Hi,
How do I perform a link test (display radio signal strength, noise etc) for a link with WRT54GS boxes in each end...?
Do I need to install 3rd party software?
Thanks for any hint on this issue
regards
Tor
Hi,
How do I perform a link test (display radio signal strength, noise etc) for a link with WRT54GS boxes in each end...?
Do I need to install 3rd party software?
Thanks for any hint on this issue
regards
Tor
As others have suggested, you can use Netstumbler, Boingo, or other client utilities.
However, I like the alternative vendors firmware. My favorite for this week is DD-WRT. Telnet to the router, login, and run the "wl" command. See:
I also use SNMP to extract signal quality and connection information from the WRT54G. I'm working on a set of instructions on how to use SNMP with the WRT54G (which are taking forever). Meanwhile, see: |
Although not as good as Netstumbler, the Boingo client software gives more information than most wifi client programs. It's available for free at
Bruce
Install software Net Stumbler
Rohit
Jeff,
Thanks for these infos Jeff.
The reason for my post is that I have one WRT54GS as access point and 6 of the same box in client mode (Alchemy fw in all). Main point is sharing an internet connection. Link distance is not too long but the clients experience very intermittent internet access. It can be good for a minute and then no throughput for five minutes.
Are there any special issues with the WRT54 as access point and the same box in client mode? Since there are onlky 6 clients I thought this should work well....?
Thanks for comments or issues or settings to check...
best regards
Tor
I see no details on the client side or nor indications as to the environment. How far is "not too long" and are there any obstructions in the way? Are you in a tall building that overlooks the world through glass walls? Are you in an industrial environement? Do you have other 2.4GHz devices in the neighborhood such as cordless phones or wireless video devices? Do you see the problem? Without an adequate description of the hardware and RF environment, it's difficult to even guess what's wrong.
However that's never stopped me from guessing. Sounds like some type of interference. 5 minutes could be a leaky microwave oven or a cordless phone. Both are able to successfully interfere with communications.
My favorite test is to just ping the access point from the client. I'll assume Windoze XP Home on the client which comes with a rather insipid ping program. I suggest downloading fping from:
As for monitoring the signal strength and S/N ratio, this is best done at the client end. For the WRT54G in client mode, that's: wl noise wl rssi (receive signal strength) wl tssi (transmit signal strength) wl rssidump wl channel_qa (requires setting channel_qa_start). I don't know which of these will yield the best numbers, but methinks it should be easy enough to try. If you want SNMP OID's, I'll have to dig them out later when I'm in the office.
Yes. Some of the wl comands don't work.
The number of clients have nothing to do with interference problems.
IFAICT he's using one WRT54GS box as the AP and six WRT54GS boxes as clients.
I'd have to imagine that they should work well together, though running Alchemy FW he's unlikely to get any support from Linksys. I would have guessed some kind of interference as well, though it's always possible that the Alchemy folks missed something...
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