My wireless routers that are on a different subnet from the wired leg of the LAN also have a stronger signal than the wireless routers in Access Point (AP) mode - Have no idea why. But I also have multiple wireless routers, so while it's a slight drop in signal strength, it's not enough to impact performance.
I actually have 4 wireless routers, in 2 pairs, with one pair on each end of the house. The two "Open" routers are each on separate subnets - ie - If the wired router is 192.168.1.1, then the 2 "Open" wireless routers are 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.3.1. The SB Radio will not connect/re-connect to this leg of the LAN. The 2 "Secure" AP's are on the wired subnet of 192.168.1.1 and have IP addresses of 192.168.1.253 and 192.168.1.254. The SB Radio connects/re-conects fine to this leg of the LAN. I am using all Belkin 8230 Pre-N routers - They have the best Squeezebox through-put of any router that I have tried, including the new full N routers. They are discontinued, but I got them new from this eBay seller for $49 each, all in: http://cgi.ebay.com/Belkin-Wireless-Pre-N-Router-F5D8230-4-Brand-New-/300455341830?pt=COMP_EN_Routers&hash=item45f488af06 I also just helped a friend with his new Squeezebox system and used 3 of these routers (one primary and two in AP mode). He had an electrician pull ethernet cable from his family room where the main router resides to each end of his house, and we put an AP on each of the ethernet runs - works great. He wanted his laptop to be able to access files on his desktop PC on the wired segment, so we used the AP mode method and added WPA wireless security to the whole thing. It's a sprawling house, but he gets great coverage everywhere. If you are concerned about signal strength, this would be a fairly inexpensive option for you. If your thoughts about the Radio not being able to find the server on the wired leg of the network are correct, then it may work with the Radio set up with a fixed IP address - I know it's possible, but would have to look around to see how. If you just have one wireless router, then a fixed IP address might work OK and let the Radio find the SB Server in either AP mode on on a separate subnet router - and if you end up with multiple wireless routers, the Radio would be able to switch to the stronger signal as long as the wireless routers are set up as AP's, since the fixed IP address would be in the same subnet as the wired router (and also the Squeexebox Server). However, if you have two wireless routers set up with subnets that are different from the wired leg of the LAN, then by definition, the fixed IP address Radio would not be able to automatically switch to an address on another subnet, since it is locked into the one you defined. The Radio would also display the kinds of problems we are talking about in the different subnet set-up. Additionally, with a fixed IP address, if you take your SB Radio somewhere else, you won't be able to connect like the Radio is supposed to do. In my opinion, if you have (or can get) wired ethernet to 2 places in your house that would provide full coverage, the multiple AP route is the way to go and the Belkin 8230 routers would do a surprisingly good job. If also having open "hot spot" capability is important, then you would need to add one or more different subnet routers for that capability. Hope this helps - I can tell you that my coverage is great all thru a house that is about 3,900 sq ft, on both the "Open" and "Secured" segments of the LAN. Let me know how it goes, Bill -- whdean ------------------------------------------------------------------------ whdean's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9127 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=85609 _______________________________________________ Radio mailing list Radio@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/radio
