WIFI Repeater Question

[spyder]

***Disclaimer***

I've searched high and low and I'm probably not using the right terminology or (more likely) the idea is completely unfeasable but....

I have a WRT54G and I'm wondering with the myriad of 3rd party firmware out there if its possible to use this as a repeater.

I live about 1mile away from where I work (and I am THE network admin so I'm giving myself permission to do this ) and would like to see if I can receive the signal from home.

I've thought about trying to use a parabolic antenna (I think I'm correct in assuming that no onmi directional is going to reach that far) since a directed antenna would be necessary for such a distance.

Is this possible...please let me know.

Thanks!

-Spyder

[balding_parrot]

These sites may have something along the lines of what you are looking for

http://www.sputnik.com/products/aps/ap210.html

http://www.radiolabs.com/products/an...i-antenna.html

And this one gives a little background reading that shows it is more than possible, And has some links to some interesting stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Wi-Fi

like
Longest unamplified Wi-Fi link

279 km Wifi link



Record for the longest Wi-Fi transmission at 137.2 miles (220.8 km)

[spyder]

Thanks for the links....one more question that may put the whole kibosh on this....

I've setup my network at work using PEAP

Visit Wikipedia if you need more info on PEAP

I don't believe I've seen any WRT54G firmware that supports this....

I guess what I'am asking is it possible to setup the Linksys as an unauthenticated repeater for my network.

What I envision this doing is the linksys is transparent but is used to send/boost (and receive) the signal to and from the remote AP's .

Diagram


Spyder's House____________.75mile_____________Office

Laptop ==>>Linksys===================> Ciso AP's

[goldmercury]

spyder


I'm looking to do something similar with a neigbours wifi, we are going to split the bill.

I was thinking of salvging an old workstation and running a Linux Live CD that is geared towards firewalls, I know they exist and am aware that there are dedicated distro's for this purpose. Might even just run it like an access point.

Not sure if they will work with PEEP though as it's an MS thing.

Anyone have any experience with these AP/Firewall type distros?

[goldmercury]

Just found this, looks good Linux LiveCD Router, google it.

Now I need to dust off a workstation.

[TrialAndError]

Spyder, the first thing I thought when I read your post is that you'll be creating a mile long WIFI corridor...where any Black Hat scum could penetrate your network and gain access to both your work's network and your home network!!! If you are going to do this then make sure you're using WPA with an excessively long, randomised, password because it sounds to me like you'd be making yourself very vulnerable if you don't!

I've been considering trying to do domething similar, although my distances are about 30M with about 7 walls, (and one of them is damned thick because it's covered in acoustic treatment), to occassionally get my Recording Studio PC online.

Basically, I want to be able to get it online very occassionally, just to register software...because, as a rule, she never sees the internet because she doesn't need to, (and XP works so much better when it's not getting gunked up with internet jun)k. She's never crashed on me in 18 months and she takes a serious kicking on a full recording session, (as you may be able to tell I love her to bits and I'm very proud of her ).

At the moment I have to physically remove her from the studio to get online, which is a lot of hassle because she's rack mounted and pretty heavy due to all her acoustic treatment to keep her virtually silent, (fan noise is not good when you're recording with uber sensitive microphones). Unfortunately this has to happen occassionally because more and more software demands an online registration, (I do register offline whenever possible), but certain companies only do online registration...of course you don't find that out until after you've bought it either!

Anyway, my Ubiquiti SRC can just about get an acceptable signal from the other side of the acoustically treated wall and I have a Netgear W111T USB interface, (which is useless for BT so don't buy one!), which can transmit through a couple of walls...including the ultra thick one, but can't get anywhere near to my AP which is on the other side of the house.

I've tested all this by moving my AP around, but due to the position of my coax cable I can't move my modem and therefore can't get it online if the AP's in range! So far I've thought about using my Ubiquiti to get me as close as I can and then running an ethernet cable the rest of the distance to my main PC.

As I'll only need to do this on rare occassions, maybe 3-4 times a year, I haven't looked into it too hard but if anyone knows of a BT based solution that'll save me unracking my studio PC and lugging it through to the house I'm all ears

[goldmercury]

Trialnerror,

why don't use go for a home plug solution? Network over your power line in the building. It has come down in price quite a bit and I've installed it at a few customers offices. Works great.

[TrialAndError]

I've thought about that but there's two issues with it, firstly I don't use it enough to justify it...and more importantly the studio's on a separate, clean, power supply. We had special electrics setup for it, to prevent the "humming" sound that you sometimes get, (called a ground loop), but I don't know too much about the electricity supply other than it cost a lot more than normal to get wired up.

The "company" that runs our studio also pays a different electric bill to our domestic supply, to call it a company's a bit of a joke really but it's a separate entity to our home lives...we take a wage from jobs the we do, with the rest of the profit going back into buying equipment, software, cables and all the other stuff required by a recording studio.

We can't justify paying for a studio internet supply, it gets used so infrequently, so it's one of those cases where the boundaries between our home life and the studio blur.

I think it's legitimate to use our home internet supply for updates, but I wouldn't mention it to the taxman in case he thought differently...saying that I'm the Recording Engineer, I'm not responsible for the accounts and I don't get too involved in the "business" side if I can help it. Of course the taxman might also be a dick if he knew that I did projects in there for myself, without paying for studio time...but I call it training and maintenance

[Barry]

Wouldn't it be easier to just run a cable on the accasion you need to update?

[TrialAndError]

Yeah, it's just one hell of a long cable to buy really...although I can just use my Ubiquiti and a shorter cable so it's not a big problem really.

I'm vaguely remember reading somewhere that I could use the madwifi drivers and VAPs to create a virtual AP to act as a repeater, although it's not really a pressing issue and this thread just inspired me to ask about it whilst the topic was current...more as knowledge for the future rather than any current need.

It's just an annoying hurdle we have to cross from time to time, and I was hoping to have an inspired solution for next time it needs doing. The summer months are slow anyway, so I doubt we'll be buying any new software until the autumn at best.