OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: Increased performance with Atheros based wifi in Asus WL-500gP

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Post #1
agruman
25 Oct 2007, 20:21

Heya!

I have some performance issues with the wifi using my wl-500gp and my laptop.
Wifi works fine when im in close proximity to my router, however if i move away (quite a bit) i get packet loss and the connection is unstable and eventually lost.
(I suppose im at the edge of the area a wl-500gp supports, so i dont think its anything wrong with my unit.)

Now i have read some posts where the broadcom miniPci was exchanged for a Atheros based card.
And since i have nothing against running a 2.6 kernel i thought i might give it a go.

However i do have a few questions before i rush to the store and buys the first best card.

From what ive read the AR500X based cards works fine.

Do a/b/g work flawlessly?
Is 108Mbps supported, and does it work?
Is there any performance gain to the signal quality / strength / range?

And as stated here:
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=11620 and here http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=12261

The XR2 / SR2 based models work.
How well do they work?
Are there power supply issues as stated in post 2?
Is there any performance gain to the signal quality / strength / range?

Since my main objective is to get a greater signal strength and range im hoping the XR2 / SR2 works.

I appreciate all the help i can get.

Greetings

Post #2
lschweiss
26 Oct 2007, 16:20

Changing to a higher powered card will do nothing for range if the laptop is not also increased in power.   

I would recommend a higher gain antenna on the router which helps in both transmit an receive.   I have gone as high as a 15 dbi gain omni with awesome results.    Of course these require pigtails and external mounts.  But you can also get quite a bit of improvement with the 9 dbi rubber duck antennas.

15 dbi omni:
http://www.bizsyscon.com/product.php?id=1952
Pigtail:
http://www.bizsyscon.com/product.php?id=2448

9 dbi omni:
http://www.wlanparts.com/product/O24-9R … tenna.html

The stock antenna if I recall is only 2 or 3 dbi gain.   About every 3 dbi gain doubles your range, but walls and other obstacles will still be a larger factor than distance with indoor wireless.

(Last edited by lschweiss on 26 Oct 2007, 16:34)

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