Wireless Routers to Laptops - How far can they go

[Rich]

Hi,

Last week at costco I bought a D-Link DWL-925 combo of their wireless Router number DI-624 and Wireless Laptop Carbus card number DWL-G650 and they were duds. They not only wouldn't pass a 425 foot outdoor test, they wouldn't pass a 175 foot outdoor test; line of eye sight no obstacles (straight across the street).

Infact the signal strength keeps alternating from 3/4 good to poor about every 5 seconds when sitting 1 foot apart!.

It's going back to Costco tomorrow.

I'd like to know of actual peoples experience of how far these puppys go outside and remain solid.

My desire is to get a 424 foot connection rock solid then I will get high speed internet and pipe it from home to my job where I sit in a kiosk all night and get to play on my laptop (with boss's full approval). I work 424 feet from home, line of eye sight no obstacles. It's diagonally across a street one short block away.

Also are there any sites anybody knows of that are for wireless networking like cdrlabs is for burners?

Thanks for any info you have.

rrrrrrich

[hoxlund]

well ive read on some router boxes at work (staples) that they can go 800 feet

[aviationwiz]

My Linksys WRT54G does exactly what I want it to do and I can access it from anywhere in my house, and perhaps even outside. Might want to give it a try.

[Rich]

Hi Hoxlund,

Yup, they report long distances but I don't know if they ever reach it. Mine says it can go 328 feet indoors and 1312 outdoors. I saw one say outdoors was 1500 feet.

I hope to connect with several personal reports of their personal experience and what limits they have encountered.

Even if it's not happening right now I believe we're on the virge. What makes me think this will work was a friend of mine told me he read (like a year ago) about guys driving around in their car with their laptop on and receiving and when they encountered a wireless signal they'd park and go online for free. This sounds just devious enough to be true.

Thanks again for the reply.

Rich

[hoxlund]

ohh yeah, id makes me laugh how insecure wireless is, thats why i recommend it to all my customers that live in my area hehe

[Rich]

Hi aviationwiz,

Gee it'd be great if you could put your router in the window and start walking away from the house and see where the signal degrades.

Course that can be a bother, I know. I wouldn't wanna show some of my neighbors I had a wireless setup, much less a laptop sitting inside here!

Thanks,

Rich

[aviationwiz]

Hi aviationwiz,

Gee it'd be great if you could put your router in the window and start walking away from the house and see where the signal degrades.

Course that can be a bother, I know. I wouldn't wanna show some of my neighbors I had a wireless setup, much less a laptop sitting inside here!

Thanks,

Rich

I may be able to a test of that with my Pocket PC which is 802.11B soon. Not now though, too cold. Laptop, eh, no, way to heavy to carry around, sorry. I could bring my Axim tomorrow to school and do your test for you while I walk to the bus-stop. Gotta love that belt clip.

[Rudy]

Try a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router and if it is not enough you can boost the signal adding a Linksys signal booster.

http://www.linksys.com/products/product ... 8&prid=548

[tazdevl]

Linksys WRT54G, about 250 feet.

Big determining factor is the construction of the house and sources of noise or interference (most cordless phone are 2.4GHZ which can screw things up, microwave can disrupt the signal, high voltage sources nearby, other wireless networks on the same frequency etc...)

The distances the manufacturer states are made in an idea situation. Don't believe everything you read.

I do think 424 feet is probably an unrealistic expectation unless you raise toss in a booster and raise the router above all other structures in the area.

[dodecahedron]

What makes me think this will work was a friend of mine told me he read (like a year ago) about guys driving around in their car with their laptop on and receiving and when they encountered a wireless signal they'd park and go online for free. This sounds just devious enough to be true.

i agree with the last sentence.
but i can't see how it makes sense. the cost of the gasoline for driving around is probably more than the expense of broadband anyway!

[Rich]

Hi,

hoxlund: Are wireless hopeless as far as security?

Rudy: The signal booster sounds great but I'd need it for the laptop too.


Gee, I wonder if I could just get 2 wireless routers and do it that way.

Cable modem into the one at home and a cable connecting my laptop to the other router at work 424 feet away. Then I could use boosters.

Can 2 routers connect that way?

Rich

[DWL925]

I bought this DWL-925 kit which consists of a router (DI-624) and a PCMCIA card (DWL-G650) at Costco and it works fine as long as I do not set any encryption (using WPA-PSK). Once I set the encryption, I am unable to connect but if I revert back to no encryption, I am able to connect again.
Tech Support at D-LINK is the worst.
Tech Support at D-LINK is the worst.
Tech Support at D-LINK is the worst.

[Rich]

I bought this DWL-925 kit which consists of a router (DI-624) and a PCMCIA card (DWL-G650) at Costco and it works fine as long as I do not set any encryption (using WPA-PSK). Once I set the encryption, I am unable to connect but if I revert back to no encryption, I am able to connect again.
Tech Support at D-LINK is the worst.
Tech Support at D-LINK is the worst.
Tech Support at D-LINK is the worst.

I think you would have to put in the same codes in the Router and in the cardbus adapter.

Any chance you could set it up with the router in a window and then you connect with the laptop and walk away (outside) and measure your distance from the router when the signal degrades?

Really cool if you can.

Rich

[Rudy]

Rich:

You need a strong signal from the wireless router and a bigger antenna in the laptop card.

THey are available in the internet but they are not standard solutions. You might need to modify.

Last time I looked, old orinoco cards allow you to add an antenna.

I did not do it myself since I did not need to go more than 200outside with my router near the window on a second floor. It worked just fine but it was Linksys. Friends of mine with Microsoft HW could not go far within the house.

[Vanderlow]

Your router (DI-624) seems to be a winner by the two reviews I've looked at. See links below. I set one up in a law office and the downstairs PC got a 65% signal strength, but a 100% link quality which I think is more important. So that was probably 50 feet and two walls away. I haven't heard any gripes from them and there's four hooked up wirelessly to the wireless router.

You need to make sure you download the latest driver for your card (and card version). You also need to post in the dslreports.com D-Link forums. They are the ones who can really help you. I think I heard you might get better preformance by unchecking "Turbo", but leaving "Super" on. High CeNet customer response too, 75% thumbs up. If you had a mini-pci with a built in attenna that would probably would have been better. You can also use a modified Pringles can for an outdoor attenna to increase your range.

http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2003/05 ... tml?page=2

http://reviews.cnet.com/D_Link_DI_624_A ... tag=review

Home built antenna

http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html