# Wireless Routers - some general questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697 "2006-03-31T14:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/1 "2006-03-31T14:51:24Z")
I’ve been using a dial up modem for years. After coming home from work with it’s hyper speed warp drive (T-3?), I’m getting a little cranky when it takes all night to upload a single photo from home. So, I’m just about ready to bite the bullet and sign up for a faster service. Son and family live about 400 feet away from us. They have same issues. Is it feasible to buy one of these wireless router boxes and expect that he will be able to connect to my connection? I started a question at the local Best Buy the other night but the 12 year old saleman just shook his head and walked away - indicating I suppose that at age 60 I’m too stupid to live. Well, it’s his commission. :wally What’s the Straight Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/2 "2006-03-31T15:20:28Z")
You might be ale to without too much trouble if it really is just 400 feet. You certainly can if you are willing to put some work into it. You aren’t the first one with this question and there are whole heaps of hobbyists doing that type of thing with wireless connections. Without going into extreme detail, he are some solutions. 1. Antennas - the stock antennas aren’t that strong and they aren’t meant to be. You might get 150 feet out of one on a good day. Linksys sells high gain antennas right off the shelf to boost signal strength. I have one and they work although I am not sure it it will push 400 feet. Plenty of other companies offer even bigger antennas and there are websites about building your own for ridiculous performance in special cases. 2. Repeaters - There are boxes that pick up a weaker signal, amplify it and pass it on to increase distance. 3. Wiring - You can mix wired and wireless connection to gain distance and you can hook multiple wireless routers at different end of the wires. I can promise you it can be done but it is a matter of ease and expense. Whole companies and towns are putting wireless connection blankets over themselves and some of this technology filters down. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/3 "2006-03-31T15:24:40Z")
In theory, the answer is yes. It is possible. You may need to get signal repeaters or some such to make the whole thing work. Fwiw, BestBuy doesn’t sell on commission. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/4 "2006-03-31T15:29:34Z")
> [@PatriotX](#): > > In theory, the answer is yes. It is possible. You may need to get signal repeaters or some such to make the whole thing work. > > Fwiw, BestBuy doesn’t sell on commission. BestBuy doesn’t sell on commission, but I’ve heard their sales staff are strongly encouraged (threatened) to sell a certain number of Dreaded Extended Warrantys™. As far as getting wireless 400 feet, it should be very feasible. I would look at something like the Cantenna: [http://www.cantenna.com/howtouseit.html](http://www.cantenna.com/howtouseit.html) You’ll probably spend around $200 to make it happen, but I think it’ll be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/5 "2006-03-31T15:31:46Z")
[There’s no end of homemade directional antennae.](http://pcworld.about.com/news/May132005id120728.htm) You could make two and use a cheap laser pointer to align them. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/6 "2006-03-31T16:16:05Z")
No promises that you’ll actually get full speed out of the link, but with a pair of “cantennas” that distance is easily covered. The trick is to be sure there’s clear line of sight between the two - no houses or trees. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/7 "2006-03-31T16:20:25Z")
Forgot to mention that using cantennas (or any other highly-directional antenna gives two benefits: Your transmit power is aimed at the receiver, rather than going out in a 360-degree cloud, meaning more signal will reach the receiver. As it’s a line-of-sight link, there’s less opportunity for someone to hijack or interrupt your link. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/8 "2006-03-31T17:08:07Z")
Make sure to change all router passwords (the default settings are too well-known) and take other steps (including specifying how many connections your LAN will support and naming each one by MAC address), lest a mooching neighbor ride your internet connection. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/9 "2006-03-31T18:01:03Z")
Great information, thanks to all ! So what price range am I in? Obviously I need a router (other than the Porter Cable model I picked up yesterday for the workshop!), sounds like I need two Cantennas. Revealing my total ignorance to date - what do I need to put into our PC’s to “talk to” the router? I’m sure it doesn’t happen by magic but beyond that it’s all voodoo. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/10 "2006-03-31T20:12:51Z")
> [@Fir na tine](#): > > Revealing my total ignorance to date - what do I need to put into our PC’s to “talk to” the router? I’m sure it doesn’t happen by magic but beyond that it’s all voodoo. 😃 Win XP comes with a “Network Setup wizard” (START/Accessories/Communiations) that’ll let your computer communicate with the router and be assigned a network address (typically in the range 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255). The router will assign numbers to computers as they query the router. Later on, you can assign each computer a fixed address. This may prove necessary if you need to open specific ports (i.e. allow certain programs on a particular computer to send and receive information directly). