Questions about wifi reception

[Paul Fuchs]

I am now living out in the country in Costa Rica. I signed up about a
week ago to get broadband wifi which is being beamed to me from a tower
maybe 4 miles away. Due to location and vegetation, they seemed to have
had a hard time pulling in the signal at installation. My Spanish is
not that great, so it was hard for me to get exact details. I signed up
and paid for installation and equipment for 1 Mbps but am only getting
on the average a download of 100 kbps. I am using Speakeasy Speed
test. In typical Costa Rican fashion, my ISP has blown off my
correction requests for over a week. I have no telephone lines where I
live and no cell phone connection, so internet with Skype is the whole
enchilada for me communication wise.

I have two questions:

1) My upload speed is often over 0.5 Mbps. Isn't it unusual to have an
upload speed five times faster than a download? What does this
indicated regarding the possibility of improvement when/if the ISP ever
gets back to me, which will probably be when they want more money.

2) I have a gringo neighbor (disabled vet on pension) who is also
interested in getting internet if I ever get this problem straightened
out. I would say his house is about 250 yards from mine, uphill, and
obscured by thick vegetation. I have heard that 100 yards is the limit
for a simple ethernet cable. Is there an inexpensive booster/amplifier
that could be used? A URL that explains this stuff to the non-expert?

TIA

--
====================================
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes
a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

[Tim Streater]

On 20/11/2009 16:21, Paul Fuchs wrote:

> 2) I have a gringo neighbor (disabled vet on pension) who is also
> interested in getting internet if I ever get this problem straightened
> out. I would say his house is about 250 yards from mine, uphill, and
> obscured by thick vegetation. I have heard that 100 yards is the limit
> for a simple ethernet cable. Is there an inexpensive booster/amplifier
> that could be used? A URL that explains this stuff to the non-expert?

You could put a small switch in the middle, something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-EN104TP-4-Port-Ethernet-Uplink/dp/B00000J4M9/ref=sr_1_1

but you'd have to weather/insect proof it and supply it with power.

--
Tim

"That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted"

Bill of Rights 1689

[Bruce in alaska]

In article <1j9h5xz.1tqdx356jmf8gN%hpf@porkain'tkosher.com>,

hpf@porkain'tkosher.com (Paul Fuchs) wrote:

> I have two questions:
>
> 1) My upload speed is often over 0.5 Mbps. Isn't it unusual to have an
> upload speed five times faster than a download? What does this
> indicated regarding the possibility of improvement when/if the ISP ever
> gets back to me, which will probably be when they want more money.
>
> 2) I have a gringo neighbor (disabled vet on pension) who is also
> interested in getting internet if I ever get this problem straightened
> out. I would say his house is about 250 yards from mine, uphill, and
> obscured by thick vegetation. I have heard that 100 yards is the limit
> for a simple ethernet cable. Is there an inexpensive booster/amplifier
> that could be used? A URL that explains this stuff to the non-expert?
>
> TIA

Yep, It IS unusual to have an Upload Speed, Larger than the Download
Speed.. There is something WRONG, somewhere...

I run a MicroISP here in Alaska, using 802.11 WiFi, to distribute TCPIP
to my "Close Neighbors". (close = 10 Sq miles)

First thing to know is 2.4 Ghz doesn't like vegetation, in the radio
path, at all... I run a couple of WiFi links up and down the Inlet,
here, One is 2 Miles, and the other is 5 Miles. Both require HIGH Gain
Antennas (19dbi) on the Subscriber end, as well as a Mid-Gain
Omni-Directional Antenna (9 dbi) for the Master Access Point. I also run
the Buffalo HP (High Power) Access Point Hardware on these links (800 mw
Tx). Both these links run over water, and ANY vegetation in the path
would kill it.

Second, I suspect that these locals didn't do a Path Analysis, to see
what the Signal to Noise, and Rain Fade Margins were. These are critical
Information Points to know in designing a WiFi Distribution System.

Third, Yes Ethernet 10BaseT has Wire Length Limits in it's Design.
Basically the 442 Rule applies. You can run 200 Meters between Hubs, and
you can have up to Four Hubs in a Segment, and 4 Segments to a link.
So, without a Powered Hub in the middle somewhere your limited to 200
meters. Now the "Good News"... There ARE little Black Boxes (Tut
Systems) that can move TCPIP, over DSL, at 10Mbs (10BaseT Speeds) over a
Dry Ethernet Pair of Copper Wires, up to in some cases MILES. A lot of
these are being Surplused here in the States From the Hotel/Motel Sites.
I run a bunch of these on various parts of my Network. One Link I have,
starts at the far end of one of the Wifi Links and goes 1000' up the
mountain @ 10Mbs, branches at that Users cabin and feeds three other
Users, up to 2000' @ 1Mbs using different Model Tut Boxes. I have a Link
in my Network BackBone that is 3500' long and uses Tut XL-4000 Boxes @
10Mbs Full Duplex. All these links only use a Single Pair of Copper
Ethernet Wire for the DSL Connection. The Tut LR2000's can be had on
Ebay for less than $10US, each. (1Mbs Up ton 2000')

--
Bruce in alaska
add <path> after <fast> to reply

[Paul Fuchs]

-- Thanks, Bruce. A lot of that went over my head, but I'm going to
study it and try to get up to speed.

[salgud]

And I thought I had connectivlty problems in W Denver!

[Jhon12c]

I had the same problem with my new iPad, the wifi range was really poor. I have spent a lot of time on google, looking for a solution to this. In the end though, I found a couple of reviews of Pong Research's cases, that convinced me to give it a try. This case is built with an antenna in between layers of the back cover, which redirects and boosts the power of the signal and increases the range of the wifi antenna on the iPad. After getting one, I couldn't be happier with my new toy! This finally fixes my problem with the <a href="http://www.pongresearch.com/new-ipad.html">new iPad 3 wifi issues</a> . And that's not all, one of the features I like the most is their Origami Cover which folds in 5 different positions while still maintaining the sleep/wake function.

--http://compgroups.net/comp.sys.mac.system/questions-about-wifi-reception/120642