Wireless Config Help

Shifter2101 · September 5th, 2004, 07:04 PM

a friend of mine in Washington is having a bit of a problem with the signal strength for the laptop on his home network.

heres the deal...

his sons machine is hardwired to the modem & router in the sons bedroom upstairs. his desktop is running a wireless card just down the hall from the wireless router, no problems with the signal there... his wifes laptop sits downstairs for the most part and gets the smelly end of the stick. the only place on the first floor they can get a signal is by sitting in the corner of the dining room. when i say corner, i mean CORNER....

he has tried moving the router out into the hallway upstairs and that helped alot.
problems with that is that he hates having the power supply, cable, and link (for his sons machine) snaking the floor of the hall.

but, he has two wireless routers...

heres my question:

can he hook-up that second router to the first?

i think that if he did this, he could put this second router under the stand/table thingy hes got in the hallway. hes got a plug there under the table, BTW. (but since his sons machine is wired to the router the plug too far away). in this way, he could leave the wireless desktop and his sons computer configured just as they are now. with the second router he would only have one wire (linking the routers) skirting the floor from router A his boys room, the other neatly tucked under the table powering router B.

secondly:

hooking the B router to A, in this way, router A would only see B as another ip/mac address, right? not caring whether or not its a computer or some other device?

i would have him reconfigure the laptop downstairs to "look" for the B router only, correct?

thanx so darn much for the help in advance ppl!

pickel · September 5th, 2004, 10:03 PM

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=18

I bought one of these last year and pickup all over the house and backyard. Just set it and forget it.

I connect @ 22Mbps anywhere. Gotta luv it

Shifter2101 · September 6th, 2004, 12:44 AM

well...

i emailed that link to him.
he isnt willing to spend any money at this point. (he just recently moved up there, and just the other day got off unemployment)...
will my idea work for this guy?

**GroundZero3** · September 6th, 2004, 12:45 AM

please post the models of the routers. some routers have the ability to act as an access point or bridge.

Shifter2101 · September 6th, 2004, 12:50 AM

one more thing...

arent you going to connect ONLY at the speed that your ISP is letting you connect at?
(11Mbps)...

sure youll connect to the router/modem at 22Mbps but itll bottleneck there.

or am i completly wrong in my understanding of the whole thing?

Shifter2101 · September 6th, 2004, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GroundZero3

please post the models of the routers. some routers have the ability to act as an access point or bridge.

router A is a linksys, B a dlink. "A" (the router in the sons room) is the router with the 4port switch im 90% certain...

for the laptop he has a linksys adapter card, for his desktop he has a dlink wireless adapter card. lastly, his sons machine is hard-wired to the linksys router...

sr71000 · September 6th, 2004, 12:55 AM

is the one in his room near a monitor or anything?? also, is it in a small area. say a closet or tight corner where it's surrounded by stuff. the last thing i can suggest is going into the router and changing the channel it broadcast from. the only thing i can think that would do this would be interference. some common and big interference factors are
1 small spaces where the signals reflect and cross and mess eachother up. like if you stick the router in a box or closet.
2 monitors, tvs and other devices that use large magnets. this also includes computers.
3 cordless phone bases
4 microwaves (though i doubt he has one in his bedroom. when my mom turns on out microwave. i lose all signal to my wireless bridge in my basement. the access point, microwave, and bridge are in a strait line though.

i doubt number 4 is the problem. but check 1 through 3 and try broadcasting on a higher or lower channel. on a linksys access point i know you can change it. it comes on channel 6 default but i have mine broadcasting on 11 because i get a better signal. also, i had my cable modem right next to it, on the side the signal had to go to get to my moms computer....that hurt my signal too. make sure the antennas are up. don't point them at where you need to send the signal. point them strait up, or at about 45 degree angles so that they are perpendicular to the router. also make sure if you tilt them, they face away from eachother. facing them toward eachother can cause interference also.

Shifter2101 · September 6th, 2004, 01:00 AM

no sr...

the one in the room is near the door leading to the hallway.

all the setting are defaulted.

no cordless phones in the house.

microwave is rarely used (so he says) and doesnt effect anything when its on. (again, so he says) (but ... my microwave has no effect on my wireless at all...go figure)

sr71000 · September 6th, 2004, 01:04 AM

it might be cus mine is just in a strait line. how about his antennas. you'd be surprised how much that can make a difference. also try changing the channel from default to something on the edge of the spectum supported. the further out it is. the less likely it is to have interference. supposing he's in an appartmant, there could be a steel beam in the wall next to the access point. or the guy next door might have his tv right on the other side of where the ap (access point) is. lots of things could be interfering. i've actually noticed i get a better signal when the weathers dry. when it's humid out my signal gets crappy (might be the other way around...the wireless comp is my moms, not mine) lol

Shifter2101 · September 6th, 2004, 10:11 AM

nope, not in an apartment. hes in an 80yr old house on 5 acres...a house that old i know for a fact wont have any steel framing in its walls... its the fact that the signal needs to go thru alot of woodwork to get to the laptop downstairs...

but again, im not trying to toubleshoot the problem with his signal. im asking if its possible to
hook-up his second router to the first. then, ill need to tell him what to configure in the second router and/or in the laptop to have it see only the second router while leaving the machines upstairs seeing the first.

as for antennas and the like, as ive said before, hes not willing to spend ANY money right now... (i know, hes cheap! i know antennas cant cost that much, but try telling him that..lol)