D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => Routers / COVR => DIR-655 => Topic started by: hyetech on July 27, 2011, 10:11:22 AM
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Hey all,
We have a large plot of land, mostly outdoor space, and want to extend our wireless N connectivity throughout. What I was thinking of doing is buying 3 DIR-655 routers and create the following setup:
Router 1: main router, close to and connected to DSL modem, used as Wireless, DHCP and standard GigE switch for some hard-wired devices.
Router 2: connects to Router 1 by long cable through LAN ports on both. Turn off DHCP, WAN, etc. on this one. Make the Wireless SSID the same as Router 1 (want a single wireless network).
Router 3: connectes to Router 2 by cable through LAN ports on both. Turn off DHCP, WAN, etc. on this one. Make the Wireless SSID the same as Router 1 (want a single wireless network).
Is this setup possible using 3 DIR-655s? Can we chain/link them together like this? I'm wondering if Router 3's wireless will properly get IP addresses from Router 1 since it's going through another "AP."
Also, is the DIR-655 the right router for this? How is the outdoor range on these? Is there a better router to use within the same price range?
Thanks!
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These routers are best used as stand alone routers and connecting other devices like dedicated APs to it.
The APs can usually be set up for extending and relaying WiFi so that they can reach farther distances.
I would recommend using 1 router and getting dedicated APs for extending and or relaying range.
Take a look at the DAP line for Dlink.
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The best routers for handling WDS are still the ddwrt routers or really accespoints, but note, wireless bridging will cost some bandwith.
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You maybe want to check out networking over power devices too.
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These routers are best used as stand alone routers and connecting other devices like dedicated APs to it.
The APs can usually be set up for extending and relaying WiFi so that they can reach farther distances.
I would recommend using 1 router and getting dedicated APs for extending and or relaying range.
Take a look at the DAP line for Dlink.
Yeah, I had looked into proper APs a while ago, but they were more expensive than the router at the time. But it seems there might be some in our price range now. Do you recommend any particular APs that work well with the DIR-655? Will the DAP-1522 do the job?
We need something that will extend the WiFi as you said (using a wired connection to the router). But one AP would have to connect to the other, or we'd need an additional switch, I guess, at the first AP (to have both APs connect to the single router). It would also be nice if we could create a separate WiFi network on one of them for guest access.
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You may want to check out the:
http://amplifi.dlink.com/products/DAP-1525 (http://amplifi.dlink.com/products/DAP-1525)
or
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=697 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=697)
The DAP-1525 is new and I have not been able to test one out yet.
I'm waiting on the new 657 router to arrive.
if your really wanting some range using one device, there is a 1 watt AP that has great coverage. Most AP devices are regulated on the wattage they put out so they only put out minimal or up to regulation states.
Check out the DIR-825 forum:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=38838.0 (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=38838.0)
Let us know what you figure out.
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I like the 2553, but the 1522 has a 4-port switch on it, which I was hoping to use to connect 2 of them together. Do you think a 2553 and buying a separate basic switch would provide better range? Not sure I want a separate switch taking up more power if I can avoid it.
The PL-APN seems really nice, though not a lot of reviews/data on it. It's not a GigE switch (only 100), but otherwise, it seems like it's got a huge amount of power.
How bad do you think the 1522 range is? It seems like the safer bet for my needs, but maybe we should take a crack at the PL-APN for the range.
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Haven't had any experience on the DAPs yet. Ya having the switch is good and IF your entire network is CAT6 and gigabit...then I might go for that aspect.
From what Patrick said, I guess that 1watt AP is pretty good.
Might try to find a place where you can get one that has a refund policy. Test one out and see if it works. If it doesn't then you can get your money back.
Would be very interested in your experiences with the new DAP-1525. ;D
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I am interested in the same solution as described here only that I also need some LAN connections on the distance AP and as I understand, an AP is for wireless only.
So what kind of solution (boxes) would you recommend to give me both AP and LAN connection on the distance point ?
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1W AP will do almost nothing if wireless client still will be using 50 - 100 mW wifi equipment ... To extend coverage you need power in both ends, so in your situation i think better antenna will do more than transmitting power of AP ...
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I think in most cases the 1watt AP would do some good and it would be able to broadcast the radio signal farther then standard. Getting the radio to go farther is the case here. The receiving client HW wouldn't make any different if using a 1 watt AP. It would be able to pick up the radio signal in that range.
Agreed though, possible antenna might work to help extend the range, however I have tried this as well and range wasn't really better then using OEM antennas. I think in some cases, maybe power over antenna is preferred. Good ideas here though.
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don't forget, that comunication is going both ways , so if client can receive 1W signal transmited by AP, does not mean that AP will receive 100 mW signal transmited by client ....
