Wireless router with changeable antenna and compactibility to DD-WRT needed

[Schwarzie]

Hello everyone.

I was "choosen" (read: other club members pointed their fingers at me "he knows how to Install Windows on a computer, he surely can do it"...) to "plan" a Wireless Network for two buildings (clubhouse and the Apartmenthouse for members standing right next to it) to provide all 20 persons living there (5 in the clubhouse, 15 in the appartmenthouse nearby) with one and the same Internet connection. The Internetconnection begins in the Clubhouse and 5 of the 5 rooms in there have a Ethernet cable ending in them, so the Wirelessnetwork is mostly to cover the building if someone sits around there with a Notebook or is using his smartphone. Therefore one extra Repeater and be done with it.

planned as router for this building:
Linksys/Cisco EA3500 Router
Repeater z.B. TRENDnet TEW-736RE


Now the tricky part to get a W-Lan over to the other building. My idea so far was: using two cheap routers with directional Antennas to bridge the distance (less then 10m and i have an option for a direct line of sight connection through two Windows. Nothing standing between those two Routers.) I want to run those two Routers/Acesspoints with DD-WRT, just because im familiar with that firmware.

One of those routers is connected via ethernet with the EA3500 who handles the Internetconnection. The other one is connected to two other Routers/Acesspoints that span up the Wlan in the Apartmenthouse (3 levels, 5 small Appartments in each (all rpoughly 20-25m² big), one router for the ground floor, one for the second floor, tests i did with my own EnGenius ESR9850 router were rather promising that, with slightly bigger Antennas on these Routers, i can get halfway decent connection in each room.

the Internet connection is a 100Mbit cable connection.

My questions now are:
a) what Router/Acesspoint would fullfill my demands? Of course we have next to no buget as is to be expected from such an undertaking...
b) is my "plan" roughly workable at all or am i delusional, insane, hopeless etc pp

best regards
Jens

 

[stevech]

Two cheap routers won't make a bridge link. They're both access devices.
Suggest a pair of something like these outdoor integral-antenna bridges

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833168083

 

[Schwarzie]

Two cheap routers won't make a bridge link. They're both access devices.

Thats where DD-WRT comes into play. With that firmware the Routers have a greatly increased set of functionality.

Mostly im searching for cheap routers with switchable Antennas, atm it seems its out of fashion to builds Routers with a damn standard RP-SMA connector or at the very least write it in the technical specifications. It searched for several hours yesterday and didnt find even ONE router with this information. Its beyond frustrating!

These bridge devices sound interesting but are a bit on the expensive side. I would prefer something in the below 40€ range.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Look on e-bay and you can find 54Gs flashed with DD-WRT. You can also pick up some 9Db antennas for 54Gs. Versions of the 54G up to Version 4 had removable antennas.

I can pick the 54Gs up for less than $40.

I have had success in bridging over 500 feet.

 

[Schwarzie]

Look on e-bay and you can find 54Gs flashed with DD-WRT. You can also pick up some 9Db antennas for 54Gs. Versions of the 54G up to Version 4 had removable antennas.
I can pick the 54Gs up for less than $40.
I have had success in bridging over 500 feet.

But with what speed? Its only a 54mbit router and up to 15 people will use it to access the Internet.

Is there relly no halfway decent successor to the WRT54G? I had one (WRT54GS) for myself but retired it since its maximum routing speed was around 20Mbit max, and that was overclocked via DD-WRT.

 

[sfx2000]

how much money do you have to spend?

 

[Schwarzie]

how much money do you have to spend?

First draft was around 400€ but im sure that i could jiggle 500€ out of them if it needs to be. Due to taxes etc you can take € = $ for electronic devices (at least thats the usual exchange rate for them)

 

[stevech]

Newegg was selling-off WRT54GL (L for LInux and DD-WRT capable). Haven't seen them for a long time.

 

[Schwarzie]

Newegg was selling-off WRT54GL (L for LInux and DD-WRT capable). Haven't seen them for a long time.

I could get WRT54G(various Versions) over here, im just concerned that a 54Mbit Router will provide enough bandwidth for so many people.

 

[stevech]

I retired my WRT-54G (large memory) when my ISP went up to 20Mbps down for me. The router couldn't go that fast due to its slower CPU.

 

[Schwarzie]

Noone else knows a suitable cheap device? Come on guys, thats Smallnetbuilder here.

 

[stevech]

you ask about routers, plural. One LAN, one ISP, one router. So if the clubhouse and other areas are all on the same LAN, there would of course be just one actual router.

Unless you re-purpose a router as an access point (AP), no firmware change.

Changeable antennas: These were mostly 802.11g and early 11n. With MIMO forms of 11n, the multiple antennas are typically internal for both technical and cost reasons.

 

[Schwarzie]

you ask about routers, plural. One LAN, one ISP, one router. So if the clubhouse and other areas are all on the same LAN, there would of course be just one actual router.
Unless you re-purpose a router as an access point (AP), no firmware change.

Well yes basically the additional routers are basically just used as a access point. Im still think to much about my old WRT54GS which, with additional functionality, had all these features.

Should i start a new Thread then about accesspoints for my specific purposes?

Changeable antennas: These were mostly 802.11g and early 11n. With MIMO forms of 11n, the multiple antennas are typically internal for both technical and cost reasons.

Ah thats annoying. We use one of these Routers with internal Antennas inside our building atm and it has serious problems reaching through walls. (2.4Ghz since nearly noone here has a 5ghz able device) (Its a Cisco/Linksys EA2700).

 

[stevech]

well, the adage - you can have speed or range - applies most assuredly to low power unlicensed wireless!

highly mobile devices tend to need lower speeds than immobile devices. Hence, less speed-aggressive wireless is best for them. And that leads to better range. ye ole 11g and 11b have better range as they strive for fewer bits/Hz/sec. And equipment supporting 11b/g can use directional antennas well. But the low power limits (FCC) of the unlicensed bands is there for good reason: spectrum sharing.