Cable wireless router

[AledJ]

Wireless range is usually represented by a bubble (though it is more doughnut shaped), so you can assume it is 100ft out as well as 100ft up.

I must have been tired last night, 1,600ft is about a third of a mile! or half a km. That would be one massive house!

My house is massive But have worked out from the ground to my room its about 40ft. So adding 50ft for the diagonal distance, a 300m range should be ok. Won't really know until i get a router. I guess I could just plug one in (not connected to the modem) to see where the signal gets too??

In that case, forget about an alternative router until you get the free one from Virgin and see how it performs. If you can't get a signal with it where you want it, then you can view your options for improving that signal.

A repeater may be easier, not sure.

As for the router from Virgin its not free to customers like me who have been longer term customer (since NTL). But, of course if your a new customer its free ............................. bunch or worthless BEEEEEEEEEEEP

Anyway, i'm still no wiser as to what router to plunge for lol So much damn choice!!

[AledJ]

Right, now on the L package When I phones Virgin about the router i was told i could upgrade further to 10mb + and get £13 discount so no extra charges at all. Annoying thing is that after that call i gave it 30min checked my speed at it was around 9.82mb. Then a little later only 5.62mb for some reason. Turned power to the modem off then back on and get 9.62mb, and yet agin next test is down at the 5mb level. Now this is confusing!!! Could it be to do with time of day?? or is it do withe modem (its very old- its the ntl home 100 modem) If i do have to get a new modem of Virgin i'm dreading the phone call

As for finding a router any models i shoudl look at? I have looked at some brands suggested, but so many models lol

Thanks



Mods- Could get rid of demitry from this thread thanks!!!

[Funkstar]

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind answering, firstly from your experience of using a similar setup did you benefit from better coverage? Also in terms of connecting to the internet, do you have to turn off the wireless broadcasting on the router and just connect via the access point if using wireless? Or is it ok to leave it on and allow a computer to connect to either the access point or the original router?

That AP is the one I'm using at mine just now. No idea about range, I just wanted a 802.11n AP to go with the Draytek router I bought, figured it would be better to go N than stick with G. The down side of that one though is that it is only 2.4Ghz, so you can still get interference from all your neighbours. In theory one with a 5Ghz band as well would have been better.

if both the router and the AP are on different channels and have different SSIDs then there is no reason they couldn't be used together. the advantage to that setup is you can seperate them somewhat by just running a cable to where you want the AP.

[Funkstar]

My house is massive But have worked out from the ground to my room its about 40ft. So adding 50ft for the diagonal distance, a 300m range should be ok. Won't really know until i get a router. I guess I could just plug one in (not connected to the modem) to see where the signal gets too??

300m is about 1,000ft. Much more than you need, but again, this figure is for open air, not a building.

How old is the house?

Wirless works much better in newer houses as they are less dense in general. They might have better insulation (sometimes) but they don't have inche thick lath and plaster walls and over sized joists and struts.

[mosfet]

+1 for Linksys, specifically WRT54G models with DD-WRT or Tomato custom firmware.

Just bought a WRT54G-L for my 3-story house, using WDS on an existing airport express to seemingly extend the range throughout the whole building.

If you absolutely need N, then the Belkin should do the trick.

[AledJ]

The house was built during the early 1900's I think. I may give up lol Still can't figure out whether i get N, N+ or N1 (only seen n1 from belkin) router.

[Emirzan]

Funkstar - Thanks for the response, that clears things up a bit. Think I'll go ahead with it, I've got a spare 10m ethernet cable that means I have a bit of flexibility with positioning of the AP.

AledJ - Sorry for hijacking the thread somewhat, didn't seem much point in starting another one when this was so close to what I wanted to ask. Good luck with getting the router selection sorted.

[Funkstar]

The house was built during the early 1900's I think. I may give up lol Still can't figure out whether i get N, N+ or N1 (only seen n1 from belkin) router.

Aled, N+ and N1 are just marketing. N1 is the name of the belkin router, not the technology it uses. If Belkin make you believe otherwise, then that is them trying to make you think theirs is "OMG!!! super uber extreme cool".

Everything is just designed around the current draft of the 802.11n standard. There is no N+ or N1.

[AledJ]

Right had a look around and see a lot of draft N router but i have seen some 802.11n (draft 2.0) router too. I assume the draft 2 will be the newest versions.

So have narrowed the choice to:

D-Link DIR-825

Belkin F5D8236uk4

Netgear WNDR3300

Anything else i should know?

[Apex]

Why not run the Powerline stuff, bung in a power line adapter near the modem, then in your room bung in another and connect the router to that (sure that's one of the set ups that are supported) or bung another power line plug and bung a wireless repeater on the end of it in your room, expensive but gets round range issues.

[AledJ]

After doing a bit of research on what router to get I have decided not to go ahead with it. The main reason is the distance from the router to my room at the top of the house. So instead i ahev decided to use one of these I have one in my room form when i was in uni (had a shared room for 6months and only one net connection point) Now if i connect this to my modem then plug ethernet cable from the pc and my laptop to it, what will the speeds be like? Both the laptop and pc are used for browsing the net and work (no games) Say for example one of my parents is on the pc and i'm on the laptop, will we notice a big downturn in speed (we are now on the 10mg+ line with Virgin)

Thanks!!

[Funkstar]

I don't see how this would work.

These things are meant to double up the ports on a cable, but you need one on each end of the line. 10/100mbit ethernet doesn't use all the pins in a Cat5/6 cable, so you can split it and use some pins for one connection and other pints for the second. However, you need to split them back out to the correct pin usage before connecting anything to that line.

This is meant for situations where you have plenty of space in your switch (or the switch built into your router), but can't run another cable into a particular room for whatever reason. Using this still requires two data ports in the switch.

A second switch (though you could get away with a hub) is the proper way to do what this does.

[AledJ]

I don't see how this would work.

These things are meant to double up the ports on a cable, but you need one on each end of the line. 10/100mbit ethernet doesn't use all the pins in a Cat5/6 cable, so you can split it and use some pins for one connection and other pints for the second. However, you need to split them back out to the correct pin usage before connecting anything to that line.

This is meant for situations where you have plenty of space in your switch (or the switch built into your router), but can't run another cable into a particular room for whatever reason. Using this still requires two data ports in the switch.

A second switch (though you could get away with a hub) is the proper way to do what this does.

I assume you mean something like this ??

[mehmeh]

Surely if your giving up and just running some cable. A cheap and cheerfull router would make more sense and be less involved. Most, if not all, routers are wireless too these days, so you see what wireless is like kicks!

[Funkstar]

I assume you mean something like this ??

yes, or even this:
5 Port Edimax ES-3205P Super-Mini (fits in your palm) 10/100 Switch (Auto-MDI/MDI-X/Flow Control)

[AledJ]

yes, or even this:
5 Port Edimax ES-3205P Super-Mini (fits in your palm) 10/100 Switch (Auto-MDI/MDI-X/Flow Control)

Thanks! I assume no other security will need to be set up??? Both pc and laptop have firewalls and anti virus.

mehmeh: Thing is the wireless was only so i could work in my room, and since the signal wont reach no point. A simple switch port will do fine for now!