Wireless signal boost via ICS?

[Danny.broderick]

I have a wireless router downstairs at my house that I access from the
second floor using the built in wireless in my laptop. I recently
bought a wireless card for the desktop I keep on the second floor so
that it could access the internet through the downstairs wireless
router, but the wireless card does not seem to be sensitive enough to
pick up the signal from the router. Because the laptop can pick up the
signal, I bought a second wireless card for the laptop with the goal of
using it to wirelessly share the laptop's connection to the router with
the desktop via an ad-hoc network. I have tried various setups of ICS
and network bridging on the laptop, but even though I am able to make a
good ad-hoc connection I cannot get the laptop to assign an IP to the
desktop and the two machines cannot ping each other. Is what I am
trying to do possible? Is there an easier alternate solution?

Thanks for any help!

Danny

 

[Chuck]

I have a wireless router downstairs at my house that I access from the
second floor using the built in wireless in my laptop. I recently
bought a wireless card for the desktop I keep on the second floor so
that it could access the internet through the downstairs wireless
router, but the wireless card does not seem to be sensitive enough to
pick up the signal from the router. Because the laptop can pick up the
signal, I bought a second wireless card for the laptop with the goal of
using it to wirelessly share the laptop's connection to the router with
the desktop via an ad-hoc network. I have tried various setups of ICS
and network bridging on the laptop, but even though I am able to make a
good ad-hoc connection I cannot get the laptop to assign an IP to the
desktop and the two machines cannot ping each other. Is what I am
trying to do possible? Is there an easier alternate solution?

Thanks for any help!

Danny

Danny,

People have asked about using ICS in an ad-hoc WiFi setup for some time, and
it's always been problematic. At one time, Linksys even had a white paper
available describing why they didn't support it. Maybe it works now.

But besides using ICS in ad-hoc mode, you also are making a repeater out of your
laptop. Using a repeater is guaranteed to cut your bandwidth in half,
minimally. With the laptop also being an Internet client, that will cut it by
still more.

All that said, what you have should work to some small extent, except maybe for
the ICS / ad-hoc WiFi bit. Remember with ad-hoc WiFi you have to use a
pre-assigned (fixed) IP address. Maybe you will have to setup the desktop as a
standard infrastructure client, and use the laptop as a router / AP.

I've never been a fan of ICS, even in its simplest form (Ethernet). With WiFi,
it's just too much trouble. MHO anyway.

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi

These days the prices of Wireless Cards and Wireless Cable/DSL Routers is
very close, it does not make sense to extend Wireless Network this way you
end up with double NAT and unstable Wireless.

If you can return the card and get a Wireless Cable/DSL Router that can do
WDS, (BuffaloTech has a model that sells for $40 or less).

http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Modes.html

If you do want to stay with what you have now and the laptop is running
WinXP Pro, bridging might do better than ICS.

Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Danny.broderick]

Thank you very much Chuck and Jack for the responses! It seems like
trying to get the laptop to act as a repeater is going to be more
challenging than just getting a repeater or a WDS enabled router.
Thank you very much for the help. Now I can stop using my head to make
dents in the wall...

Danny