Please help me plan a a wireless lan for my house

[dschiller]

Hi all

Here's the deal. I'm a complete noob when it comes to wireless LANs (I've only installed a wireless router so far), and I want to build a proper WiFi network here at home. The thing is, I'm fairly sure one router won't be enough to warrant a good signal throughout the apartment.

So I'd like to know if it's possible to use something to "complement" the range of my wireless router (for example, have many routers in strategic points of the apartment, but in a way that there's only one network to connect to).

I'll have to buy all the stuff needed to do this (if it's indeed possible), so I'd really appreciate some router recommendations as well.

A few details that might be important:

1) The network will be shared by both Windows and Mac computers
2) Since it'll be just for connecting to the internet, I don't really care about file transfer rates between computers on the network, so I think 802.11g hardware will be enough? Am I right or should I consider 802.11n?

Cheers and thanks in advance
Daniel

 

[Sweetfeld28]

First, what Router do you have? What Spec Wireless card is in your tower/laptop?

Since my G5 only has a Airport Extreme card [Wireless G] i up graded my router to the same speed, i used to have a Wireless B router. I indeed did notice the difference after the upgrade, both in speed and range.


If you just want the same signal in your house/apt then you should be fine with just the wireless router, but if you want to bridge the gap in some areas that might have a weak signal, a Airport Express might not be a bad investment. This acts as a bridge, or booster, just by repeating the same signal. If you decide to get one of these, look on eBay, as you can generally find them cheaper [or buy Refurbished, from Apple.com].

 

[dschiller]

First, what Router do you have? What Spec Wireless card is in your tower/laptop?

We've got a MB and a MBP (both support 802.11.n), a Windows Notebook which only supports 802.11g and a couple of iPod touches (802.11g as well). I'm not sure it is worth paying the price of a 802.11n router for the MBs.

Since my G5 only has a Airport Extreme card [Wireless G] i up graded my router to the same speed, i used to have a Wireless B router. I indeed did notice the difference after the upgrade, both in speed and range.

If you just want the same signal in your house/apt then you should be fine with just the wireless router, but if you want to bridge the gap in some areas that might have a weak signal, a Airport Express might not be a bad investment. This acts as a bridge, or booster, just by repeating the same signal. If you decide to get one of these, look on eBay, as you can generally find them cheaper [or buy Refurbished, from Apple.com].

Yep, I do want to have some sort of device to just repeat the same signal (act as a bridge), but the Airport Express is a bit too expensive for my budget. I currently have no wireless routers at all in my household, so I'd have to buy all the stuff I'll need. Any ideas?

 

[Sweetfeld28]

I probably would just get the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station, If you think about what you might be adding for Wireless Bridges, and such, it might just be feasible to just get something that has the range your looking for. Plus, it has a USB port for adding a External HD, itunes or remote storage?

After i did some looking around i read on Apple site that Wireless B has a range of 150 ft@ 11MB/s, while Wireless G can only sustain 54MB/s at 50ft. Wireless N is compairable to B, in that the range is almost as good [if not better] at 100+ feet.

But yes if you are looking to save a dime, or not, LinkSys usually has good routers.

 

[dschiller]

Thanks for the replies, but I'm still not sure what kind of device I should buy to extend the range of my network. Apple's products are a bit too expensive for me, so I'd rather buy from Linksys or D-Link.

Any ideas?

 

[jsgreen]

Might be the least expensive way to go - not sure it is compatible with your MBP, though.

To bridge the "gap" I'd recommend adding more string (google "sheet bend" for instructions on how to splice it into the existing network).