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antenna vs expander

Discussion in 'Networking (Hardware & Software)' started by gghartman, 2006/10/23.

  1. 2006/10/23
    gghartman

    gghartman Inactive Thread Starter

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    i am using a linksys wrt54gs my kid brother is using linksys pci usb adapter about 125 feet from my home. his signal could be better so was looking into this link -

    http://www.officemax.com/max/soluti...dBlockOID=1611326621&expansionOID=-1610650257

    or the Linksys Wireless G Expander - geeks has the expander at 49.00 which is about the same price as the antennas. so my question is which is
    better the detachable antennas or the expander ???

    thanks ahead of time for alls expert advise....greg
     
    gghartman,
    #1
  2. 2006/10/23
    Bill Castner

    Bill Castner Inactive

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    Bill Castner,
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  4. 2006/10/23
    gghartman

    gghartman Inactive Thread Starter

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    basically like the old days of rabbit ears for tvs. used to just wrap tin foil around the rabbit ears and it aided in the reception.
     
    gghartman,
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  5. 2006/10/23
    Bill Castner

    Bill Castner Inactive

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    These are true parabolic reflectors.
    See the guidelines/templates: http://www.freeantennas.com/

    A 10-12 db gain is not going to happen with tinfoil drapped on rabbit ears.

    Use the Version 2.0 12db EZ-12 Template. Build two -- one for the antenna on the PCI adapter.
     
    Bill Castner,
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  6. 2006/10/23
    gghartman

    gghartman Inactive Thread Starter

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    i do understand that tin foil not the way to go was just having a brain return to the old days. this process would work for me and my kid brother but i have a few clients that could use a little more capability on their wireless so other than building my own antenna system would the antennas for linksys work better or would the expander. thanks....greg
     
    gghartman,
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  7. 2006/10/23
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Get the expander vs the antenna, for several reasons:
    1. An antenna at the Receiving End won't help at all. Really, all it will do is enable your brother to better detect available wlans, but that's all, because in order to connect, the key factor is the strength of the signal being output by the access point.
    2. The original (version #1) wrt54g has an embedded linux operating system in it & these were stable and can even have the output signal upped using this command in a command window:
    ping '/usr/sbin/wl -i eth2 txpwr 68'
    ...however, the newer wrt54g's don't use linux, since Cisco bought Linksys, and these newer models have a reputation for weak signals, signal loss, dropped connections, etc.

    Thus one or more expanders-boosters is the best way to go with these devices.
     
    TonyT,
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  8. 2006/10/23
    gghartman

    gghartman Inactive Thread Starter

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    TonyT

    Thanks for the info and you are right about the wrt54g series dropping or loosing connection. really ****** me off. got an rma from linksys on my old
    wrt54g. worked with them for over a month and they finally did an rma with me. went out and got a wrt54gs and so far seems better but i do see on the net lots of people are complaining about lost connections. one would think that cisco would do better with routers.
     
    gghartman,
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  9. 2006/10/23
    Bill Castner

    Bill Castner Inactive

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    The key factor is the signal to noise ratio.

    Having said that, a 12db gain from an antenna is more than you can accomplish legally by altering output power of the access point transmitter.

    You forgot to mention that the repeater cuts the bandwidth of the communication by one-half.

    Your maximum bandwidth is now 28mbs for a perfect connection.

    This is not true of an antenna going 125 feet.
     
    Bill Castner,
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  10. 2006/10/24
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    correct.
    One could easily build a combination access point-microwave oven by changing the circuit board and using 10 guage coax cabling!

    To clarify my previous post:

    An external antenna for the wifi adapter can improve connection ability. It depends on the antenna type & antenna quality and adapter quality too. For example, I have a couple pcmcia wifi adapters that I plug an external 15db yagi antenna into. A yagi is approx a 30 degree cone of signal as opposed to an omni directional antenna.

    My antenna works better with one adapter than the other. But, using this antenna with my Proxim card I have been able to connect to wlans in a hi-rise from over a thousand feet away! (this was a playful experiment & equip test)

    reduced bandwidth of repeaters:

    This is correct, by one half.
    If wanting to connect solely for Internet use than the reduction will be negligable because doubtful if the isp provided internet bandwidth is greater than 28mbps anyway, but for file sharing on the lan the transfers will be noticably slower.

    gghartman-
    Is brother in a separate house? If so, and wifi router has 2 antennas, you can swap out one of them w/ a different antenna and point it towards brother's house. Keep in mind, that the longer the coax cable between router & antenna, the more signal loss.
    example:
    http://www.cantenna.com/howtouseit.html

    That said, I would be remiss if I did not also state that your ISP's terms of use likely prohibit you from sharing your connection with a separate residence. The moral choice is yours though. One way around it is to purchase an additional ip from your isp and route it to your brother using the "antenna" at your end and a separate access point at brother's house w/ antenna aimed at your house.
     
    Last edited: 2006/10/24
    TonyT,
    #9

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