I have a MIMO 802.11g router, and USB wireless adaptor.range is insufficient.I measured signal to noise ratio in netstumbler on the comp with theusb thing. It went from -85dbi to -95dbi and disconnected (dunno ifwas db or dbm or dbi ). But apparently that indicates the outcome ofsignal strength /power over the distance (and there's no other easyway of measuring signal level or power). What is a good value forthat signal to noise ratio?I read that USB wireless has a rubbish internal "chip" antenna , andthat makes for small range. I have one and it doesn't go past 2flights of stairs.I'd like a wireless 802.11g MIMO PCI Card, that comes with areasonable antenna, but i'd also like it to have a connector for anantenna. (so I only have to buy an external antenna if it's not goodwithout one).Changing the router isn't an option at the moment.(I did try pointing the aerials, including so the length of the aerialas oppose to the tip, faces the wireless usb adaptor, but no use. Ididn't try moving the wireless usb adaptor around on a usb cable. Idon't plan on getting a wireless usb adaptor with an antenna, but Imight)I'd like to know the power of these things before buying.. I've heardthat Buffalo make powerful wireless stuff. But they don't seem to haveany PCI, and I can't see the power rating.(the buffalo website is a silly design anyway. each irrelevantpicture links to a directory, the directory's name reveals what it'sabout. - so if you ever want to browse it, that's the way!)I know linksys show power rating, but a few have recommended buffalo.

" " hath wroth:You have a problem. Let me know when you are able to read the labeland supply the vendor and model numbers of your inadequate equipment.So are your expectations. Could I trouble you to describe what mannerof range you were expecting? Over what terrain? Through how manywalls?It depends on the connection speed. For a BER (bit error rate) ofabout 1 error in 10^5 bits, or about 10% PER (packet error rate): Speed SNR(dB) 11 6.99 5.5 5.98 2 1.59 1 -2.92 54 24.6 48 24.1 36 18.8 24 17.0 18 10.8 12 9.0 9 7.8 6 6.0 See:for an explanation. What I managed to leave out is that these figuresare for a fairly lousy error rate. One needs to add in theanticipated fade margin to get real numbers. Add about 20dB to eachof the SNR numbers for what is considered "good values" for viewingwith Netstumbler.My stairs do not fly. You're correct. USB dongles have very smallantennas. Antenna gain is very roughly...

getting good range .. - ditching USB wireless adaptor. What PCI one?

May 02, 2007 41 Replies

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John Navas 19 years ago

On Tue, 08 May 2007 09:31:50 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

I think it was.

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John Navas 19 years ago

On 11 May 2007 06:48:18 -0700, seaweedsteve wrote in :

Better and not terribly hard to run your own test. Buy both products from resellers with liberal return policies. Test them against each other. Keep the one that works best. Return the other one. Don't be surprised if your results are different from what the marketing claims suggest. ;)

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