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antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

Best Linksys wireless router suggestions for a big house?

Hello.

I have a client family who will be moving into a big one floor (but on a giant slope hill as if it had two floors) house. About 88 feet seems to be the longest distance from a small room with the new cable modem. This is based on Google Maps' aerial shot: »zimage.com/~ant/temp/88f ··· Room.jpg (right side/east is a huge hill with trees).

Will an old wireless Linksys WRT54GL router be able to handle this far distance with fast speeds and stability? If not, then which wireless routers can do it? It would be nice to have third party firmware options like Linksys WRT54GL routers. Also, fast speed like gigabits for fast local file transfers between computers in the big house! 100mb/sec is slow these days! Stability and support are important too. The routers doesn't need to be the latest too.

Thank you in advance.

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

You're going to need more than one access point. My rule of thumb for a residential access point is 40ft. radius.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

said by Kyawa:

You're going to need more than one access point. My rule of thumb for a residential access point is 40ft. radius.

So, how does that work? More than one routers? Someone told me that an old Linksys WRT54GL router can handle up to 100 feet assuming no interferences, but N can go farther.

mozerd
Light Will Pierce The Darkness
MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON

1 recommendation

mozerd to antdude

MVM

to antdude
The ability to cover a large area is primarily dependent on where the wireless router is placed. If you paid attention to that aspect your wireless coverage would improve significantly.

The rules for proper placement is as follows;
[1] As Central as possible in the location
[2] As High as possible in the Location

In a one floor house like you show I would place the cable modem on a wall shelf 2 feet from the ceiling and as close to 45 feet being the central distance between the points of interest.

If you paid close attention to placement it is possible that your existing Linksys would provide the coverage you are seeking.

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa to antdude

Premium Member

to antdude
The 100 ft is probably diameter and that's pushing it. Just remember, as the distance between the PC and the access point increases, speed decreases. You can buy an access point or another router and configure it as an access point. Do you have the ability to run a cable between the existing router and other locations say via the basement?

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

3 edits

antdude to mozerd

Premium Member

to mozerd
said by mozerd:

The ability to cover a large area is primarily dependent on where the wireless router is placed. If you paid attention to that aspect your wireless coverage would improve significantly.

The rules for proper placement is as follows;
[1] As Central as possible in the location
[2] As High as possible in the Location

In a one floor house like you show I would place the cable modem on a wall shelf 2 feet from the ceiling and as close to 45 feet being the central distance between the points of interest.

If you paid close attention to placement it is possible that your existing Linksys would provide the coverage you are seeking.

Thanks.

FYI on the house environment:
Ground Level Entry (No Steps)
Stucco Exterior
Concrete Tile Roof
Cathedral-Vaulted Ceilings
Full copper plumbing
3,900 feet
Built in 1984
16 rooms (4 bedrooms and bathrooms)
Split-level and contemporary style
antdude

antdude to Kyawa

Premium Member

to Kyawa
said by Kyawa:

The 100 ft is probably diameter and that's pushing it. Just remember, as the distance between the PC and the access point increases, speed decreases. You can buy an access point or another router and configure it as an access point. Do you have the ability to run a cable between the existing router and other locations say via the basement?

Ah. Hmm, not really. We were hoping to do wireless only. That will be difficult. Let's try a wireless router first and see how it goes. FYI, no basement.

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

I was talking about running a cable to another location for a second access point. You can try a wireless bridge but your client probably won't be happy with the performance. There's really only one way to obtain good wifi coverage and unfortunately, that involves running cable.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

said by Kyawa:

I was talking about running a cable to another location for a second access point. You can try a wireless bridge but your client probably won't be happy with the performance. There's really only one way to obtain good wifi coverage and unfortunately, that involves running cable.

Ahhh. Hmm, yeah that will be tricky. I will keep that in mind.

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

No attic either?

mozerd
Light Will Pierce The Darkness
MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON

mozerd to antdude

MVM

to antdude
If you plan is to cover the whole house wirelessly then I would suggest you follow my placement advice and get a Netgear R6300 router which should easily cover the entire area of Interest.

The Cathedral-Vaulted Ceilings would work to your advantage with the kind of wireless router I suggested --- again if placed properly.

I have 2 of the R6300 wireless router in service in Homes slightly bigger than yours [5500 sq ft and 7300 sq ft] with Cathedral-Vaulted Ceilings. My clients are very please with the coverage they are getting.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude to Kyawa

Premium Member

to Kyawa
said by Kyawa:

No attic either?

