WiFi Cabling - dB loss per foot

There is no RF loss with USB. You might want to consider a moderate gain directional antenna of you are going to put this by the window.

I think the general consensus is high power doesn't buy you all that much unless you have high power on both sides (host and client). So you don't need this particular unit. The newegg review complaining about mobo problems may have a usb power issue, especially in the case where it connects then drops.

USB is one good way to go. Another USB adapter to consider at NewEgg:

Removable antenna is smart. That way you can always upgrade if you need a better connection.

Also, you might consider an ethernet bridge adapter. These will connect to your computer using ethernet cable, which has a theoretical limit of 100 meters! Zero loss.

Here's a cheap one:

It's called AP, but does more- under features: "Provides station mode to act as a wireless LAN client station"

You might want to look at the Ubiquiti Nanostation 2 for $79.

Not a bad idea, though it require a wall wart, while the USB device is powered via the cable. My experience is USB is more likely to have a driver problem than ethernet. I think any ethernet device other than a card on the bus doesn't need a driver.

Great info thanks guys!

The Nanostation looks very interesting, I'm tempted... but it uses power over ethernet so I'll need a PoE network card or adapter? Is this it?

Also I'm a bit confused about what makes it a good antenna. The main number I've been focused on is the tx/rx dB, the webpage says the Nanostation says it's "10dB x 2"? In reality what's that mean? 20 dB? I've been looking at some of the homemade antennas on YouTube... some claim to be around 12dB etc etc ... how does a commercial antenna like this compare; what other numbers factor into it?

You are on the right track using a USB wireless adapter and usb extensions (if necessary) to your computer. Low loss coaxial cable is expensive, and still loses too much of the signal to be worth the trouble. There are a couple of higher power (500 mw) wireless adapters on the market, but you should do fine with a good USB device in the window, running a cable to one of the ports on your computer. Consider using a powered hub if you need to run more than 2 meters of USB cable. It works! You can use an adapter in a top-floor window and pass USB data to your basement this way...

Take a look at the wi-fi antennas page:

some home-build ideas. A bit of gain can greatly extend your range / data rate.

Good Luck Phil

Yes and no....This question has come up many times in the UBNT forums as it can be misleading, so I'll take it point by point.

• The NS is advertised as a PoE device in the sense that it can be powered using the spare pairs of the ethernet cable, but it is NOT a true PoE device in the sense that it does not use 48 volts as defined in the IEEE 802.3af PoE specification.

• The NS uses a 12 volt power supply and a PoE power injector.

• The DLink device you referred to is a true PoE device as it uses

48 volts as defined in the IEEE 802.3af PoE specification.

What does this mean to you?

• You cannot plug the NS's ethernet cable directly into a 48 volt PoE switch or hub. It will smoke the NS.

• You can use the NS with a 48 volt PoE switch, IF its like this, where the ">" denotes a standard ethernet cable:

PoE switch > NS power injector > NS

This is possible because the spare pairs inside the NS power injector are not connected. The power injector has two ports labeled LAN on the left for your network cable and PoE on the right where the NS connects to. Pins 4 & 5 and 7 & 8 of the LAN port are not cross connected to pins 4 & 5 and 7 & 8 of the PoE port. Side note: This may not be true with power injectors of other manufactures' products, such as IP cameras, etc.

• NS users report they practical cable length limit is around

100 feet using the included 12 volt power supply. To use the NS up to the 300 foot CAT5 limit, they will use an after market 18 or 24 volt power supply. Side note: Do not use as cheap 24 volt power supply with a short cable run as the power supply might output as high as 25 volts, which is the limit of the NS's onboard voltage regulator.

The Nanostation 2 has an internal 10 dB antenna. What makes it unique in the industry is that you can software select from the webpage GUI the polarity of the antenna for vertical or horizontal polarity. What makes it REALLY unique is that is can be selected to use adaptive polarity. For example, your access point may be vertical polarized and you can set your client for adaptive polarity and the client will automatically switch between vertical and horizontal for the best signal.

Side note: When you're dealing with decibels, you ADD them. therefore doubling 10 dB is 13 dB.

You may be referring to the product description page: Antenna - Integrated 10dBi Dual Pol + External RP-SMA That means its a 10 dB antenna that can be set for 10 dB vertical OR

10 dB horizontal. Side note: When external antenna is selected on the webpage GIU, it disables the internal antenna. Side note: The NS has been shipping with the Rev-SMA female connector, but its possible you might get a pre-August unit from last spring's production run that uses standard SMA female connector.

Trust me..you would be a lot better off simply buying an antenna.

dBi - $35

19 dBi - $40 24 dBi - $50 27 dBi - $250 Add $25 for a coax jumper, you might find them as low as $15.

The NS has a 310 mW radio or 25 dBm, so the internal 10 dBi antenna will give you an effective output of just over 3 Watts. If you use a 19 dBi external antenna, you'll get 24 Watts. For every 6 dB of gain, you double your range. If you get 3 miles with the internal

10 dBi antenna, using a 15 dBi external antenna will get you almost 6 miles (actually you should use the 19 dB antenna to compensate fade margin allowance).

An AP in client mode would do it if there is an AC plug nearby. Most APs can be run in several modes and only need a CAT 5 or 6 cable and are OS independent.

D-Link's DWL-G730AP is a good example...

Couple more comments to help clarify your options:

USB: If you have USB 2.0, then you should not need a USB hub until you are over 15 feet. So, USB should work well buying nothing more than the USB adapter and a 15' extension. This has been my experience with a couple different USB adapters.

Ethernet: What DTC is saying is that you will not need anything extra with the Nanostation to use it. If I understand correctly (have not used it) the Nano comes with an injector that you plug the ethernet cable into and then it adds power for the nano for the cable that comes out of it. So you will need two ethernet cables; laptop to injector, then injector to Nanostation. (DTC; please correct me if I'm wrong, guys)

For the cheaper AP/client adapters, you will have to plug in it's wall wart power supply directly to the back of the adapter. From what I can tell, this is not an issue if it is to be used indoors on your windowsill. POE seems to make sense for installations that are outdoors or more than 10-20 feet from a wall plug perhaps.

Antennas. If you are getting acceptable connections at the window with your adapter card and antenna, then whatever antenna that comes stock with your adapter should be fine. I really doubt that you need even a 10dbi antenna, not to mention something more powerful. Probably a simple 2 dbi omni antenna (could add a reflector) is fine, considering what you have reported so far.

What is the gain on your current working setup's antenna? Is it a adecuate connection when at the window ?

Cables: There are antenna cables that are lower loss. The LMR400 cable (about 1/2" thick) loses .25 db per meter at 2.4 Ghz. So a 3 meter cable would lose .75 db. Call it 1 db with connector loss. But these are thick and expensive and will require pigtail adapters to be flexible enough to use. Do-able, but not practical.

Steve

That's correct...you need two cables. The NS is auto-sensing, so it can be a crossover or straight cable. If your hub or switch has 49 volt PoE, it won;t pass through the NS's power injector. You just can't plug the NS directly into the 48 volt hub.