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Of course...and agreed. Don't forget all the stuff in between the host and client too. ;)
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OK, so now I'm a bit confused :) I don't have any expertise in this area, just wondering what the best solution would be for range extension. Should I go with this 1watt AP or should I just get a couple of 1522s? Or maybe a different AP plus long-range antenna attached to it? So many options :)
What's going to provide good wireless range in our situation for normal/standard PC/laptop wireless cards? Again, most of our space is outdoor, not indoor. Not sure that helps with range. Unfortunately, I don't know the distances at the property, that would probably help - it's a few acres for sure.
I'm not sure we have the budget to try out a few different things, and we're not in a country where we can simply return stuff (this is for a place in Nicaragua, not really shipping friendly), so I'm trying to get the "safe" advice.
Thanks so much, the discussion is actually quite helpful, though I'm not sure what to do yet.
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Ya, some distances would be good to know so we can get a better idea of what kinda of coverage your trying to maintain. It would help if you could find a place near by that has hw you could buy an or test out if they have a refund or return policy. Another idea if we can get you a good solution here might be to see if there is someone local in your area that maybe does this kind of work to help setup users with specific WiFi needs.
I would recommend you get ahold of Patrick533 in the 825 forum directly and see what his experiences are and ask him what his coverage is and how that 1 watt he's using is working out for him.
I don't have any experience with the new DAPs as of yet. I'm hoping to at some point however you need info now and understand that. I would also call up Dlink and see what kind of ranges the new DAPs can do and if they would work well for you. Again, I think you need to get some distance information here then we can better give you some options. Let us know.
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don't forget, that communication is going both ways , so if client can receive 1W signal transmitted by AP, does not mean that AP will receive 100 mW signal transmitted by client ....
Well, in this case, yes it does. Because the majority of WiFi stuff was deaf that has been made lately and that is on purpose, to not receive interference. The 1 watt ap that I have has a very hot receive also to compensate for the lack of power put out by the older equipment. This particular router will easily out receive a signal compared to my DIR-825 by what seems to be a 4:1 ratio, meaning with my Android phone I still have an internet connection 400% further then I did, and this is not in free space, there are trees and houses in the way in the Los Angeles suburbs. But a 14Dbd yagi will also increase your power and directivity (and reduce interference). If I had the room to mount the directional antenna and only needed to go 1 place, I would go with a directional antenna, in my case I have a 2 story house and a 1/4 acre and need coverage in all directions. Todays routers are usually 15-20Mw, if they were 100Mw, things would be much better. Their may be some out there that do 100Mw, but few I could find. :(
Also my kid with his X-Box 360 was connecting at 10Mbps on the older router, he is connected to the new 1 watt router at 65Mbps, no distance or client change (60 feet through walls and floors), only the router with a better receiver and 1 watt output. The old router a piece of junk? Linksys 54G's and I also tried my DIR-825. I had to use 3 ap's before to cover my property, now I just use the 1 watt router and its better receiver.
Infrastructure mode(I think that is the one) will allow you to connect a router to an AP as if the router was connecting to the internet directly via a cable, you tell the router with infrastructure mode to connect to a certain AP that is hard wired to the internet modem, give it the password and you now have 4 ports that is built into the router. If you are going to put an AP in repeater mode, you are going to cut your connection speed in half, the repeater only works in simplex, so it can only receive or transmit, not both at the same time. I see this with mountain top data sites, people don't understand, if you are not going through a repeater with duplex and you are using recieve-store-forward methods, this is a brutally slow method, but works. Going through more the one or two would be a deal killer for me and yes I have tried it on mountain tops.
The PL-APN router has a 1 watt amplifier in it with a killer receiver/preamp and it also has infrastructure mode. Would I use it as my primary firewall router hooked directly to my cable modem, no, but as an AP it works. Next someone will come back and say that router only puts out 28Dbm, that is NOT 1 watt, correct! It is usually the first 9Db of gain that counts with an amp, 25Mw to 600Mw is more then 9Db and the signal is MUCH cleaner if you don't push an amp 100%. I use the DIR-825 hooked to this PL-APN. I wish D-Link made a 500Mw router, the before mentioned PL-APN is clearly Chinese hardware and software, but it works well as long as after changing the settings in the AP you unplug the AP for 30 seconds and then plug it back in, mine has been up for 2 weeks, no problem. When I would do a soft restart ONLY, the router would usually refuse connections in a day or so, thus the HARD restart. In the US the ERP for WiFi for an unlicensed person I believe is 4 watts ERP, this router even with a 5Dbi antenna is still 50% below maximum legal.
Furry: The problem with my kids XBOX 360 and being dropped was fixed by buying more bandwidth from TWC, it turns out that I had one kid doing video chat and the other one on Xbox live, so 1x10 was not cutting it. I increased the the amount of bandwidth to 2x15 and he has not had any drops in 3 days, now everyone in the house is using the PL-APN in "N" only mode with no complaints. :)
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Thanks for the feed back Patrick...hope this comes in handy for everyone.
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@Hytech
Theres a guy in the DGL-4500 forum that just got a DAP-1525. Likes it. Might get ahold of him and ask him questions about it. Keep us posted on what you though.
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=40060.0 (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=40060.0)