How far can a wireless router reach outside of a home?

[TimothyB]

I own a condo across the street and a bit down from my Mom's condo. She's still stuck on a cheap dial-up that is incredibly slow and usually drops when trying to dl anything 2megs and larger.

I'm wondering if there is a wireless router that can reach her place from mine so she can use my DSL since she can't afford it right now.

I can't tell you how many feet it is right now, but here's a pic of the area (The router would be in number 64, my moms place is number 19):



I know about people that park out side homes and businesses to access free internet from a low security network, but how far does it go beyond than just across the street from the router.

What type of wireless router would I need to get to reach that distance and how much would it cost?

[kbleft]

The router won't reach, but you may be able to place a wireless repeater in her condo. http://store.yahoo.com/justdeals/dwl800ap.html

[TimothyB]

Wow, and for $34.95-$50 that can be used as an access point too? Does that mean I could connect that to my existing router, then I'd have a wireless network? Then another one could be placed at the other condo in hopes it reaches it?

Kind of like this diagram:




Though, I can't seem to find what range these things have to begin with, even if for not using it for what I'm proposing.

[BenFolds]

building 21 is in your way. the signal path will never make it, even if its chances were slim. i get signal from my neighbor's wap, and they're across the street. I do have a clear line of sight, and their router is right near their window.

anywho, you should smash building 21.

[TimothyB]

Originally posted by BenFolds
building 21 is in your way. the signal path will never make it, even if its chances were slim. i get signal from my neighbor's wap, and they're across the street. I do have a clear line of sight, and their router is right near their window.

anywho, you should smash building 21.

I'll have to check if there's a good line of site. The dark part of 21 is just the wooden fence patio. And the room where her pc is in #19 is in the front left corner, the corner closest to mine. And in my place my PC is next to the wall against the street, but I have a brick patio on that side.

I think the best alternative is to just buy DSL for 19, rather than buy number 21 and smash it down.

[Liuke]

There's no definitive way to answer the range question. Sure, we could talk about the theoretical max distances these things can handle, but it's all pretty meaningless. In the real world, there are way too many variables that could affect your range. There could be other sources of radio interference, obstacles, etc. The list would just go on. Going across a street makes it seem less likely to me that it would reach. Heck, the AP in my parents' house can't even cover the entire inside of the house so I wouldn't even think of trying something across the street in my scenario.

It seems like your best bet for propagating the signal would be to put the repeater in an intermediate location between your condo and your mom's. This is what one of my friends did, and it works nicely in the crowded streets of Chicago. Of course, he had a friend living along the way to where he wanted to reach where he could stick the repeater. It may be tricky to mount it in a location between if you don't know anyone there.

You can always try multiple repeaters chained together as well if the signal still doesn't reach. Just remember anyone accessing the network through a repeater will suffer a throughput penalty for each repeater they have to go through.

[happie23]

you could put an access point and have a antenna on each roof. That's at least what a network guy said for our networking problem. He said that line of sight isn't an issue with antennas. Of course, that will be pricey... probably getting DSL in your mother's condo would be better.