Edimax Wireless-N (802.11n) Range Extender

[mc.dodd]

I'm looking at getting one of these:

http://www.dabs.com/products/edimax-wireless-n--802-11n--range-extender-5BR5.html

they seem pretty good for the cash but are there any better in the same price bracket?
going to be used with sly bb unlimited
many thanks in advacnce

[evilsatan]

£5.50 cheaper at Amazon and free delivery mate

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-74.../dp/B001HW0JVU

[mc.dodd]

ordered

[mc.dodd]

great bit of kit, no probs setting up as others seem to have had..just wondering if I can get some higher gain antennas for it to increase the range a little more..

will any SMA antenna work?
eg.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4G-16dbi-SMA-Wireless-Omni-Antenna-Booster-Router-/180708710045?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item2a1314169d#ht_2190wt_1139

[evilsatan]

great bit of kit, no probs setting up as others seem to have had..just wondering if I can get some higher gain antennas for it to increase the range a little more..

will any SMA antenna work?
eg.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4G-16dbi-SMA-Wireless-Omni-Antenna-Booster-Router-/180708710045?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item2a1314169d#ht_2190wt_1139

As long as the connection is the same then I would say yes. If you go ahead with this I would be interested in your before and after wireless range results

[mc.dodd]

gonna order two now, we'll see what happens..

[evilsatan]

I've ordered a DD-WRT capable D Link router to see what kind of results I will get vs the Edimax extender, just a project though so isn't a high priority.

[evilsatan]

I have flashed DD-WRT to this cable router, it is a N 300mbps model, now I can increase the Tx power up to 251mW. Unfortunately the aerials are not detachable but I could hack some SMA connectors in there as a DIY project to see what results I can get when operating at 251mW with high gain aerials.

DD-WRT is notoriously stable so if my results are good I might buy cable routers rather than range extenders as this has only cost me a tenner to date! Also this has 5 ethernet ports (one for internet in) so it has that benefit over the edimax.

When I get time I will try to devise some tests to compare the edimax to the D-Link router.

[mc.dodd]

changed the antennas and there is a gain but how much I have yet to test properly..
but the problem still remains, I can just about get a signal to my gf sisters house if she sticks her lappy in the window..not ideal.. problem is there's about four houses blocking the signal.
I have set my extender to Universal repeater and it is on the same channel as my router, should I set it to WDS Mode repeater?
if I was to get another extender, maybe the 150mbps version would point-to-point or point-to-multi point bridge function be any better?

is there anything I can do to boost the signal? change position of antennas etc.. that will help..

[blaggard]

If you are trying to get the signal to one specific location you need a directional antenna not omni as you are dispersing and losing signal. Also you'll probably get better penetration (Matron!) in "g" rather than "n" so worth playing around.

[mc.dodd]

would one of these work?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/41dBm-150M...#ht_5425wt_742

[evilsatan]

That sort of thing should do the trick. Overcarl would be a good person to add thoughts to this thread. I like the look of this guide:
http://blog.010techpros.com/2008/05/...pointrepeater/

[Over Carl]

I've got a few thoughts but to be honest this is something I had intended on getting round to really thouroughly testing but never got time while I was still in work and now I don't have a load of kit to mess with. The article evilsatan just linked to also makes good reading.

Aerials - virtually every wifi device uses rp-sma connectors. These are basically sma connectors with the middle pin inverted. This I believe was mandated by the fcc to stop people from plugging in high gain antennae which normally have an sma connector. That one on ebay says sma in most places but does say rpsma in one spot - check the pins before ordering. If you do want to look around at antennae with an sma connector, check they are rated for the right frequency band and gain. Convertors can be sourced to change rpsma to sma (check gender before ordering).

As mentioned by blaggard, directrional aerials should make more sense. While messing around with 3g antennae however, I found directionals to not be worth the bother. Maybe I tried a crappy one, maybe I didn't spend enough time on optimisation. Also I believe 802.2b has best penetration but we are now down to 11Mb (theoretical max - could be even lower!).

Evilsatan also brings up another good line of thought - crank up the power past the uk 50mw limit. DD-WRT is well known, my only dislike was I found the gui a little slow to navigate and not the cleanest layout, but functionality was damn good. If you choose this route, either investigate which routers will work well with this or go on evil's research as the menu option is basically a request to the hardware - some hardware just ignores the request for increased signal level. This approach may be a little naughty, I will let you look into that side yourself if desired.

