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Poster:	golink	Date:	December 18, 2005 10:12:56am
Forum:	sflan	Subject:	Signal range extension

I am able to receive an SFLan signal in my friends apartment one story above me. I would like to be able to connect to my laptop in my apartment one story lower. What type of equipment do you recommend short of a $1000 node. The building owner does not allow a node. Would a repeater, located in my friends apartment, like the Linksys Wireless Range Expander Model WRE54G work? Ideally I would like a repeater that can wirelessly connect to the SFLan automatically without a lot of configuration as I am not a very high tech person. Thank you, George

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Poster:	duncan_SF	Date:	December 22, 2005 07:26:55am
Forum:	sflan	Subject:	Re: Signal range extension: AP client and AP

The single-box range extenders I've seen are generally a bad idea. They increase contention on a single channel and can more than halve the throughput of an existing link.

It seems the WET11 has proven compatible with SFLAN's gear. After skimming the thread below, consider hitting your favorite sources for a WET11 and an access point.

Associate the WET11 with SFLAN's node. Enable the RTS/CTS, a collision avoidance mechanism useful in hidden-node installations.

Put the AP on a channel preferably at least six away from the existing SFLAN signal to keep it and your laptop from stepping on your own uplink.

I don't know of a way to disable roaming in the WET11 and have seen roam-related bridging failures in Linksys gear so, to avoid confusion of your equipment and that of others, give your AP a new SSID. Maybe add a hyphen and your name or phone number.

Depending on how well the WET11 works with an SFLAN node you may be able to run a hub or switch and an AP in the friend's apartment or you may have to hit a router first. I haven't done that interoperability testing.

Obviously adding a NAT layer would kind of suck for any neighbors hoping to share the repeated love... but it could be a cheap way to get done what you want to do.

reference: WET11 with SFLAN:
http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=26379