Re: FreeBSD as Access Point

In message: <[email protected]>
            Doug Ambrisko <[email protected]> writes:
: David Kulp writes:
: | FWIW, I bought a Prism 2.5 (D-Link DWL-650) for a new FreeBSD 4.7-RC 
: | Access Point.  I was hoping it would easily cover my small 900 sq ft house 
: | even though I wanted to place the computer in a closet.  Unfortunately, due 
: | to walls, the range is about 20 feet.  Even with line of sight outdoors 
: | it didn't seem to come close to the 300 foot spec.  In addition, FreeBSD 
: | I has panic'd three times and I'm ready for a dump if it happens again.  
: | Of course at this point I don't know if the panics are related to the 
: | wireless card. 
: 
: That doesn't seem right unless all of your wall have wire mesh in them.
: We cover our 1100 square foot place with our server in a detached

1100 square feet is only 33'x33' :-)

: grarage with a stock antenna on an Aironet PCI card (not Prism so 
: you can't do host AP on them).  The signal did get a little weak on
: the further point in the house so I put an Aironet 5.2db antenna on it
: to boost the range.  Now we get solid coverage all around our 11,000
: square foot lot.

11,000 sq Ft lot is still only 100'. :-).  Also, a 5dBi helps a lot.
Most of the stock antennas are on the order of 2dBi (since they are
inefficient dipoles).  This means that you are getting about 40% more
coverage than the stock antenna (+3dB is a factor of 1.4, which is 40%
more).

My access point does about 30' or so inside, worst case, 50' to 100'
best case.  I have standard 2x4 with gypsum sheet-rock over the walls.
Each wall seems to be about 3-4dB of attenuation, give or take.  And I
have more of a problem in some spots of the house because I'm trying
to go through a wall almost edge on, rather than perpendicular (which
creates some interesting 'shadow' zones).  Also, the external walls
(some of which are now internal walls) have more like a 6-8dB
attenuation due to the massive insulation that's in them.  My external
brick walls are closer to 10-12 dB as well, or so it seems.

300' indoors rarely happens for me.

I also note that the floors have about 4dB of attenuation, but I'm
able to get better signal through them than I can through walls, but
that may be where I'm located.

I'm using a cheapo D-Link AirCard for most of my stuff, with its
crappy 2dBi antenna.  I've given serious thought to putting on a
discone antenna in the attic, which should give better coverage.

It all depends on what you are shooting through...  Don't even ask me
about trees :-)

Warner
--
*bsd wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/>
[un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/bsd-wireless/