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    pfSense as wireless AP transmit power adjustments?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
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    • JonathanLeeJ
      JonathanLee @stephenw10
      last edited by JonathanLee

      @stephenw10 I got to be honest with you I need more power. My DLink and the extender in the 90s had power adjustments, so did my Apple airport Extreme. All the sudden I have no way to turn up the juice on the wifi side. It has a range equivalent of a small apartment. I want to turn diversity on, I want to boost my signal power by at least 15 percent. Why does the regulatory file degrade the power range to 17-30 percent of power. It seems like it's locked on small apartment mode. It needs house mode. My neighbors signal has more power in home than my own WiFi because of it.

      Make sure to upvote

      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Well the maximum power is supposed to be limited by the regulatory domain. As well as whether it's indoors or outdoors etc. You can bypass that I'm sure but it's probably illegal, so hard for me to advise! 😉

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @JonathanLee
          last edited by

          @JonathanLee for one increasing the output is rarely a fix for anything.. While sure your client might see the signal better, its transmit is normally going to be low, and have issue talking back..

          I run all my AP in low power mode..

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Yup that^.

            In the past, when I had more time mess about with this stuff for fun, I found better and correctly aligned antennas produced better results than anything else.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • JonathanLeeJ
              JonathanLee
              last edited by

              You know what, I got an idea, I can use my old power line networking equipment and just move the PfSense box to a more central location. That might help. I just don't understand why it has the power level set so low on it. It's not our area as our neighbors have stronger wifi then ours. As soon as I moved to this area the Apple extreme was updated and the power options removed. I miss my DLink that thing had some power and with the extender it was so something else. This was back before wifi g.

              It acts like it's set to a regulation for an apartment over a single family.

              It works perfectly when I am close to it.

              Make sure to upvote

              johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @JonathanLee
                last edited by

                @JonathanLee said in pfSense as wireless AP transmit power adjustments?:

                just move the PfSense box to a more central location

                Or what anyone should do that wants good wifi, is use actual APs, and properly deploy them to provide correct coverage.. Unless your in some small studio.. A single AP is rarely going to provide great wifi in all areas of a home.

                The problem with any wifi router, or running wifi in your router like pfsense - that makes a horrible AP because of the lack luster support in freebsd for wifi in general in the first place. Is the location.. it would be rare that your router is in the best location for wifi coverage for some multi room dwelling.

                If you want rock solid no issues wifi, get some APs - properly deploy them.

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • JonathanLeeJ
                  JonathanLee
                  last edited by

                  Screenshot_20231026-153412.png

                  WiFi in pfSense!!!!

                  Make sure to upvote

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Nice. Is that just close or did you find some useful settings?

                    You would be better off using channel 1 there. Channel 2 will be coliding with 6 to a greater extent. Not much in it though.

                    JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • JonathanLeeJ
                      JonathanLee @stephenw10
                      last edited by JonathanLee

                      @stephenw10

                      Done ch 1 now. I am next to it however it is moved it to the middle of house and changed it to Channel width HT/20. I got so tired of the neighbors internet killing my signal. I am so tired of it. This fixed it. My kitchen was the major concern and living room. I can run the airport extreme and extend the pfsense wifi if needed. Everyone is using 5-6 in our area for some reason.

                      Screenshot_20231026-153412#1.png

                      1 neighbor runs about 3 SSIDs one is a guest that is an advertisement for Xfinity, they run it on a channel for no reason as open wifi as a sales pitch, it's weird I would sue them for that if it was my wifi. It is open and you sometimes connect and it displays sign up today its like a sale pitch captive portal with a host webpage and thats it.

                      Make sure to upvote

                      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Interesting, what tool is that?

                        Yeah really there is only 1,6 and 11. If you like to live on the edge, like me, there's 1,5,9 and 13 but there is some minimal interference between those. Realistically there's interference on every channel though so....

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                        • JonathanLeeJ
                          JonathanLee
                          last edited by

                          IMG_20231026_161303385.jpg

                          I love Powerline Networking, forget network cables :) they work great my dmark runs to a wall outlet and i plug the other powerline adapter any plug I want rj45 at and bingo it works

                          This is not the same as WiFi extenders.

                          Make sure to upvote

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Yup, I agree. Some people hate Ethernet-over-Powerline but I've always had good experiences with them. Far better than WIFI extenders IMO.

                            JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • JonathanLeeJ
                              JonathanLee @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 the SG-2100 with the Comptex card works great!! Thanks for the recommendations

                              Make sure to upvote

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • johnpozJ
                                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @JonathanLee
                                last edited by

                                @JonathanLee said in pfSense as wireless AP transmit power adjustments?:

                                it's weird I would sue them for that if it was my wifi.

                                You understand many of these isp devices they give you will share out your internet connection to other customers as hot spots right?

                                Why would you run on channel 2?? There are only 3 possible channels that make any sense to run on 2.4 that is 1, 6 and 11.. If your running on any other channel your doing it wrong.

                                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Me running on channel 5... Using 802.11b... 😈

                                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • johnpozJ
                                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @stephenw10
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10 said in pfSense as wireless AP transmit power adjustments?:

                                    802.11b

                                    hah - what like your bathroom scale or something.. I have seen those that still use B..

                                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                    stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • JonathanLeeJ
                                      JonathanLee @johnpoz
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnpoz I already moved to channel 1, it's much more fun.

                                      Make sure to upvote

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @johnpoz
                                        last edited by

                                        @johnpoz said in pfSense as wireless AP transmit power adjustments?:

                                        hah - what like your bathroom scale or something

                                        Bunch of old thermostats. Should really change them out but....

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                                        • JonathanLeeJ
                                          JonathanLee
                                          last edited by

                                          IMG_20231026_202850345.jpg

                                          pfSense aka the "King Fisher 9000" Yacht ⛵

                                          Make sure to upvote

                                          johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • johnpozJ
                                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @JonathanLee
                                            last edited by

                                            @JonathanLee what is that a printer right next to it.. Those are great for amplification of wifi ;)

                                            Especially when their wifi is on ;)

                                            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                            JonathanLeeJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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