2Mb/s. Clever modulation techniques have now pushed this up to 540Mbps in the forthcoming 11n standard tho. But as you've already said yourself the 5GHz range is far less congested.

Also B/G only has 3 non-overlapping channels whereas A has 12 in total [although 4 are dedicated to ptp links] so in a very densely packed office wlan environment 11a can often offer much better coverage with less interference through walls n stuff.

J

 

Just a little update, I did bring my Linksys WRT54G wireless router from home, and hooked it up in my office, and after about 45 minutes of fiddling I got it to work with our firewall/DMZ, so now I just need to drill a hole in that concrete wall, run in data and power connecters, and mount the router on the wall above the ceiling (so it isn't visible to all the admins)

Should earn me some decent brownie points, hopefully!
(they've been wanting good wifi in the conference room for a while now, and even with my laptop 3 inches from the range extender, I still only get 2 bars of service!)

 

Okay, one last question, since the consumer Wireless Access Point seems to have a broad reach, someone might connect to it from outside the conference room.

How many people should be able to safely be on a consumer WAP (Linksys WAP54G) before it gets confused?

I wouldn't be surprised if 10 or 15 people were on at once.

(I didn't know if using a WAP might make a difference from using a Wireless Router)