Wireless Router

G

Ghost

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This question is mostly for Bill, but the little people can comment too!

So....most of this season I've been finally enjoying my onboard wireless network. It consists of a senao 3220ext high power bridge with 9db omni antenna to bring in the signal from the marina. I then plug the high power bridge into a wireless router to distribute to the rest of the boat (boat pc, laptops, iphone...). There is nothing special about the wireless router portion of the system. I previously had an old style linksys 54g, but found that unit was having issues with the bridge. I replaced it this spring with a D-link and had considerable issues getting it to work. One day I tried again and away it went and all summer I've been happy as a clam. In getting it working months ago I noticed that upon checking connections that it started working when I wiggled one of the wires. This week it stopped working. Swapping wires does not help. I've troubleshooted it down to the fact that this unit has had a bad jack connection since day 1 and now it finally failed completely. Fine, I'll just replace that unit.

What should I get?
 
Heck, from the title and from a little person, I thought you meant one of these...

Router.jpg
 
quote:
Originally posted by Reel Antsy

Heck, from the title and from a little person, I thought you meant one of these...

Router.jpg


Click to expand...


What kind of battery does that thing have in it. Routers draw lots of juice.

G
 
George ... It looks like 19.2 V .... I wonder how long a charge would last??
 
Another little persons two cents..

You might want to go down to Frys electronics in Renton. They have a wall full of routers that would work fine. Take your pick.

For my boat I just purchased a wifi USB omni antenna with one watt of power. The antenna is about four foot long and mounts and looks like a standard VHF antenna. I went from no connections to eight. Many with five bars signal strength. I was also suprised at how many are open with no security setting. Of course I would never connect to them for free. [:-smirk]

If I needed to I could then connect a router to my laptop and use the laptop as a bridge for any other computers connected to the router.

Dave
 
Dave, on my way back from Friday Harbor last weekend, I did my personal duty to survey and see where the open wifi spots were. Purely out of the thought that if I ever met somebody who lived on the shorenline, I could relay my findings.

Anyhoo....I'm noticing a distinct trend. It was much harder to find an open site than it used to be. I don't know if its all the web enabled iphone's sucking bandwidth or what. I found one open site I could connect in Friday Harbor itself, but the speed was tedious so I went back to bbx.

Maybe it was just chance, but it really surprised me how hard it was to find an open site.

That "other" router would mount nicely under the wing of my table saw.

Most of the routers do seem like just commodity products these days, but I thought I'd ask anyhow. You can get a defective product from anyone, but some mus thave a better repuation than others.
 
Who has the best wireless router is probably like asking who has the best anchor. However, for small routers I've used the Linksys at home and also here at work with good results.

I've only used my system in Blaine as I won't be out and about until March. There were two or three unsecured networks I found with about five secured.

Wireless always seems laggy compared to a hard wire connection.

Dave
 
We have free wifi at the marina but I get a very poor signal at my boat. Their router is a linksys range plus N. I even bought a range plus wireless card but to no avail. Anyone have any ideas? Not trying to hijack the thread just thought someone might have more knowledge than I.
 
I am a GeoSatSolutions lover, if you want I may have a spare Enginius 3220 with easy to use Syrens based firmware that I had installed. If I can remember who I lent it to you can have it. Otherwise I think I have a never used EXT3660 at the shop if that will work you can have it PM me. Do you feed it with POE? If so that could be your point of failure.
Bill
 
I should have been more clear. The 3220 is working fine. It's the vanilla wireless router for re-distributing the signal to laptops that just went on the blink. The kind that you find in any computer store. Just wondering if you thought there were any clear leaders in that arena.
 
Get a CradlePoint they make a very nice small one and an added plus if you have a USB data cellular 3G device you can use it when the other router can't pick up WiFi. However you can use it as a stand alone without the USB modem. It is the real small CT350 and it runs on 12 volts DC as an added plus. It has the WLAN port and 4 LAN ports in addition to the 3G/4G USB port it will only support 16 MAC addresses but that shouldn't be a problem. The set up is very basic. In fact the cellular would only work if the WiFi WLAN port went dead.
It is about 3 X 3" and 1" thick. I recently have experimented with it on Sprints WiMAX network but it can be used as you want to use it as a wireless in the boat router for your topside AP. Bill
 
If you want a Linksys I have a few laying around I could ship you after the snow storm we are supposed to get. These units have only been used for lab testing especially interfacing with other AP's or fixed cellular modems.
Bill
 
Bill, the Cradlepoint looks very interesting, especially since clear just launched their 4g here in Seattle and that would be available down at the boat. Not only that, but would also be a connection I could get ON the water in some parts. A router like this would really patch things together.

Trying now to decide whether I need ANOTHER data plan (I already have fios at home, occasionally subscribe to bbx wifi service at local marina's, have an AT&T data plan with my iphone....) At $70/mo, while I've really wanted to get broadband on the boat all the time (wifi does not receive under the metal roof of the covered moorage), I just need to decide if I want to fork out the dough.

