Wireless router with greatest range?

We purchased a Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router for a fair sized multi-room facility and discovered that the posted range of the router only applies to PCs with Pre-N Belkin cards. Since most of our people have other wireless cards (D-link, Linksys, etc.)we are looking for a different brand of router but would like to purchase the one with the greatest range that can be accessed by the greatest number of people.

Has anyone had experience with the Linksys SRX-WRT54GX2 or the D-link DI-634M or are there other brands of wireless routers that we should be looking into. One additional item that we should be looking at is the router's compatibility with wireless range extenders, if necessary.

What's the experience out there? Any help and/or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Paul

Reply to
Paul & Leni
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Netgear WPN824 - best Ive tested

Reply to
MM

All the routers are limited by law as to the power of their transmission, consequently the range of std. routers not substantially differ. Your Belkin Pre N router uses the latest MIMO technology and they claim significantly increased range for it, even with ordinary receivers. Consequently your best course of action is to invest in Belkin Pre N cards. Regards, Martin

Reply to
Martin²

Of course, such an investment, in non-standard technology, could be obsolete next year.

Reply to
Derek Broughton

How so? It will presumably keep right on working, doing the same job it was purchased to do.

Reply to
John Navas

I've had good luck with the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 and the gain antenna of your choice. It works with the 2 other adapters I have tested (Netgear and DLink). I use it with the matching Buffalo card though for best results (WPA-AES key changing seems to work best with same brand rigs).

It also will act as a wireless relay. If you have a really big area you might need more than one AP in bridging mode. This and several other units will do this.

EIRP (Effective Radiated Power) is the key. mo is bettah given proper security. Any AP-router can reach out with a mighty antenna. And not too much feed line.

Reply to
Nemo

Nemo hath wroth:

See article at:

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Linksys SRX versus Netgear RangeMax. No clue on DLink 2XR technology (or what MIMO flavor it represents). I think (not sure) it's beamforming which is similar to Netgear RangeMax.

The big problem with MIMO is that it doesn't work with external directional antennas.

Range extenders, repeaters, store-n-forward cause more problems than they're worth. Details on request. To the best of my limited knowledge and fast googling, there are currently no MIMO compatible repeaters, or range extenders. There may be in the future, but not now.

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think (not sure) that I saw a product release for a MIMO access point that had a repeater mode, but I can't remember the manufactory or where I read it.

Effective Isotropic Radiated Power. Close enough.

However, more is not necessarily better for all configurations. Too much gain usually results in a very narrow vertical radiation pattern. Unless the access point and client are at roughly the same altitude, there is a real possibility of either shooting over the head of the target radio. Similarly, using a directional antenna indoors will limit coverage in areas where the antenna is NOT pointed. EIRP is important, but antenna pattern is more important.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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