Yes, there is an attic. That is where the coax cables are to various rooms.

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

So run a CAT5 cable from the existing router to a more central location via the attic and connect an access point. Pretty easy solution.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

2 edits

antdude

Premium Member

said by Kyawa:

So run a CAT5 cable from the existing router to a more central location via the attic and connect an access point. Pretty easy solution.

So a router can stay in the room next to the cable modem, and then an AP in the attic?

Any suggestions on which router and APs? Is an old Linksys WRT54GL router enough (ignoring gigabit speed)?

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

You can use the WRT54GL as either the router or access point. Ideally, you could use a ceiling mount POE access point. The CAT5 cable would carry both the signal and power to the access point and then you could just mount it in the ceiling in a place most central. I really don't recommend putting a unit in the attic. It is a powered device and sometimes the A/C adapter gets hot and you don't want a fire up there. Let me think about a ceiling mount A/P that's easy to configure.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

said by Kyawa:

You can use the WRT54GL as either the router or access point. Ideally, you could use a ceiling mount POE access point. The CAT5 cable would carry both the signal and power to the access point and then you could just mount it in the ceiling in a place most central. I really don't recommend putting a unit in the attic. It is a powered device and sometimes the A/C adapter gets hot and you don't want a fire up there. Let me think about a ceiling mount A/P that's easy to configure.

OK, I am going to try an old Linksys WRT54GL and see how it is over there (finding dead spots, etc.).

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

If you're going to try to test it "live" you'll need to go into the setup on the 2nd device and set the IP address to something different than the one by the modem. You also need to set DHCP to DISABLE.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by Kyawa:

If you're going to try to test it "live" you'll need to go into the setup on the 2nd device and set the IP address to something different than the one by the modem. You also need to set DHCP to DISABLE.

Um, I am just connecting a Linksys WRT54GL router to the cable modem (power cycled too) and see if an old MacBook Pro can connect wirelessly to it in various areas of the house.

Kyawa
Premium Member
join:2006-01-26
Middletown, MD

Kyawa

Premium Member

If you have an Android phone, there's a WiFi Analyzer app.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by Kyawa:

If you have an Android phone, there's a WiFi Analyzer app.

Thanks, but I don't. Actually, iPhone 4S can connect to it too.
antdude

2 edits

antdude

Premium Member

I got the results with an old 15" MacBook Pro and a Linksys WRT54GL wireless router (both were from late 2008).

Kitchen's tables next to windows = 2-4 bars

Downstair/Lower Elevation Family/Living Room:
Couches and table = 1-2 bars ; laggy when ssh to an outside server; a few packet losses to router.
Behind the bar counter = 0 to 2 bars

Room Near Kitchen and Garage = 3-4 bars

Garage = 4 bars

All other rooms look good/high.

So it looks like they will need a network cable/repeater/something to the downstair area. However, the folks did not want network cables so it would have to be wireless to bridge or power cables (getting crowded on the oulets with strips already!).

lordpuffer
Legalize It Joe!
Premium Member
join:2004-09-19
Old Town, ME
Nokia XS-110G-A
Linksys Velop MX5300

lordpuffer

Premium Member

This Range Extender should work:

»homestore.cisco.com/en-u ··· prod.htm

I used this range extender before for something and it seemed to work well. All you need to do it plug it in towards the center of the home. No wires.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

said by lordpuffer:

This Range Extender should work:

»homestore.cisco.com/en-u ··· prod.htm

I used this range extender before for something and it seemed to work well. All you need to do it plug it in towards the center of the home. No wires.

How does that work? Connect from a router and point to the middle of the house? I have never used one of those extender bridges before.

lordpuffer
Legalize It Joe!
Premium Member
join:2004-09-19
Old Town, ME
Nokia XS-110G-A
Linksys Velop MX5300

1 recommendation

lordpuffer

Premium Member

said by antdude:

said by lordpuffer:

This Range Extender should work:

»homestore.cisco.com/en-u ··· prod.htm

I used this range extender before for something and it seemed to work well. All you need to do it plug it in towards the center of the home. No wires.

How does that work? Connect from a router and point to the middle of the house? I have never used one of those extender bridges before.

Basically that is correct. You would use your WRT54GL as your Router, and then you would plug the Range Extender into a wall socket in the center of the house.

You would configure both products to communicate with each other so that the Extender will amplify the WRT54GL signal.

When I got the Range Extender, I believe that I called Linksys support, for I needed a little help setting it up. But it was pretty easy.

