Hi guys
I thought I would describe our wireless setup at the base in Sweden.
We have ADSL2+ (24mb/s) broadband connecting through a Zyzel 660M modem.
This connectis to a Linksys (Cisco) WRT54GS wireless router using DD-WRT firmware. (I tried Sveasoft but found DD-WRT better and less controversial on the GPL side)
These routers are Linux based and there are quite a few different GPL firmware modifications available.
WDS is enabled and there are two other WRT54GS units and a WRE54G range extender. All are set on the same channel (11) and with the same SSID. It kind of creates a cell roaming system that users connect seamlessly to the strongest signal.
We cover the main house (2 floors) plus 2 neigbouring houses and our staff house, 200m away with a tall spruce tree blocking line of sight. I get a stable 34meg link there.
The WRT54GS units act as access point and building to building bridge at the same time.
I use QOS and port forwarding to give priority to GENESIS.
The best part of the system is that it is stable. If I do not get tempted to play with it - it just works! (and what a blessing that is!)
Maybe it would be good to have some working desriptions posted to help newcomers?
Happy New Year to all
Mike
Townsville Wireless Set-up
We are using a mix of Dell, Netgear and Linksys access points around our base. The old Dells provide coverage in our warehouse, the netgear in our office block and then we use the Linksys to provide coverage outside of our base. The Dells and Netgear provide simple coverage, but the Linksys set-up is sort of interesting.
In our IT office, which is the only office on the second floor (above the toilet block) we have a Linksys WAP54G with the Linksys firmware connected to an external 8db omni-directional antenna on the roof of our warehouse. It is set-up to operate in AP mode with Mac filtering (if I remember right) to allow only the other APs to connect to it.
Then we have another Linksys WAP54G on our apartment block operating in repeater mode that connects to the main Linksys AP. This AP uses the standard antennas that came with the AP. This provides wireless coverage for about 1/2 of the apartments (the other half don't have any access right now).
To provide wireless access at our director's house we had to actually set-up a Linksys WAP54G with a directional antenna pointed back at the omni-directional antenna. This AP operates as a repeater and provides wireless access for his house, the house next to his and the apartments on the other side of him as well.
The distance from our IT office to the director's house is not far, so we were surprised when we had to use a directional antenna. The only thing that we can think of is the high humidity (often up to 80 - 90%) was causing signal loss.
We are also running our wireless network outside of our primary network. We are essentially running two networks, both behind their own firewall, then connected to each other through the broadband router. To connect to our primary network from wireless you need to either connect via VPN or using Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection.
The only problem that we have with this set-up is that for some reason the Macs can't connect from wireless, they seem to have problems processing the IP address of the primary network firewall and they end up looking for the IP on the Internet instead of locally.
Newcastle Wireless Set-up
The Newcastle base has two different buildings that are across the street from each other. This obviously meant that they couldn't connect their networks with wires, so they have an access point in a window in each building that is line of site to each other and from what they have told me it is working great.
Wireless is certainly making it easier for us to make the best use of the properties that we are working in.
Has anyone tried or heard
Has anyone tried or heard about Meraki (www.meraki.com) sounds a like a great solution and I'm seriously considering it for the new base in Cuernavaca, MX
Leo
YWAM Cuernavaca