add antenna to wifi router or remote pc?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Hi,

I'm wondering whether I should add an antenna to my router, or replace
a remote 802.11g device with a more robust device, or both.

I have a d-link di-524 802.11g wireless router and a d-link dwl-g120
usb 802.11g dongle at a remote pc about 30 feet away. The remote pc
is a Dell Dimension 4600C, which contains only a single half-height
PCI slot, and I chose a USB dongle since there are few half-height PCI
802.11g cards on the market.

The remote PC functions as an HTPC (home theater PC), and therefore
sits on a low shelf in my TV cart. The positioning is very
unfavorable in terms of interference from all the nearby electronics,
and I rarely obtain good signals even though the router is only 30
feet away, and I frequently lose the signal entirely. OTOH, when I
bring a laptop home from work and wander around the house, I get good
signals on the laptop, so I think that the problem is due more to the
dwl-g120 dongle and its environment than to the router.

It would be relatively cheap and easy to add an antenna to the router,
but I don't know whether that will provide adequate two-way
communication if the dwl-g120 is unable to transmit adequately.

Another alternative is to replace the dwl-g120 with a Hawking HWU54D
high-gain USB wireless-G adapter:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Hawking_HWU54D_high_gain_USB_wireless_G_adapter/4505-3380_7-30825857-2.html?tag=glance

Do you have any opinions as to which will work better? Or should I
just buy the router antenna and then try the USB device if necessary?

Thanks,

Jonathan

 

[Jo]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

jaepstein_63@yahoo.com (Jonathan Epstein) wrote in
news:27e4d2e8.0410270516.7bb959b@posting.google.com:

> Hi,
>
> I'm wondering whether I should add an antenna to my router, or
> replace a remote 802.11g device with a more robust device, or
> both.
>
> I have a d-link di-524 802.11g wireless router and a d-link
> dwl-g120 usb 802.11g dongle at a remote pc about 30 feet away.
> The remote pc is a Dell Dimension 4600C, which contains only a
> single half-height PCI slot, and I chose a USB dongle since
> there are few half-height PCI 802.11g cards on the market.
>
> The remote PC functions as an HTPC (home theater PC), and
> therefore sits on a low shelf in my TV cart. The positioning is
> very unfavorable in terms of interference from all the nearby
> electronics, and I rarely obtain good signals even though the
> router is only 30 feet away, and I frequently lose the signal
> entirely. OTOH, when I bring a laptop home from work and wander
> around the house, I get good signals on the laptop, so I think
> that the problem is due more to the dwl-g120 dongle and its
> environment than to the router.
>
> It would be relatively cheap and easy to add an antenna to the
> router, but I don't know whether that will provide adequate
> two-way communication if the dwl-g120 is unable to transmit
> adequately.
>
> Another alternative is to replace the dwl-g120 with a Hawking
> HWU54D high-gain USB wireless-G adapter:
> http://reviews.cnet.com/Hawking_HWU54D_high_gain_USB_wireless_G
> _adapter/4505-3380_7-30825857-2.html?tag=glance
>
> Do you have any opinions as to which will work better? Or
> should I just buy the router antenna and then try the USB device
> if necessary?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jonathan
>
Try using a USB extension lead to position the USB dongle higher up
and away from metalwork as much as possible.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Jonathan Epstein <jaepstein_63@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I'm wondering whether I should add an antenna to my router, or replace
> a remote 802.11g device with a more robust device, or both.

Reflectors for both would be pretty simple.

> I have a d-link di-524 802.11g wireless router and a d-link dwl-g120
> usb 802.11g dongle at a remote pc about 30 feet away. The remote pc
> is a Dell Dimension 4600C, which contains only a single half-height
> PCI slot, and I chose a USB dongle since there are few half-height PCI
> 802.11g cards on the market.

Is the dongle plugged directly into the computer, or is it on a cable?
If it's on a cable, you could simple put it about 1" in front of a flat
piece of tin, like a pie plate, oriented as a reflector toward the access
point. The orientation of my DWL-122 is important. It is not an
omnidirectional antenna. Are you using some signal strength indication to
orient the dongle?

You can put a simple reflector on the existing antenna of the access point.
Try an EZ-10 from http://www.freeantennas.com

You might be able to make a corner reflector for the dongle, but a flat
piece works for about 5 points on the NetStumbler scale.

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5