Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:11 Post subject: Optimize WDS Performance
Can anyone help me out with getting my WDS to work a little better than it currently is. My set up is that I have an internet connection in building 1 and I am using a WDS to allow me to connect to the internet in building 2 which is approximately 1000 feet away. There is nothing between the 2 buildings, but I cannot stand at the router in building 1 and see building 2 (but I can stand at the router in building 2 and see building 1).
I currently have the WDS configured and working, but it is sometimes incredibly slow. I have my routers set up as both on channel 11, the Linksys WRT54G (building 1) has the xmit power set to 84 mW and the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 (building 2) has xmit power set to 10 mW.
When I look on the status page for the Linksys, it shows a rate under the wireless section of only 1 Mbps, and the WDS status is only 2%, looking at the same page on the Buffalo I see a rate of 11 Mbps and the WDS status is around 16%. There is currently no security on the network (had hoped to use WPA, but one of the clients is an 802.11b).
Is there anything I can do to get the WDS on both routers up? and to increase the rate on the Linksys above 1 Mbps?
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:53 Post subject: possible solution
you didn't mention which antennae ur using with the radios. If you're using the stock antennae that came with the radios, you might not be able to achieve much better than this anyways. It would be better if you could use higher gain antennae. Even 7dbi omni antennae would do fine. You get these for fairly cheap here in India (USD .
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:56 Post subject: possible solution
you didn't mention which antennae ur using with the radios. If you're using the stock antennae that came with the radios, you might not be able to achieve much better than this anyways. It would be better if you could use higher gain antennae. Even 7dbi omni antennae would do fine. You get these for fairly cheap here in India (USD .
Also the way you describe it, there could be a bit of an issue in the liner of sight. If there is a marked difference in height between the 2 buildings, you need to tilt the antennae accordingly depending on which ones you're using. For such installations, i personally prefer patch antennae (even 5dbi would do fine for your requirement)
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:58 Post subject: optimize wds performance
you didn't mention which antennae ur using with the radios. If you're using the stock antennae that came with the radios, you might not be able to achieve much better than this anyways. It would be better if you could use higher gain antennae. Even 7dbi omni antennae would do fine. You get these for fairly cheap here in India (USD .
Also the way you describe it, there could be a bit of an issue in the liner of sight. If there is a marked difference in height between the 2 buildings, you need to tilt the antennae accordingly depending on which ones you're using. For such installations, i personally prefer patch antennae (even 5dbi would do fine for your requirement)
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:43 Post subject: Re: Optimize WDS Performance
plmokn wrote:
1, the Linksys WRT54G (building 1) has the xmit power set to 84 mW and the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 (building 2) has xmit power set to 10 mW.
Is there anything I can do to get the WDS on both routers up? and to increase the rate on the Linksys above 1 Mbps?
Maybe increase the output power on the buffalo. Radio power goes down as a function as a square of the distance, so you've GOTTA have enough power coming out of the buffalo for the WRT to hear it over the noise floor, and at 10 mW at 300 yards.. I'm not sure that I could see an AP running at 10mW in the OPEN at 300 yards. That's three foodball fields.
I'm not that familar with the WHR-HP-G54 (Haven't worked on one yet), so I'm not sure what the normal Xmit power for this router is, but I'd be more than willing to be it's a LOT more than 10 mW.
Crank it up to around 50 and see if that doesn't fix yer problem...
And antennas would help, too.. I like backfire antennas, since they tend to have a pretty good gain, without having to worry about polorization.
amity2kare: At the moment I am using the standard antenna, on both the WRT54G and the WHR-HP-G54. I had been thinking about upgrading the antenna on the WRT54G
the_wanderer: I left the WHR-HP-G54 power set to 10 mW as I believe it has an internal amplifier that is supposed to boost the signal (and had read on here that it was better to leave this as is due to heat issues with the amplifier). I think I will do some more reading on here, and maybe increase the power if there are no apparent problems.
Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 1103 Location: Surabaya, Indonesia
Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 13:06 Post subject:
i don't know with Buffalo WHR, but my GL set the xmit power until 250 mW work so good since 6 month ago and still work so good untill now
some people says that increase the xmit power is not recomended but if you need that why not _________________ 365'pc WRT54GL 1.1 + DD-WRT wds - client mode - client bridge
337 GL+DD-WRT v23 SP1 Std
28 GL+DD-WRT v23 SP3 Std
13 WRT300N v.1 v24 06-20-07
2 GL/SP1/200 mW+Hyperlink 24 db >> 16 km Point to Point
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 184 Location: Essex, England
Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 14:14 Post subject:
I would say that WDS mode wirless performance is not as good as Client to AP performance. WDS mode should be excellent since it is able to bridge two networks properly which Client Bridge mode does not do.
However you should look at V24 repeater mode, this seems to have a much better wireless range than WDS. The Internet side WRT should be in AP mode and the client WRT should be in CLIENT-REPEATER mode, it will be routed, you can turn off NAT.
In CLIENT-REPEATER, the radio works as client mode but ALSO as a AP with a different ESSID! It performs suprisingly well.
I would also prefer WDS mode (because it's a proper bridge) but it simply does not have the wireless performance of Client to AP.
When I look on the status page for the Linksys, it shows a rate under the wireless section of only 1 Mbps, and the WDS status is only 2%, looking at the same page on the Buffalo I see a rate of 11 Mbps and the WDS status is around 16%. There is currently no security on the network (had hoped to use WPA, but one of the clients is an 802.11b).
Do a factory reset on the WHR-HP-G54, and don't mess with the wireless power settings, just set the thing up for the WDS link, and see what it looks like. I did some reading, and it looks like that after SP2 on DD-WRT, you don't have to do the monkeying around with the Xmit power levels, and that they are calculated differently. So, do a factory reset, and see what the Xmit power is and if it's 28mW, LEAVE IT ALONE, just set up the WDS link.
.