WiFi

[IronBits]

A friend writes:

I am using WiFi Wireless in Starbucks Coffee, Border Book and even for free at King County Library. My son and I tried to use wireless broadband router (Dell) but the performance is really bad. I am wondering why other wireless site has wireless with excellent performance.

Which model is the best buy for home use? I can accept professional grade if it is reasonable price.

Anyone have any comments so I can make a good recommendation?
TIA

[magnav0x]

Exactly what kind of performance does your friend want? On most of the early standard 802.11b cards, you will only see a 11mbps throughput. Personaly myself, I use a Linksys access point and it works very well. Less than $100. A lot of it can do with the dB (gain) levels of the antennas on the access point in question. I've replaced the standard antennas on my Linksys router with 2 8db antennas. There was nothing wrong with the ones it came with (I was a victim of the bigger and better syndrome).

Even more so than your actualy AP...location, location, location....one more time...location! Where you place your AP is crucial. Picture your home's walls and ceilings not as solid objects, but more like translucent panels with varying opacity. The more and more panels you stack on top of each other the harder it is to see what's on the other side of the panels. The number and location of other "light" sources - 2.4 GHz cordless phones, microwave ovens, etc. are all going to effect the effectivness of your wireless AP. Higher is better than lower, on top is better than inside, and don't place them near large metal objects. Water is a heavy radio frequency killer. Big fish tank near your AP? Flush the fish and keep the AP. Foil-backed insulation or metal firewalls in your home can be to blame for weakened WLAN signals.

If he decides to go with aftermarket antennas, makes sure he keeps the following in mind:

Amplifiers boost both signal and noise. Although this isn't really a problem in the transmit direction, amplified noise can swamp out a weak wireless client signal.

WLANs are two-way systems. It does little good to have an access point with a strong transmitted signal if wireless clients don't have equivalent range.

For best results, amplifiers must be located as close as possible to the AP's antenna to avoid losing the amplifier's gain through loss in a long cable. This requirement can complicate an amplifier's installation to beyond the point where many home networkers will want to deal with it.

Any more questions....ask