Re: [PLUG] Home Networking Question

["Jason Wertz" <JWERTZ@dccc.edu>]

I live in a basement apartment with thich brick walls. My wireless works
fine because you can see into both bedrooms from the living room so I
put my access point in the living room (next to the TV and my cable
connection). Works fine, 11mb throughout.

I'm actually considering dropping my cable service because I've noticed
that several other people in my apartment building have wireless
networks and they are unsecured...not that a little sniffing couldn't
get around them being encrypted anyway. I guess I'm just too honest of a
person though and can't bring myself to do it. I'm getting 5mb
connections on average from the other networks I've used in my building.
Maybe I'll approach the other people and see if they want to split costs
on a single connection.

Jason Wertz
Senior Technology Specialist / WebMaster
Delaware County Community College
ph: 610-325-2771
fax: 610-325-2820
http://learn.dccc.edu/~jason




>>> paul@dpagin.net 03/11/03 09:09AM >>>
I'm amazed by the range of your wireless system.

What is your basement like?  Carpeting?  Finished walls?  Is the router 
below ground level?

Being in an apartment, using a wireless router and a PCI card, I find 
that my signal strength is either highly attenuated or very weak to 
begin with.  I tend to think the problem is caused by having the PCI 
card's antenna behind the PC and next to a wall, blocking the 
line-of-sight and the Fresnel zone with metal, furniture, and a wall.  
My cantenna solves the signal strength problem, partly by raising the 
antenna to clear obstacles and by focusing the signal.

I've heard that apartments are difficult environments for wireless.  It 
seems to be true.  Anyone else have problems in an apartment?


William H. Magill wrote:

> As for using a wireless setup over 3 floors -- it works fine. I live 
> in a big old victorian row house in West Phila (12 foot ceilings). I 
> have an original Apple graphite Airport Base Station sitting in my 
> basement. My son uses the iBook throughout the house, and camps out 
> with it in his room on the third floor, at the opposite end of the 
> house from the Base Station. Never had any problems. It also covers 
> the backyard nicely. (And I can use it at my neighbors on either side 
> as well.) I also have a wireless connected flat-panel iMac on the 
> first floor in the dining room.  I actually have a second, 
> pre-wireless connection to the third floor. It's an ethernet over 
> fibre link that I threw out the window and pulled in through the door. 
> It happens to be so old that the bloody media converters cost almost 
> as much as the iMac!!!


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_________________________________________________________________________
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Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug