Expand your wireless network

Here's what you need to know about wireless networking, from the standards and technologies to the best products for your home or office.

You may already have a home network and now want to connect it with your friend's network across the street, or perhaps you want to create a public hot spot to draw customers to your business. An 802.11n router can often provide coverage over a wide enough area, thanks to its 250-foot range. Still, with the right equipment, you can expand your network for more extensive coverage in your own home or bridge the digital divide in your neighborhood by starting a community network.

Networking components: Repeaters | Wireless bridges | Power-line bridges

Repeaters

As a digital signal travels down a cable or through the air, it gradually gets weaker. To get the signal to go farther, you need a device that can pick it up, then send it off again at full strength. Repeaters do just this. Repeaters are easy to confuse with bridges, and in fact, some access points and bridges include a repeater mode that allows the device to receive a signal from another access point and repeat it to adapters or other access points within its range. However, some bridges are capable only of talking to other bridges. Look carefully at the feature set to see if the product you are considering offers a repeater mode.

Things to consider about a repeater
• Is it compatible with your other repeaters and access points?
• Does it have a removable antenna or an external connector?
• How many Ethernet ports, if any, does it have?
• Does it include both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint modes?

Wireless bridges

A bridge connects two or more wireless networks in a large home, across the street, or across campus. Bridges attach networks together either through point-to-point or point-to-multipoint connections. Not long ago, bridges were expensive high-end products, but now you can find consumer bridges at very reasonable prices. Unfortunately, this technology varies based on the chipset and the firmware, so bridges tend to work only with other bridges of the same type and model. Before you lay down your cash, make sure that the bridges you're considering will work together.

Things to consider about a bridge
• Is it compatible with other bridges and access points?
• Does it have a removable antenna or an external connector?
• How many Ethernet ports does it have?
• Does it include both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint modes?
• Is it easy to install?

Power-line bridges

A power-line bridge can take your wireless network into places it might not otherwise be able to penetrate. For example, you may have a room with a wall that is covered with metal shelving. This would probably put it outside the reach of your wireless router. However, you can use a pair of power-line bridges to connect your router to an access point via your electrical wiring, which lets you add wireless connectivity even to those hard-to-reach areas. You can buy power-line bridges with both USB and Ethernet interfaces, so make sure you get the right interface for the device you intend to connect it to.

Things to consider about power-line bridges
• Does it have the right interface for your access point or router?
• Is the bridge HomePlug compliant?

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