Does anyone have recommendations for positioning Access Points (we have 340's) for best throughput and simultaneously best area coverage for our laptops in a one-story building.
I'm getting only about 2.8-3.3 Mbits/sec real TCP throughput (with 128 bit WEP encryption enabled) , even when the indicated 'speed' of my associated connection is 11 Mbps. Frequently, even with signal strength above 85% and signal quality above 75%, my laptop's only showing 5.5 Mbps connection. The access point has 'basic' for all the speeds, and the laptop is set for auto. If I try to force the laptop to only accept 11 Mbps, then association seems to come and go at random.
We're trying out just placing the AP340 above the ceiling tiles (9 foot ceiling, only temporarily cabled, temporary power cords right now.) The dual short default antennas that came with it are oriented vertical and up right now. Don't know if upside down would be any better. My throughput doesn't change whether I'm below the access point, or in a 50 foot clear line of sight from it.
Also, how about coverage in a computer room? would the 5-6 foot difference between top of a cabinet (not inside on a shelf) and above the ceiling tiles (higher ceiling there) matter much?
I guess the key is the radiation pattern of the default antenna. Does anyone know where a graphic of its shape is available?
Has anyone experimented with parameter tweaking to get higher throughput than I'm seeing?
Thanks,
Richard Berke
T. Rowe Price
rberke@troweprice.com
