[Gllug] WiFi modem / routers etc - recommendations for increased range please!

[Bob Giles]

James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> 2009/6/7 Bob Giles <thecorfiot at gmail.com>:
>   
>> I would ultimately like to be able to access the network over three
>> floors, all of which are separated by reinforced concrete. There is an
>> awful lot of steel used in the construction of our house which tends to
>> play havoc with wireless signals.
>>
>>     
> Put a wireless access point on each floor and link them with either
> normal ethernet cable, or ethernet over mains power links.
>
>   
>> The only other 'issue' that I have is that we have an ISDN phone system
>> and the modem/router has to connect through this.
>>     
>
> ISDN is rather old technology now. Why are you still using it?
> I have extensive technical knowledge of ISDN and supplied equipment to telcos.
> I used to have ISDN for my home office, but dumped it a long time ago
> in favour of ADSL.
> ADSL is much much faster for internet traffic than ISDN. ADSL not only
> gives you a fast internet connection, it also gives you a standard
> POTS telephone line for your fixed phone line. I also had a fax
> attached to my ISDN line, but that has been replaced with an online
> FAX service, so I don't need a fax machine any more. Any incoming
> faxes simply get emailed to me. Do you still need outgoing faxes?
> Email seems to have taken over now.
>
> Kind Regards
>
> James
>   
James and everybody else who kindly gave me the benefits of their 
experiences,

Before I comment on some of the points James has raised with regards 
ISDN, I would like to thank everyone who replied to my original query 
and some of the branches from it. The replies helped me put things in 
perspective and has made interesting reading.

I was in the UK last weekend and decided to give the Devolo wireless 
extender a run for it's money. They appear to work flawlessly and I will 
now get a couple more. It has provided a very simple solution. As we do 
not run on ring main systems here, I was concerned that they might not 
work. However, Devolo maintain that as long as all circuits run from the 
same meter, all should be well. That seems to be the case.

Now James, as for your very valid point about ISDN! I didn't make it 
clear in my original post, but we live two thirds the way up a mountain 
in Corfu! ISDN is far from old technology here in Greece! Our two Mbit 
ADSL running through the ISDN modem is state of the art in our village! 
It took me three months to get a phone connection when we moved 500 
metres from our old house, not to mention 18 months to get ADSL. What's 
more annoying is that the telecoms phone pole is on our land.

The moral of this is that we are grateful for what little we can get 
comms wise! As an interim measure, I even tried connecting over a mobile 
phone link only to discover that we have no 3G coverage here! Mind you, 
we can connect to a few Albanian mobile providers as well as Greek!

Thanks again guys,

Your time is appreciated.

Bob Giles
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