Seeing through brick walls

[#1]

I am helping a person who lives in an old country house with solid brick walls, heavy duty floorboards, lots of heavy furniture and fitted carpets. To get a phone extension from a nearby room, one wall away, would be a long, expensive job. I have, therefore, suggested using a radio link for his proposed broadband connection to Plus. From previous experience with wall problems a Nimo system may be a good idea? The actual distace is about 30 feet with a thick wall in the way. While modem transmitters are well advertised there seems to be little mention of suitable computer cards. Can anybody advise about what to use at the computer end? Thanks. Other ideas welcome.

[#2]

Hi Pancho,
When I lived with my parents, my Dad drilled a hole through my bedroom and living room window frame.  From there, he linked my computer to the router using CAT5.  I'm not great at all that DIY malarkey
Is that something that could work?

[#3]

Also do you have solid floors or floorboards. If floorboards you could try going under the wall or it may be easier to drill a hole through it that way.

[#4]

I think a MIMO system would probably be fine, although it's also probably worth mentioning the RangeMAX (draft 802.11n) systems that are now becoming popular.
My personal recommendation would be a Netgear DG834N router paired up with a Netgear WN311B (desktop) or if it's a laptop, a WN511B (PCMCIA).
I have at least two setups using these - one being an old manor house that used to have 5 x 802.11g access points to give coverage (they had the same problem with walls over three feet thick!)
The only thing I would caution is to ensure that you upgrade the firmware in the DG834N and the drivers on the desktop/laptop cards to the latest available.
B.

[#5]

The window, outside, cable route is an option. Thanks Barry for the information; will check out the items. I know what I am looking at with the inside cable stuff. Did an apprentiship on the SEB many years ago and spent a lot of time doing domestic wiring. I would not want the job. There is a days work there.

[#6]

for £25 each you can get homeplugs that pipe it round the electricity circuits
I use them and i have my PC in an out building 200 meters down the garden, it works for me and they cost less than a decent wifi router

[#7]

I use a wireless router (Netgear 834GT) but like the idea of these homeplugs using the house electrical wiring as a way of getting round re-wiring or drilling holes.  I presume they also give all the benefits of wired (security, speed, reliability etc) but hear very little about them on any forums so presume they are not used all that much.  I know Netgear make a system.  Does anyone have any experience of it - good or bad?

[#8]

Yes i have the netgear one i got 2 of them from Macro for £30 each including the VAT
They are very good and have 56bit encryption,Even if your neighbour gets on the same circuit as you ( although they work cross circuits aswell) it dosen't matter you can tell these to only talk to the mac addresses which you enter at setup
Very boring to setup - took longer to get them out of the package than it did to get them working- and that's no lie it really is plug and play
once i had done with the setup i took the software off and they work very well indeed.
i've yet to have a problem with mine and they run 24/7 i also find i get the full 85mbps so i can happily stream films to my laptop off my external HDD without a problem
Seriously - they are the way to go.

[#9]

Quote from: pcoventry76

i got 2 of them from Macro

"Macro" is a computer script
Makro is a big retail shed.

[#10]

And not to be confused with the computer retailer Misco
Chilly

[#11]

oops typo sorry!

[#12]

I second pcoventry - use Homeplugs.  The cheapest I've found (and they're damn' good too) are from www.homeplugs.co.uk - but make sure you get the 85mbps units.  They supply several brands but they're all equally good.
I've used them in upwards of 20 home network installations and I've found them efficient and faultless.  Just make sure they are plugged directly into a mains socket, not via any form of adapter or extension lead.

[#13]

Quote from: Loombucket

I second pcoventry - use Homeplugs.

How do these Homeplugs plug into the electrical circuit ?  Do they have prongs on them like a 13 amp plug ?  I am asking for a good reason  - I have a house abroad and would like to use them there, but wondered whether they could be used on contintental fittings ?  Voltage is 230 but the cycles are the same as UK and I imagine the voltage is irrelevant.  Is there any reason why I should not use a standard UK > Continetal adaptor for them.  I may of course be able to find local equivalents.

[#14]

Quote from: Jameseh

my Dad drilled a hole through my bedroom and living room window frame.

BT cables & TV aerial cables all used to be done this way, but apparently it's no longer recommended practice - it lets the damp in & rot starts. It's a complete no-no on plastic frames.
The preferred method these days is to go through the brickwork & then use a mastic type sealant on the outer end of the hole. You do need a decent drill & the right bit though, especially if you have old bricks - these can be unbelievably hard to drill. Modern bricks are putty by comparison.

[#15]

Quote from: Loombucket

I have a house abroad and would like to use them there, but wondered whether they could be used on contintental fittings ?  Voltage is 230 but the cycles are the same as UK and I imagine the voltage is irrelevant.  Is there any reason why I should not use a standard UK > Continetal adaptor for them.  I may of course be able to find local equivalents.

All European (EU only?) mains voltages are [nominally/officially] equal - in the sense that you can plug any equipment into any countries mains and it will work OK. Mains voltages vary from 220V - 240V.
I suggest you look at http://www.homeplugs.co.uk/ who are offering a homeplug where there is an extension lead, so you could experiment with putting the correct style of plug on them...