Wireless Question

A friend of mine owns a small hotel ( 3 buildings with three floors in each) and is having problems with wireless service in one of them. He just changed to a Netgear access point in the one building he is having an issue with and he says the connection is a little better than before, but the service will still lose connection after some time. (he only has one access point for the three floors, the same setup in all three buildings) The other two buiding don't have this problem. He has changed his T1 access provider from XO to Verizon recently. I can't see it being an issue with the T1 because this is just the pipe and since the other buildings are fine Im thinking maybe the network cable that connects to the access point could be bad. Im a bit weak when it comes to troubleshooting wireless, so any guidence would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

j938

Did he try to add another wireless point to see if that helps?
And how far away would you say he is from that access point he is trying to connect to
and what obstructions are there?

iowatech

Netgear access point

It's not this model is it? "FVG318"

The 8 port, VPN, wifi model.

These AP's are absoulutly horrible, I've had 3 go bad over the past couple of years (they all go bad after about a week of working out of the box) and after checking online I found out netgear has known issues with them but is refusing to do recalls.

dynamik

Didn't he have any wired machines to test the T1? Given the circumstances, switching T1 providers seems to be a bit extreme. It's probably some sort of interference. Maybe someone ran the cables near fluorescent lights, or maybe the APs are next to something that interferes with the signal. Cordless phones and microwaves can cause these problems. Is the problem on all three floors? Does he have a good signal when he is being dropped, or is he just teetering on a weak signal and eventually losing connection?

JDMurray

Is the problem that wireless clients are loosing their connection with the NetGear, or the NetGear is loosing its connection with the ISP? Changing your ISP isn't going to fix a local wireless connectivity problem, which is probably caused by signal blockage (from metal or water) or interference (from cordless phones, microwave ovens, baby monitors, and anything else on the 2.4GHz bands). A bigger antenna on the NetGear and boosting its transmission power may fix the problem, but it'd be nice to know what exactly is the problem is first.

telecomops101

I went to the hotel and with my laptop I was able to get a strong signal on the second floor and also in the rooms. This is were the access point is located, on the wall in the hallway. When I go to the first and third floors I can get a good signal in the hallways but the level goes down to two bars from five when i go into any of the rooms. Do you think he needs an access point on both the first and third floors? This building is the only one that is brick and I believe the doors are metal. I did notice the access point was mounted right next to a flouresent light, so i figured we are going to have to move it away from it.

mackel beast

telecomops101 wrote:

I went to the hotel and with my laptop I was able to get a strong signal on the second floor and also in the rooms. This is were the access point is located, on the wall in the hallway. When I go to the first and third floors I can get a good signal in the hallways but the level goes down to two bars from five when i go into any of the rooms. Do you think he needs an access point on both the first and third floors? This building is the only one that is brick and I believe the doors are metal. I did notice the access point was mounted right next to a flouresent light, so i figured we are going to have to move it away from it.

I think you have answered your own question. With brick walls and metal doors I think you would have trouble with signals going between floors and into the rooms. I would say go ahead with access points on each floor and if you can relocate away from a flouresent light, the better. When installing the access points try not to put them directly over on another also. I had a wireless install in a 10 story building that was nothing but concrete. Ended up having to put the access points outside on both sides of the buildings pointing in. It was the only way to get signals into the apartments. Also turns out the paint in the building had never been redone. Over 50 years of paint, guess what some of the first layers were; lead paint.

JDMurray

Did you find any other access points in your site survey? You may be experiencing attenuation from the presence of signals from nearby APs. Anyone can set up the same type of router/firewall/access point box on the same channel that you are using. Try changing your AP to channels 1 and 11 and repeat your survey. Most people use channel 6 because it's the AP's default (and, coincidentally, the channel most likely to be interfered with by microwave ovens).

telecomops101

Actually ther were two other access nodes mounted on the wall on the second floor hallway. The only thing was there was only one with an antenna connected to it, the other two didn't have antenna's just network cable running from it to the closet where it connects to a lucent switch. Tha'ts why I was thinking maybe taking one of the AP's and mounting it on either the 1st or 3nd floor hallway wall. I would have to just add an antenna to the node and run the network cable back down to the 2nd floor closet to connect it back to the lucent switch.

phreak

I'd try and add AP's for fill. Make sure you are alternating channels so you do not cause self-interference.

Ideally you should be using something other than the Netgears for an application like this. You really need a radio that has high receive sensitivity, adjustable power output, and the ability to change the antenna to either a higher gain antenna or a lower gain antenna.

Running the AP's at maximum power output levels actually hinders your efforts as you wind up trying to cover an area with too much power. You have to take into account the fact that the wireless cards in the laptops have to be able to talk back to the AP, and the AP must be able to hear it clearly. Adding more AP's but with lower TX levels (low power out) helps this. The higher RX sensitivity will allow the AP's to pick the clients up and make sense of the signal it is hearing.

Also, if the system is not in use right now very much, consumer grade appliances might be ok. In the future though they will fold under the stress of multiple users. You also need to get some way to control what the users are doing (QoS p2p applications, prioritize VPN, etc) so they are not overloaded as easily. A radio built for this type of job will have a better processor and RF engine (fixing the issues in the previous paragraph) in addition to software to allow fine control over the IP traffic.

EDIT: Don't forget you only have 3 channels to play with: 1, 6, and 11. These are really the only channels you can use in sequence to prevent self interference.

You can choose other channels but you need to make sure you have enough spacing. Here is a quick article that explains a bit about it.
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/972261