Wireless network over the street

Luc Tremblay

Hi!

I'd like to know if it's physicaly possible to create a wireless network over a street with 2 common (say Lynksys WRT54G) routers. If yes, is it complicated for a guy (me!) who have only configurated one WRT54G in his life?

The thing is, my uncle has a compagny which is located in front of his house and he just got a new internet provider. He'd like to pay only one bill and save some cash while doing it.

If anybody has some information on the difficulty of setting up such a network, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Thanks!

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winwintoo

How far are we talking? You probably only need the one wireless router as long as the computer has a wireless card - just log on to the network from the shop.

I live in an apartment building and I can see networks that I know are located across the street. I can access my wireless network from the lobby which is 6 floors below me.


Margaret

RunTheWorldOnMac

I would think it'd work. I live ion a townhome with 4 neighbours. My router is in the basement and I pick up 8 networks on my MacBook; I think it's safe to say one of those is across the street or at least 4 or 5 houses down.

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Demosthenes X

Agreed, the range should be there. And if you're getting a weak signal across the street, you should be able to add a signal booster on one end.

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gordguide

When I was back in Saskatoon, my MacBook could see the networks of both neighbors to the left and right, all 3 across the street, and two across the lane.

Our lot is 55x 160 (feet), so the actual house across the lane are at least 80 m away. Similarly, there are two boulevards and a 4-lane street before we even get to the property line across the street. The actual homes are deeper in the lot than that.

I don't see a problem if the routers are decent. There is one Linksys, the one SaskTel gives you with DSL (all the DSL routers are wireless access points), at least one DLink and at least one Apple router (don't know what kind), and a couple that were properly configured so that you can't tell as easily what they are. So, it doesn't seem to be a big issue what kind you have, either.

If you have problems, I would look at the usual issues that are going to affect radio waves (which is what WiFi is). Microwave ovens and wireless phones share the same frequency, so you need to minimize interference from them (don't place a microwave between the router and the computer across the street, for example).

You can also play with the configuration of the antennae (if there isn't an antennae sticking out of the router, then it's fixed inside- move the router itself to move the antennae). Depending on how you move them, you can shape the broadcast area. Keep in mind radio antennae always have patterns where one area is favored while another is rejected; the pattern is rarely, if ever, sphere shaped (ie like a ball).

Manipulating that pattern and you can tailor reception to your needs.

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Luc Tremblay

Thanks to the Future Shop product return policy, I bought everything that could be useful :

2 Linksys WRT54G routers
1 pair of unidirectional antennas
1 range expander (Why on Earth is it so expansive compared to a router?)

If it's ok with a router only, I'm pretty happy.

If not, I'll have to figure out if I'm better with the antennas only OR 2 routers (cheapest alternative) OR 1 router and the range expander.

Is it possible to set up a router so it repeats another signal (à la Airport Express)?

Thanks!

Luc

__________________
"Toutes les religions, presque toutes les philosophies, une partie même de la science, témoignent de l'inlassable, héroïque effort de l'humanité niant désespérément sa propre contingence "
Jacques Monod - Le hasard et la nécessité

Macified

Yes, but your best solution would probably be the new Apple Airport Extreme and an Airport Express. Set the Extreme up on your side as the primary router and the Express up on his side in WPA mode (the setup software makes this easy). If the computer on his end isn't wireless, use the Express to pick up the wireless network and feed it out the Ethernet port.

Good luck.

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