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Propagating a Signal Through Old Walls?

Posted by Cliff on from the guiding-signals dept.

avjewe asks: "I have a wireless (802.11) network in my 100 year old house. The walls are thick plaster, with enough metal in them to block the signal quite effectively. The floors, however, pass the signal just fine. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions as to how one can propagate a signal through a maze of faraday cages? I recently added an omni-directional antenna which, as one would expect, boosted the signal where I already had one, but didn't help the dead spots."

6 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. multiple antennas by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You might be able to connect multiple transmit and multiple receive antennas to the same access point. I don't know how well it'd work, especially with the receive portion.

  2. Attic? by Omega1045 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Have you tried putting the WAP in the attic? Perhaps there isn't metal in the ceilings?

    --

    Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

    1. Re:Attic? by cybermancer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is a good idea. Maybe putting one in the crawl space too.

      Another posibility would be to drill small holes in the walls (along the baseboards or close the to ceiling maybe) and run a wire through the wall with an antena attached on both sides. Maybe a powered repeater.

      I'd try the attic / crawl space first. Let us know if that works.

      --
      "Anything is possible with enough programmers, time and pizza." (Substitute caffeine for time as needed.)
    2. Re:Attic? by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      At that point, why not just use Gigabit ethernet?

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      Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
  3. Re:best solution by JVert · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nice, I heard a good rule of thumb for where to put wireless access. When you think of a place where you want wireless, if your not in that place when you think of it, then you dont really need it.

  4. Re:use the walls themselves... by mokomull · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I happen to be a ham radio operator (so I have to know all about SWR and things...), and I'll say you did a fine job of explaining it... except, at 200mW, high SWR isn't likely to create enough heat to kill it... it may get hot to the touch, but I don't think that any irreversable damage will be done. But, yes, SWR will be a problem with that.