wireless bridging: extended range yes, but stronger signal?

niji

hello,

regarding airport extreme: here is my question:

currently i have the original graphite base station. location is on second floor of my house.

usually i can get a good connection to the net even while on the first floor of my house, but occasionally the signal drifts presumably due to interference.

if i get two airport extreme base stations, wirelessly bridge them so that they both feed off the same broadband internet connection, does this really do anything for me? wouldnt wireless bridging of two base stations just give me more RANGE, but not necessarily a stronger, powerful signal?

if a second airport extreme base station on the first floor accessing the primary airport extreme base station on the second floor DOES provide a stronger signal over just an airport card in a machine accessing the second floor base station, then why is it able to do that? is it that the first floor base station has a better antenna or what?

thnx for any info.



[ 01-31-2003: Message edited by: niji ]</p>

ebby

The basestations will decide which hub has better reception to your card and only use the closest hub. Two basestations will not boost the signal, but if spaced apart will extend the overall range of your wireless network. (eg. You want to move the basestations from the center of the 1st & 2nd floors to the right of the 1st floor and left of the 2nd. But close enough to communicate between basestations.)

niji

thank you for confirming the logicallity of it:

multiple base stations will certainly extend range, but may not provide stronger signal.

the outcome of this is that for normal homes you would not need two base stations, nor would it necessarily provide any greater signal strength than a single computer accessing a single base station.

thnx



[ 01-31-2003: Message edited by: niji ]</p>