Ok, Know it alls I need some help

[G+_D Bell]

Ok, Know it alls I need some help.

 

Helping a friend get his Motel Wireless setup and well there is just a ton of noise.    

 

In the picture below the Lazy K are the SSIDs we're trying to improve quality on, the others are all various nearby hotels.     Is there anything at all we can do to improve this.

 

Standing next to the access point we get 30 Mb down, but if you move to any of the rooms you start seeing all these other signals and the speed drops to 1-2 Mb down

[G+_Andre Klärner]

it would require you to walk around and map all these out (with their approx reach) and than try to distribute all these wireless networks to channels overlapping the lease, so that two nearby wifis are e.g. on 1 and 11..

 

Could take a while and lots of effort to get the other wifi owners to optimise this.

[G+_Scot McSweeney-Roberts]

The only thing I can think of isn't particularly portable - a directional Wifi antenna hooked up to a wireless router in his room (by "his motel" I'm assuming you mean the motel he is staying at, not the motel he owns). I'm not aware of any portable routers that have external antenna connections. 

[G+_D Bell]

Sorry I guess my post wasn't clear, this is the hotel he own, so going 5Ghz won't work cuz his guests won't have 5Ghz.   I can't work with the other hotels to change their APs as they will want what is best for them everyone else be damned.

 

I'll see what I can do about mapping physical locations to channels and try to spread Lazy K's to stay away from anything close.

[G+_Andre Klärner]

Darwin Bell you might get them to help you by explaining that once this is done they will also have better coverage as they don't clutter with yours or their neighbors either.

[G+_Andre Klärner]

John Wolf  While it's true that most devices have a 5G radio nowadays, it would not concider 2G radios dead or irrelevant.. Consider yourself going to a hotel and getting told "the working 5G radio costs you extra 5 bucks, or stick with the slow and nearly broken 2G"..

I for myself stick to my beloved T42 that hasn't got a 5G radio just because it works better and is lighter than many newer devices, while being way more robust than these crazy thin ultrabooks with their wibbly-wobbly display..

[G+_Cole Brodine]

I realize it probably isn't cost effective, but I love when hotels have an Ethernet connection.  It seems like WiFi is just so sketchy.

[G+_Andre Klärner]

Cole Brodine the one and only real solution. how cheap it is depends only on how big the area is you need to cover.. 10MBit switches can be found on trashmills these days, but you can get them for free and cover more than most hotel guests ever need while they nearly guarantee their speed.

[G+_Cole Brodine]

Andre Klärner I think the biggest barrier to Ethernet these days is the labor of installing the cabling.  If the building is already built, retrofitting Ethernet in an esthetically pleasing way can be difficult.  The equipment for Ethernet is probably cheaper than WiFi equipment in many cases.  The cabling isn't very expensive either, when buying in bulk.

[G+_Aaron W. Star]

More access points with less separation.   Think of it like the difference between shouting to someone at the end of the street,  vs talking to someone in the room.  Don't screw with antennas, higher power, or repeaters.   More wired APs' with a shorter throw, get a wireless controller to manage SSID and Channels.  Start with a 50 foot separation rule of thumb.  Try and get Signal to below -50.  If you have multiple floors hire someone, as the channel mapping should be planned with a survey.  Run the microwave in the room and test for connectivity issues, or stay away from channel 11.  The Super 8 guys are using channels 4 and 8 which offer a reduced bandwidth clear channel between 1, 6, and 11.

[G+_Joshua “Wizdum” Burgess]

You either need to switch to 5ghz radios, and offer cheap USB adapters to customers that dont have 5ghz devices, or go wired ethernet. You can't simply get a better, bigger, or more powerful radio. Even if you do, your clients wont be able to transmit back to you with the puny radios found in their phones, tablets, and laptops. Increasing power one way doesn't work. It would be like trying to talk to a player at a baseball game by shouting louder than the people around you.

[G+_Teck Mobi]

More POWER! Try to turn up the radio power if you can. OpenWRT & DD-WRT will let you adjust the power. Most home routers will not.

 

Try channel 9. Looks like some space in there.

 

Use more that one access point.

 

openwrt.org

dd-wrt.com

[G+_Bill Wilson (RedDwarf)]

At the price of dual band wifi routers now, I'd use dual band routers that will go higher speed and promote the fact I had it. Not necessarily charging extra, because I truthfully wouldn't pay the fee. The place I stay at for the Ohio Linux Fest has free wifi. I haven't checked to see if they've added 5g.? They also offer free wired connection too

[G+_Teck Mobi]

There is not much you can do about the other wireless networks. What you call "noise".

 

Try Extended Service Set (ESS). It is defined as two or more Basic Service Sets connecting to the same wired network. Each access point is assigned a different channel wherever possible to minimize interference. If a channel must be reused, it is best to assign the reused channel to the access points that are the least likely to interfere with one another.

http://www.wildpackets.com/images/compendium/topo-2b_2.gif

 

Did you look at the Know How that covers this?

[G+_Skip In Perth]

how about trying this 

 or  put repeater AP in motel room about half way down block of units.