i need to set up a wireless network in a warehouse/office. What products should I use?

Question

I know that wireless in itself has 150 ft range. Please recommend any repeaters and or wireless routers.

i do choose best answers to all my questions so please help me out.

Answer 1

The range of wireless without obstruction is 300'; if there are office walls, etc., the signal will degrade according to the thickness of the walls and the amount of metal in them. 100' is a good distance to use in an office environment.

You want to keep the number of APs down to a minimum, and keep them at low power, as well as on different channels. Doing that keeps the interference at a minimum.

Think of each AP as being a stone thrown into a pond; its ripples will last for about 100', but if it encounters other ripples (either reflected from walls or from other APs), then the ripples will weaken and/or get noisy. So try to put the APs in the center of your environment, equally spaced from each other.

It's best and cheapest to run ethernet from each AP to the central computer, presuming that you have a switch (router) with enough free ports. If not, you can daisy-chain them; repeaters can be cheaper, but they are on the same channel, and so can create wavefronts of interference.

Shoot me an email with more questions if you like.

Answer 2

You can get an external antenna for some wireless routers, it makes a huge difference.
Also, Belkin makes "pre-N" equipment that they say will go a lot farther. Check out the Belkin web site. The only warning with any "pre-N" or "Draft" equipment is that it is sort of proprietary, so it might not work with equipment from another manufacturer or equipment manufactured later. I seem to recall that the N standard should be settled on by the end of this year, so if you can wait until then, no worries.

Answer 3

It really depends on how you want to access your network. If its for basic internet access, which most of them are, I find the the Netgear wireless routers are an excellent buy for the price. You also will want to either enable the WEP encryption or take a more easier approach and set the wireless to only accept the MAC address of all of your wireless nics. I would also suggest to allow the physical "Land-line" nics for access to the router as well. This is extremely helpful when troubleshooting you device. It will allow you to physically connect to the router and access the configuration if you are having trouble connecting wirelessly.

Answer 4

Wireless is better than 150' now. Look into the different standards online.