[OT] home routers

[jim-ESJ+pY3k0/ZeoWH0uzbU5w at public.gmane.org (Jim Gasek)]

Let's talk about RF.

Many utilities that ship with wireless cards and 
devices have an "audit" or "analysis", which will show
all the beacons, which channel they're on.

Net Stumbler (Network Stumbler) is excellent, although
old ans hasn't been updated much lately
Most devices ship by default at channel "6".
Net stumbler (I believe) shows signals without beacons
too.

I think, although no hard evidence, there are really
only 3 "channels",  low (1)  medium (6) and high (11).

Choose the one that everyone else ISN'T using.

If people are on all of them, choose the one with the
weakest (farthest away) signals.

Also, you can get a (what we used to call) spectrum 
analyzer, and watch the noise and signals at different
frequencies.  

Antenna:

The signal off most (look like a pencil) antennas can
be thought of a doughnut (matematically- torroid).   Signal 
strength goes out best perpendicular to the pencil.  So aim your 
antenna(s) appropriately.    _ |   ...gets up and down power.

There are other antennas (passive and active) which will
increase gain, but usually only in certain directions.
Think - dish TV style (parabola, etc.).

Pringles can antennas have been used by geeks for a while.

Also, there are (were) piggy-back amplifiers that you
could buy for linksys.

Lastly, you can just hack and make your own amplification.
Transmit can be increased, receive is passive.

Like cell phones, WiFi RF power is limited for a reason.
We all have to play nice together.

Another good analogy is walkie-talkies.  Many people bought
Motorola FM walkie-talkies, and were shocked, shocked!
that others would be using "their frequencies".

Sometimes you can hear CB radios from Florida, it works,
but not really playing nice.  

That's the rub, it is a shared resource.   It helps if you
live in the country.

I've heard of optimized cases where signals can go a mile
or more with the right antennas/conditions.

I'm sure many here know much more than me...

Thanks,
Jim Gasek

--- feenberg-fCu/yNAGv6M at public.gmane.org wrote:

From: Daniel Feenberg <feenberg-fCu/yNAGv6M at public.gmane.org>
To: Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Cc: Boston Linux and Unix <discuss-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Subject: Re: [OT] home routers
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 08:28:06 -0400 (EDT)



On Thu, 16 Sep 2010, Jerry Feldman wrote:

> upstairs rooms. I'd like to see some recommendations on home wireless
> routers. I certainly recommend the D-Link, but I want to see a few other

The last Netgear box I bought had a nice "guest network" feature that 
allowed free logins to visitors but put them outside the firewall and 
limited bandwidth. Similar to the Intellinet "Guestgate".

Daniel Feenberg