[plug] home cat5 issues

[Craig Foster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-bounces at plug.org.au [mailto:plug-bounces at plug.org.au] On
> Behalf Of Paul Antoine
> Sent: Thursday, 20 March 2008 5:39 PM
> To: plug at plug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [plug] home cat5 issues
> 
> I'm a fan of larger antennae for poorly performing wireless links... I
> always try to buy an AP with replaceable antennae. Marvellous what a
> difference a 7dbi antenna can make!! (And no, more power on the AP
> doesn't help.)
> 
> P.

For cheap home sites,
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html and a
(semi-)flattened pringles do two things:-
1) kills the signal *behind* the AP meaning it doesn't extend equally
over next door :)
2) directs the signal towards your other wireless AP and/or laptops.
Over two floors, don't forget to tilt the antennas :P

7dB antennas are at least $60 each, so it's not the cheapest option.

IIRC Matt Kemner was a member of www.e3.com.au, so he should be a good
source of info should you want to do longer distance wireless.

> W.Kenworthy wrote:
> > I'll second that - one family that I occasional jobs for tried them
> for
> > a month and went back to a poorly performing wireless link
> (secondfloor
> > AP to a PC on a lower floor).
> >
> > Billk
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 2008-03-20 at 09:45 +0900, Matt Kemner wrote:
> >> On Thu, 20 Mar 2008, quoth Brad Campbell:
> >>
> >>> Craig Foster wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> *cough*Ethernet Over Power*cough*
> >>> Good thinking 99! If all your power points are on the same phase
> you are rocking. I've been eyeing
> >>> these devices for about 3 years now but never found a valid reason
> to buy a couple.
> >> Just don't try to run VoIP over them.

My opinion is VoIP should only be run on wired connections or wireless
with decent (real) QoS. The latency comes from the encryption and error
correction from other power glitches/noise. Ethernet over Power has
*very* variable throughput. Halve whatever is on the box, and that's
been a realistic indication on the couple of sites I've used it (in that
sense, it's like wireless :P )

Had VoIP been mentioned, I wouldn't have recommended it :P

CraigF.