AP in client mode problems

[Bryan Irvine]

On 8/24/06, Michael Skowvron <michaels at penguincentral.org> wrote:
> Bryan Irvine wrote:
> > I have 2 Linksys wap 54Gs.  One is in AP mode and allows for wireless
> > connections, the other is in client mode, and allows my 'wired'
> > machines access to the network.  Problem is that the access really
> > really sucks in the garage.
>
> Is the garage where the AP client and wired machines are?

yes.

> > I have a good signal, at least so says macstumbler, the APS are
> > seperated by about 20 feet, with 2 walls in between them.  My signal
> > strength to a laptop when in the garage varies but rarely dips below
> > even 75%.
>
> You are right to not completely trust tools like macstumbler. They can
> only report what the card tells them and most cards report highly
> exaggerated signals. They might report 50% signal strength when in
> reality they are receiving at the barest threshold of what they are able
> to detect.
>
> At least you can experiment and learn your particular card. If
> performance starts getting spotty at 50-60%, then just treat that as
> really being about zero.

it's an ibook with airport extreme.  It's starts getting spotty and
periodically dorpping if I go outside the garage close the door, get
in the car and back down the driveway partially. :-)

> > Another oddity, is that I have 2 computers presently hooked up, and
> > when one is busy the other one can't access the internet.  For example
> > if I have an ftp download going, the second computer is utterly
> > useless.
>
> Are you referring to 2 wired computers attached to the AP client?

Yes.  The AP client attaches to a 48-port summit extreme switch with
wired clients (presently only 2) connected to that.

> Are there any systems on the AP-side of the link, directly connected to
> the router? If so, does an ftp download to one of these machines have
> any effect on access to the Internet?

Yes there is one machine connected by wire to the netgear router.
Internet access works fine when more than 1 laptop is working
simultaneously with the wired one in the living room, and even
simultaneously with 1 machine in the garage.  When 2 are attempted to
be used in the garage, everything else still works fine except for the
garage systems then stall a lot.

It's only the systems in the garage that are spotty, and when those
are spotty everything else still works as expected.

--Bryan