Some routers/ap's also use seperate antennae for rx/tx which could help. Some still raise the bar and use mimo* technology. *multiple in multiple out.

Now the above talk is pretty much for say one router/ap and trying to use this at the other side.

I know if say you set an ap up on your top floor and another downstairs both with same encryption type/ssid/key, then devices should be able to hop between them, provided both the ap's/routers are somehow cabled together. However if say one of the ap's only had a power connection, then you need to look into possibly your repeater mode or wds. I suspect the repeater mode may be a proprietary protocol that will only work if all the devices are same make. WDS is a bit more of an open standard but I think some incompatibilities still exist.

With wds, you should be able to have one router/ap that actually has the internet and is your dhcp server, then have another router/ap that only is plugged in the power. This can basically connect via wifi to get internet, then use the same wifi to dish this out to local pc's. However as the same connection is being utilised for two purposes now, there is a corresponding loss in bandwidth.

One other option would be to set up your wifi at your place, then at your sisters, set up either a dd-wrt or pfsense box as a wifi client. This will basically allow you to have a router at your sister's place that takes it's internet from the wifi rather than an adsl/cable modem. You could work out permanent aerial positions that have been tested to work best. If you did dd-wrt, you would then have internet coming out of the dd-wrt router's ethernet ports which you could then attach an ap to if desired. With pfsense you could fit two wifi cards to have one to link to your house, then another to provide wifi at your sister's.

If anyone would like me to elaborate on anything or if there are any questions, please let me know. Also please take note that this is an area I have not fully investigated as much as I hoped to.

Also sorry for more talking about dd-wrt/pfsense as I am more familiar with these, can't say I've ever worked with an edimax. Having a router as a wifi client is an unusual feature, the only devices I could find on the market that supported the feature as shipped when I last looked into this was some buffalo router that comes with dd-wrt factory preloaded, and something made by billion - I've never used their kit and thought the casing looked a little crappy so I never bothered. WDS is a bit more widely supported though.

[Pongo]

Hi all, as can be seen here http://www.digital-forums.com/showth...Range-extender I'm having a slight problem too.

I'm just wondering....... The Edimax has 2 antennas, what would happen if I were to replace one of them with a directional antenna (for recieving the Hotspot signal) and leaving the other (presumably omni-directional) one as it is.

[mc.dodd]

thanks OverCarl, that's a very helpful post, I will have another look at it all tonight. I did try and move my Edimax Ap to the other house(which is at what seems to be near the end of my sky routers range) but although it gave a full strength signal I could not connect to the internet(the laptop was prob just picking up the AP?) I'll also try changing the Ap to 'g' and test that..

if I stand outside(and further away) my gf sisters house/window I can pick up my sky router and the Edimax no problem so it seems the range is there I just need to get it into her living room!
more tests tonight!

quick diagram of situation:



now to look for a decent dd-wrt AP/router on ebay too..

many thanks, will report back

[evilsatan]

Just FYI Overcarl, Billion are supposedly amazing. I'm talking about in the Draytek league and often they are rated above Draytek even! I recently became one of their partners but unfortunately that doesn't provide trade pricing

[burner1]

Do you have the option of putting wifi devices in both attics of houses mate? Going through numerous walls is going to soak up a lot of signal power.. would be less walls going through the roof areas.

[evilsatan]

List of best DD-WRT capable routers:
https://www.flashrouters.com/blog/20...urce-firmware/

[mc.dodd]

looking at these:D-LINK WIRELESS ROUTER UNIT MODEL DIR-615

they say for use with Cable(virgin/telewest) but if I flash dd-wrt to it can I use it as an AP/repeater/client with my Sky ADSL?

[evilsatan]

looking at these:D-LINK WIRELESS ROUTER UNIT MODEL DIR-615


they say for use with Cable(virgin/telewest) but if I flash dd-wrt to it can I use it as an AP/repeater/client with my Sky ADSL?

That's the model I have been buying up this week mate, I have 3 of them now. Not had time to test extensively but flashed DD-WRT on no problem and there are plenty of options to configure it however you like. A wireless cable router can be used as an AP, the only difference in hardware is your ADSL router has a modem inbuilt, cable routers do not require a modem.