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/11 "2006-03-31T20:29:37Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Win XP comes with a “Network Setup wizard” (START/Accessories/Communiations) that’ll let your computer communicate with the router and be assigned a network address (typically in the range 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255). The router will assign numbers to computers as they query the router. Later on, you can assign each computer a fixed address. This may prove necessary if you need to open specific ports (i.e. allow certain programs on a particular computer to send and receive information directly). True. You can just wire a base computer to the router with standard ethernet cable. However, you need the wireless connections as well. Those are done through cards that you install in each computer (laptops have a special card too that just slides in) or these little USB antennas that you just plug into the back of the computer. All of them work but permanently installed cards may be a little neater. OTOH, you can move the USB antennas around for better reception in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/12 "2006-03-31T20:39:56Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > True. You can just wire a base computer to the router with standard ethernet cable. > > However, you need the wireless connections as well. Well, assuming all the necessary hardware is in place, the same wizard will work on the laptops. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/13 "2006-04-01T17:59:43Z")
How do antennas using DBS satellite antennas perform in rainstorms? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/14 "2006-04-01T18:38:23Z")
i have used a variety of wireless routers - If you have clear line of sight without walls in between you might possibly make it work with this Linksys SRX400 unit I bought the other day which multiplexs the wireless signal on multiple unused channels for better signal coverage. Real world performance (in my home) is about 30-50% better at extended distances vs the standard [Linksys G wireless unit](http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1127782957298&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper). Interestingly the SRX 400 PCcard I bought for the notebook end dd not make an appreciable difference in tested connectivity signal strength or network data transfer speed vs the notebooks built in wireless G antenna. The 30% + signal gain from the SRX400 router operated in both SRX 400 mode and the notebooks built in “G” mode. [Linksys SRX 400](http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1130279435381&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper) It would be cheaper and far more reliable to bury[400 feet of cat 5 Ethernet cable](http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CT-CAT5E-1000-6U&cat=CBL) between your router and their house and then feed that to a simple [hub/switch](http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416836711&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper) for distribution at their end. Techically standard PVC coated cat 5 ethernet cable is [not made to be buried](http://www.cat-5-cable-company.com/faq-bury-burial-cat-5-cable.html) (there are “direct bury” varieties but they are quite expensive) but many people have buried PVC coated CAT5 cable in the ground for over 10 years with no problems (so far). [A conduit is generaly the best solution](http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/cablingcat5/f/cat5outdoors.htm). YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/15 "2006-04-01T22:49:03Z")
Well, if you’re going to bury it, buy a 1000-foot box and bury _two_ 400-foot lengths between the houses. Thus if one cable fails you can switch over. It’s not perfect, but it should extend the useful life considerably. Keep in mind also that only four of the eight wires are actually used (lines 1, 2, 3 and 6), so you could technically have as many as eight possible routes. If you crimp plugs on the ends, use the following scheme for each cable: Plug 1: White/green: line 1 Green/white: line 2 White/orange: line 3 Orange/white: line 6 Plug 2: White/brown: line 1 Brown/white: line 2 White/blue: line 3 Blue/white: line 6 When choosing the position, start counting from the left on the BOTTOM of the plug, away from the clip. It will be a lot easier if you attach the wires to female jacks (use the ‘pair one’ and ‘pair two’ positions on each) but that depends on personal preference ad practicality. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/16 "2006-04-01T22:54:45Z")
By the way, the length of cable remaining in the box is printed at regular spacing on the cable’s insulation (i.e. the first number will be 1000, gradually counting down to one). Start at one house and pull until the number gets to 500, letting you know you’re at the halfway mark. Make sure you have plenty of slack at both ends and lots of extra plugs, in case you have to cut one off and try again. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/17 "2006-04-01T22:58:21Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > bury _two_ 400-foot lengths between the houses. Thus if one cable fails you can switch over. I would think they would fail at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/18 "2006-04-01T23:10:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I would think they would fail at the same time. Would they? Barring physical damage from a carelessly-placed shovel or an earthquake or something, I figure a buried copper wire wrapped in PVC has a half-life against simple corrosion of, say, five years. After five years, half the wires (selected randomly) will be damaged. Another five years for half the remainder to die, leaving you with only four good wires, just enough to carry a network connection. Ten years from now, there could be point-to-point laser-based networking, or something else that’ll be a useful alternative to burying new cables. Burying extra cables today delays the inevitable failure, and more cable means more delay, until the matter is moot. If the distance between the houses, on accurate measurement, turns out to be just over 300 feet, I’d suggest the OP bury _three_ lengths of cable from his 1000-foot box. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-routers-some-general-questions/350697/19 "2006-04-01T23:37:17Z")
I would guess that when water got past the PVC jacket all conductors would soon fail. Anyway, my point was that both cables would have failures at the same rate. They would both lose the same number of pairs. And it would be pairs that counted, not individual conductors. You could lose half the wires, one in each pair, and the cable is no good. Be that as it may, my phone is buried plenum cat 5 and been there for three years.