Wireless network range extension
 

I've got a WRT54G router in my house, and have a detached garage. The wireless signal won't get out to the garage, and I don't REALLY want to run a Cat6 out to the garage, either. I know of repeaters, but can't really find many. Newegg has AP/Bridge/Repeater units, but I don't have a clue as to what would work, nor even how to set it up. It WOULD be outside, and constantly on. It wouldn't really be exposed to the elements much, but the temperatures are a concern, I'd think. Any ideas?

Linksys (WRE54G) and others make wireless range extenders. But if you can't even get a signal with a laptop then it's a good bet you won't get a signal to an extender. If you want to get a little deeper into wireless networking, you could attach a yagi directional antenna to your WRT54G and point it to your garage. Then if you want an even better signal, put a range extender or repeater in the garage with another yagi and point that back to the house. All depends how much you want to spend and how bad you want wireless in there.

If it's borderline you'd be fine with a better antenna on one end of your connection. If you buy it for the client then you don't have to worry about more neighbors seeing your AP. Tons of this stuff on ebay. Look in the <a href="http://computers.listings.ebay.com/Wireless-Networking-WiFi_Antennas-Repeaters-Extenders_W0QQfclZ3QQfromZR11QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ2QQsacatZ86718QQsocmdZListingItemList">antenna section</a> for something directional. Parabolic, tight focus panel, or cantenna. Cantennae are cheap to make but it may not be worth your time.

For the Linksys you need an RP-TNC connector. Lots of options at ~$40 with cable included.

If there's any chance of upgrading to MIMO equipment it'll probably have plenty of range out of the box. Expect to double distance & throughput without any messing around. Much more expensive though.

if you can find another older wrt54 (pre version 5), flash it with sveasoft firmware and set it up in client mode. I have 3 of these setup in this fashion and they perform great.

Yeah, I found out about the V5 WRT54G not being a Linux box a couple days too late. I need to keep this cheap, for sure. I think I want to try bigger antenna on the router, as what is on there now is what was on it out of the box. I can get a good signal on the back porch, but to get through a couple walls, go the 80 feet outside, then through another wall to get in to the garage is just too much. I get a usable (12-24Mbps) signal outside the garage door, and on a good night, with all the doors open, I can get a little something in there. I figure that if I have an access point on the back porch, the garage should be in range of that. I don't care about the neighbors...the network is secure, and they have their own, mostly. I've had people TRY to get in to this...and they can't. I don't know what I've done to get it that way, but it is.

BTW, the back porch thing is the bit about it being outside. I'm sitting there now, and have a full 54Mbps signal, 69% signal/49% quality, according to the Linksys software for the NIC.

Thanks for your help...I've seen a couple on Newegg for not a lot of money. May just have to try it. But, still...how would one go about setting something like this up?

Your repeater doesn't actually have to be ON the back porch. Put it indoors, but on the wall adjoining the porch. You'll be creating a new "spot", and when you're out on your porch or in the garage, it'll be just like you were that far away from your current router.

Generally you will just need to setup the repeater through a web interface just like your router, throw in your ssid wep info etc and the macID of your base router. It will then acquire signal and you're set.

I would suggest adding new antennas to the router and whatever other, if any, equipment you have. You can buy the Linksys antennas, which are outrageously overpriced, or you can go to Hyperlinktech.com and buy them from there. I purchased some 7dbi antennas from there I think for $13 a piece.

http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/2.4...ck_antenna.php

i will tell you definitely do NOT buy a cantenna. I tried using them, exchanged it 3 times (they were thinking they were defective - could I really have gotten THREE defective ones??) - anyway I was using one similar to your situation, shooting the signal out to a garage about 100 feet away, it actually made the signal worse. boooo

from Linksysinfo.org

Brainslayer has once again gone and done the unthinkable. Apparently he’s found some time away from the Fon project to continue forging ahead on getting DD-WRT into the WRT54Gv5.

From DD-WRT.com: “Subject: and last but not least… …i added now a 1,7 mb micro build to the dd-wrt series and yes it runs on the WRT54Gv5 too if you know how to flash it. so please keep the donations running to support my work in future too.”

Now based on VxWorks, the WRT54GSv5 and WRT54Gv5 come with a significantly reduced memory architecture and a different firmare setup that many assumed would be impossible to replace with a 3rd party linux solution.

Early reports here and here, indicate that the flashing process is a bit more involved and will require JTAG and tft to place the firmware image. But also of interest, this micro build will also work on the WAP54Gv3. Good work Brainslayer!

more complicated, but if u do flash it.. you could up the transmit power