lan

[wires]

first off, hi all

i have very limited electronics knowledge (by your standards probably) so what i am about to ask may well be impossible or nonsense.

i have a small lan at home, myslef and a few friends play a lot of pc games on this lan. my parents live next door and my brother would like to play with us. his problem is he is still at school so has no income so cannot afford to buy any equipment. vpn does not work well as internet where we are isnt great. i have a wireless router but the range does not reach his house. i know he could probably buy his own wireless router and bridge them but he has no money.

i was thinking about the lan cable and there are just two pairs in use, right?
i have line of sight to the other house so could i build some sort of optical link. ie. use ir leds to send and recieve the signals. i know i would need transistors capable of switching at a high enough speed (we are only using a 10meg hub) and im not sure if the leds would be able to switch fast enough??? anyway that probably sounds like nonsense but the more i think about it the more i think the only issue is switching the ir fast enough. but like i said...im no expert so any ideas guys??

cheers
btw i know it would be much easier to bury a cable but it would really need to be in a plastic pipe or something so thats 150m of cat5 + cost of pipe = probably more than a wireless router for his house.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

This probbaly isn't the best loacation to download, but download "Netstumbler" NetStumbler Download Free Then take a laptop nearbyand look for the greatest s/n ratio to select a channel.

You;ll be surprized where you might be able to pick up a signal. For instance I have an AP (Accesss Point) about 3' higher than my laptop. I cannot pick up a signal sitting on a chair 3' away.

I picked up a Belkin router which can be used as an access point or repeaters for $20. Pretty cheap.

Moving your wireless router can potentially give him more range. Watch for line of sight obstructions. If the AP/Wireless router has to antennas point them in different directions.

So simplisticly, use Netstumber and walk around with alaptop to see where the signal fades. Move your wireless router to see if you can increase it. You may find that a simple wireless repeater located at his house in a particular place would work for himat a very low price. The thing is you have to use a tool like netstumber to find the best location.

I don't know what 802.11 standard your using? b, g or n? or where the router is located in your house.Now find a line of sight referenceto his house. Position your router and his receiver (preferably an AP) at the best line of sight location. Avoid dense objects like packed clothes closets and bricks. It mightbeall you have to do is move the routers neara window.

Good luck.

 

[wires]

never heard of that software before, will do as you suggest and as your name suggests keep it simple. thanks for the info

 

[arunb]

if the house is next door try running a LAN cable to his house. Probably the wireless router has a built in hub.