Still....this is very cool and the router would work without cell coverage too (connected to wifi).

Looking at the MBR900 right now.

Brett
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost

Bill, the Cradlepoint looks very interesting, especially since clear just launched their 4g here in Seattle and that would be available down at the boat. Not only that, but would also be a connection I could get ON the water in some parts. A router like this would really patch things together.

Trying now to decide whether I need ANOTHER data plan (I already have fios at home, occasionally subscribe to bbx wifi service at local marina's, have an AT&T data plan with my iphone....) At $70/mo, while I've really wanted to get broadband on the boat all the time (wifi does not receive under the metal roof of the covered moorage), I just need to decide if I want to fork out the dough.

Still....this is very cool and the router would work without cell coverage too (connected to wifi).

Looking at the MBR900 right now.

Brett

Click to expand...
The Ferries are using Clearwire and distributing it on the boats via WiFi AP's. Note to your self mount the Cradlepoint with the router high enough to look out a window. You may also want the larger Cradlepoint router as well like the 900 or 1000. I won't comment on what I pay for all the data services from everyone and I even have the new INMARSAT high speed VSAT.
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by fastguy91

We have free wifi at the marina but I get a very poor signal at my boat. Their router is a linksys range plus N. I even bought a range plus wireless card but to no avail. Anyone have any ideas? Not trying to hijack the thread just thought someone might have more knowledge than I.

Click to expand...
Yes get an external antenna from Digital and use low loss cable to the interconnecting cable for your router. The router most have a small antenna connector and the adapters are listed on the WPS Antenna website.
Thats if you only want local service but it will improve. Be careful how they have the N router at the marina configured try yours in the mixed mode because if they have channel bonded A WiFi channels they are at 5ghz and there isn't much available to easily help you at 5ghz. Mixed mode uses the entire G band 2.4 and sometimes up to 3 A bands. You won't notice the speed slow down if you try running yours out of N mode. Most N Access points run the entire WiFi band 2.4 & 5ghz channels. They also use MIMO which in theory helps by summing multipath signals but most of the multipath is at 5ghz. The 5ghz signals will have a tough time penetrating inside the boats cabin especially if it is blocked by other boats. Another point N routers or Access Points (marina side) are backwards compatible so if you run in 802.11G you should be fine.
Bill
 
Boy.......I wish I knew what you guys where talking about !
 
WiMAX or 802.16E is very fast even a basic $30 plan gets you unlimited usage with at least 3mbps download and 1mbps upload. They have plans all unlimited to 10mbps DL and 3 to 6mbps UL. But your range and speed will vary with antenna placement. WiMAX operates at 2.5GHz to 2.7GHz in TDD Time Division Duplex mode and OFDMA as the signal scheme it is also MIMIO external antennas and amplifier will be coming out slowly. The signal constallation is 16QUAM and 64QUAM. The 4G footprints are small and rollout is slow still. If you have it in your local area a 4G AP will work with a regular router as the interface to your wireless devices (most don't have many WiMax chipsets yet). I have tested this and even a stand alone Skype phone will work through your WiFi router connected through the data CAT5 port on the 4G router. Of coarse computers will also work this same way this is real fast wireless. No 3G service touches it speed wise every 3G service beats it coverage wise so far. It has been running in Europe and Asia for the last 2 to 3 years. But caution 700MHz LTE will soon launch and that should go further and be almost as fast. Time and the economy will drive this.
Bill
 
I have a 900 in the lab for testing it is better than the small form factor CT350. I would go with it because it will accept more than USB modems if you ever go that route.
Bill
 
I want to make something very clear while I just recently started testing the Cradlepoints I do not recommend them as your primary Access Point on the boat only as the secondary unit in the cabin. For serious WiFi its Syrens but they are now called GeoSatSolutions out of Florida. There is another unit Alan Spicer sells not nearly as robust but marinized and works on the same principle. That being the external antenna and main router should be less than 10 feet of coaxial cable and the unit should be high power and have good receiver dynamic range and sensitivity like this -108dbm 2mbps throughput at -98 at least 11mpbs throughput. I keep hearing about all these closed systems on my boat it is 50/50 and many are named Hot Spot and free. the second router is used in the cabin connected to the 1st with a CAT5 cable. The 2nd router should have it's power output setting as low as possible and still cover the ship. Do not put it on the same channel as the unit topside or you will interfere with yourself. I have great success with WiFi I bought a property in no mans land NC I intend to cover the section between Merritt and Oriental once I have systems covering large parts of Little Egg and part of Great Egg in NJ that work fantastic if the boat is equipped with anything other than just a basic air card built into the computer. If I could say any one point get the WiFi antenna high and use low loss cable if you can't use low loss cable then get the AP router near it.
Bill
 
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