One thing to remember is that although it is an N device, the Range Extender only amplifies the 2.4GHz band. But that won't be an issue if you use the WRT54GL. It would be an issue if you moved up to a dual-band router.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by lordpuffer:

said by antdude:

said by lordpuffer:

This Range Extender should work:

»homestore.cisco.com/en-u ··· prod.htm

I used this range extender before for something and it seemed to work well. All you need to do it plug it in towards the center of the home. No wires.

How does that work? Connect from a router and point to the middle of the house? I have never used one of those extender bridges before.

Basically that is correct. You would use your WRT54GL as your Router, and then you would plug the Range Extender into a wall socket in the center of the house.

You would configure both products to communicate with each other so that the Extender will amplify the WRT54GL signal.

When I got the Range Extender, I believe that I called Linksys support, for I needed a little help setting it up. But it was pretty easy.

One thing to remember is that although it is an N device, the Range Extender only amplifies the 2.4GHz band. But that won't be an issue if you use the WRT54GL. It would be an issue if you moved up to a dual-band router.

What is a dual-band router? Is that G and N together? What would I do if I got one in the future (e.g., WRT54GL dies).

mozerd
Light Will Pierce The Darkness
MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON

mozerd to antdude

MVM

to antdude
A range extender will do a nice job to EXTEND your range however it will also cut your speed/bandwidth by 50% or more ..... so that means that if you have multiple people and devices actively using your wireless network and due to the fact that most [not all] wireless networks are shared medium each active used will get very poor performance --- so if performance is not an issue because you will not have multiple users or devices active then extenders work. FYI multiple users would include people and devices like printers, ipads, iphones anything thst uses your wireless infrastructure.

The new wireless AC technology like the Netgear R6300 utilizes Multi-user MIMO so each user who is AC compliant and actively using the wireless network will have maximum speed/bandwidth allocated to them MUCH like a switch works in a Ethernet wired network.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by mozerd:

A range extender will do a nice job to EXTEND your range however it will also cut your speed/bandwidth by 50% or more ..... so that means that if you have multiple people and devices actively using your wireless network and due to the fact that most [not all] wireless networks are shared medium each active used will get very poor performance --- so if performance is not an issue because you will not have multiple users or devices active then extenders work. FYI multiple users would include people and devices like printers, ipads, iphones anything thst uses your wireless infrastructure.

The new wireless AC technology like the Netgear R6300 utilizes Multi-user MIMO so each user who is AC compliant and actively using the wireless network will have maximum speed/bandwidth allocated to them MUCH like a switch works in a Ethernet wired network.

Wow, speed degradations when using the extender? So no HD streaming videos, fast local copies, on the wireless? It will be like slow 10mb/sec wireless? I assume wired connections will be OK. I think at most, it will be just one or two wireless connections.

lordpuffer
Legalize It Joe!
Premium Member
join:2004-09-19
Old Town, ME
Nokia XS-110G-A
Linksys Velop MX5300

lordpuffer to antdude

Premium Member

to antdude
said by antdude:

What is a dual-band router? Is that G and N together? What would I do if I got one in the future (e.g., WRT54GL dies).

A dual-band router utilizes both the 2.4GHz AND the 5GHz spectrums.

Many devices are now have 5GHz wireless adapters. If you end up getting a dual-band router, then you can use an access point as described above.

As mozerd stated, the Range Extender may not be good for multiple devices that are being used at the same time, so if speed is a major issue, it may not be the way to go.

mozerd
Light Will Pierce The Darkness
MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON

mozerd to antdude

MVM

to antdude
said by antdude:

So no HD streaming videos, fast local copies, on the wireless? It will be like slow 10mb/sec wireless? I assume wired connections will be OK. I think at most, it will be just one or two wireless connections.

Your wired connections will not suffer. For eacth active wireless user and/or device your speed/bandwidth will be FURTHER cut by 25% or more depending on the activity.
So the extender cuts 50% THEN each active user cuts what left by an additional 25% or more.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by mozerd:

said by antdude:

So no HD streaming videos, fast local copies, on the wireless? It will be like slow 10mb/sec wireless? I assume wired connections will be OK. I think at most, it will be just one or two wireless connections.

Your wired connections will not suffer. For eacth active wireless user and/or device your speed/bandwidth will be FURTHER cut by 25% or more depending on the activity.
So the extender cuts 50% THEN each active user cuts what left by an additional 25% or more.

General usages are: Surfing the web, e-mailing through webmail, watching streaming videos, one online gamer, downloaders, etc.