[Gllug] [OT] Extended coverage wireless routers

[Caroline Ford]

On Sat, 2007-04-07 at 18:24 +0100, Leo Hickey wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> My laptop has an 802.11g connection, and with my current setup I get 
> frequent dropped connections. If I get one of the wireless routers which 
> claim extended coverage eg Netgear rangemax etc, will this make any 
> difference to the quality of the signal if I connect with 802.11g rather 
> than their proprietary protocol (pre-n or whatever). In other words is 
> the extended coverage tied to the protocol being used or will I still 
> get a better connection with an extended coverage router even if I'm 
> still using 11g?
> 
> TIA
I suspect rangemax etc are proprietary additions to the protocol rather
than decent antennae. They will certainly work with 802.11g but I
suspect without the extra effects (however I've not used myself and I'd
love more info). I've read that it's all bullshit (but that may be
bullshit itself).

I *think* pre-n isn't backward compatible with b/g. I've got a loverly
O'Reilly book here on 802.11 but it's 18 months old.

Pre-n is MIMO which uses multiple antennae afaik. My book says they are
backwards compatible with *equipment on the same frequency*. You'd
possibly have to check that your pre-n equipment is using the 2.4 GHz
band (as used by b/g) not that 5 GHz band (as used by 802.11a). (My book
doesn't say which spec "won" and I can't google from here)

I'd suspect that if you used a pre-n device with a g device the pre-n
device would perform like g. (If you use a b client adaptor with a b/g
access point you get b speeds). Your g will be a bottleneck on a pre-n
network.

AFAIK pre-n is a speed increase not a range increase. The best way of
increasing range tbh is to try locating your access point in different
places, using a different channel from your neighbours (1, 6/7 and
11/12/13) don't overlap. You'll often see that written as use 1, 6 or 11
(but we have 12 and 13 to play with here too). If everyone is using
channel 11 (as they are round here) moving to 6 or 1 should give you a
noticeable improvement)

I don't know whether I'd buy pre-n gear or not. I'm wary of being
pre-standard gear, but I don't know what the current status of the
standard is. It also depends on how likely you are to update your gear -
if it's for domestic purposes and you expect only 12 months use then why
not? 

You can always stick a pre-n pccard in your laptop - but I'm not sure of
linux support for pre-n chipsets. There's always ndiswrapper I suppose.

Caroline



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