[clug] Extending wireless range

[Doug Palmer]

On Mon, 2004-12-20 at 11:02, Steve Collins wrote:

> My guess is that a more powerful antenna attached to the router might improve
> the situation, but some advice on what to buy would be helpful.  My guess is
> that it's going to need to NOT look like an antenna...

D-Link does a number of access points that can be configured to act as a
repeater, such as the DWL-900+. You could use one in the garage to boost
the signal. Caveats:

* It's way more expensive than a simple antenna.
* It only works with specific other access points. DI-614+ is listed as
one of those, but check it out carefully.
* It's an utter bitch to configure. Once you have it set up, the
repeater vanishes into the wireless network and is not addressable over
the air. Instead, you will need to take a laptop and plug it into the
ethernet port on the repeater.
* I've been involved in setting one up at a child care centre. I'm not
sure if the problems we've encountered should be sheeted to D-Link,
inexperience on our part or the usual finikiness of wireless. But you
should be aware that it won't be easy and you should probably do a bit
of Googling before playing.