Supercharging Your Linksys Wireless Access Point

kwishot writes "Xam over at www.wi2600.org has documented a relatively simple way to 'turn up the juice' on your Linksys WAP11 Wireless Access Point." Caveats: the outlined method requires a Windows box, recent firmware, and (some) bravery, but no going inside the box or special hardware.

Comments

Correction:

[clark625]

I goofed. The maximum radiated power is set at 1W. Not 1mW. Here's the FCC rules that apply, for those interested:

Part 15.247 covers intentional Radiators in the ISM bands that are the frequencies 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz. Besides covering the modulation schemes this part also covers the various power restrictions that the FCC has for devices like 802.11b. The critical section is 15.247(b)(1) through 15.247(b)(3)(i) quoted below:

"(b)The maximum peak output power of the intentional radiator shall not exceed the following:
(1) For frequency hopping systems operating in the 2400-2483.5 MHz or 5725-5850 MHz band and for all direct sequence systems: 1 watt.

(2) For frequency hopping systems operating in the 902-928 MHz band: 1 watt for systems employing at least 50 hopping channels; and, 0.25 watts for systems employing less than 50 hopping channels, but at least 25 hopping channels, as permitted under paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section.

(3) Except as shown in paragraphs (b)(3) (i), (ii) and (iii) of this section, if transmitting antennas of directional gain greater than 6 dBi are used the peak output power from the intentional radiator shall be reduced below the stated values in paragraphs (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section, as appropriate, by the amount in dB that the directional gain of the antenna exceeds 6 dBi.

(i) Systems operating in the 2400-2483.5 MHz band that are used exclusively for fixed, point-to-point operations may employ transmitting antennas with directional gain greater than 6 dBi provided the maximum peak output power of the intentional radiator is reduced by 1 dB for every 3 dB that the directional gain of the antenna exceeds 6 dBi."

Better range increase..

[Spackler]

The best way to increase the range of the linksys router is to not use a linksys card with it.

Switching from the linksys card to an Orinoco more than tripled my range! It also made me realize that the linksys router signal _was_ hitting the street (I thought it wasn't reaching my couch with the old card), and enlightened me to "War driving". If your having range problems in your house, it is more likely your card.

Good for overcoming line losses

[rcw-work]

At 2400mhz, 3-4db is equivalent to the loss in 45-60 feet of LMR-400 coax (or 12-16 ft of RG-58), according to this calculator.

For those that would like to put an 802.11b antenna on their roof without worrying about weatherproofing their access point, this may be just the thing.

bad engineering practice

[lophophore]

Since the 802.11b communications link is two-way, increasing the transmit power of only one end (the access point) is not going to buy you a whole lot. To increase the range, you need to either increase the effective power on both ends, or, more simply, put the access point up higher.

A higher gain antenna on the access point would help with both transmit and receive, and this is another option, however, I think that this might be illegal in the US.

Also, it is useful to recall that microwave ovens operate on 2400 MHz because this is the most efficient frequency for heating water. One watt is enough to cause some RF heating and potentially be hazardous to you health. Don't look at the business end of that yagi!

Re:MIB hackery

[mmmbeer]

Nice job Danish. For noobs who just want to juice their WAP11 (192.168.100.250 is the IP addy of the Access Point):

apt-get install snmp
snmpset 192.168.100.250 public .1.3.6.1.4.1.410.1.1.8.8.0 x "80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80 80"