Damn Asus router

I said before that I can't wait to see what we can do with those routers. Well, we managed to do something: we locked ourselves out. Great, huh? But luckily that problem was solved by flashing a new firmware. And another one. And then another one and the whole problem was solved. The good thing is, now there is a firmware, DD-WRT, that allows great access to the settings required for the WDS (Wireless Distribution System) part of the router. This was the main thing that interested the person that has the routers. What he wants to do is to set them up in such a way that he can have access to the Internet from anywhere inside the building. So that shouldn't be a problem. These routers have a pretty good range and the area is not that large.

But here's the catch: he wants to have wireless Internet access on his mobile phone. You're probably saying now: "Of course wireless, you moron! That's why it's called «mobile»". OK, so I could have said just Internet access, but what I meant is he wants to have it while he walks through the building. Still everything clear? Fine! His phone has a crappy antenna and only works around 6 to 7 meters from a router. Oh, things start to make sense now?

What I need to do is to figure out how we can set the routers in such a way that it will cover the entire surface of the building. I hate it when people give me tasks. It puts the responsibility on me, and I'm not very responsible in my nature. Anyway, the best way, and the recommended way from what I understood, that I can set up these routers is to use a "star topology" and to place the routers in such a way that I have a complete coverage on the building. I see a lot of walking around with a phone in my hand in the near future. To test the connection of course. The reason for a star topology is that with WDS, at every hop you lose half of the bandwidth because of the communication with the master router. So if you would have to use two hops (I presume it's possible) you would just have a quarter of the bandwidth, with three hops just an eighth and so on. I found the formula on Wikipedia when I did a search for WDS. Here it is: T=1/2^h, where T is the throughput or available bandwidth and h is the number of hops a client has to take before it reaches the server or the master router or whatever. So "star topology" it is.

The funny thing is he said at some point that it would be great if he could have access from a pub near by. I felt like chocking him to death. Maybe it would be easier if he would buy himself a better phone.