Max distance on Wireless router

I am in the market for a new wireless router. I would like to have a fast router but I also would like for it to be available up to 100 feet with strong signal. My work building and house are about 50 feet apart. No metal walls, just brick. What do you suggest. I am looking at a Cisco Linksys E3000, any comments?

 

You should do well with that router. I'd recommend installing DD-WRT, where you'd have the option of boosting the signal strength on the wireless bit to ensure more persistent connection fidelity.

 

Thanks for the help, but I am not familar with a DD WRT. Is that a brand or the technology? I assume it is some type of an extender. Would it go in the house adjacent to the E3000 or in the garage that is 100 feet away?
Thanks
George

 

DD-WRT is a 3rd party firmware that replaces the original one.
It offers more features (including the one already mentioned) but the trade-off is lower performance compared to default firmware.
Linksys E3000 offers quite a good range so see if it works as it is. If it doesn't work at all or doesn’t offer decent speed at this distance (which is quite likely as 100 feet is a lot) you'd be better off with a repeater somewhere in the middle rather than increasing radio power.
You could buy a cheap used Linksys WRT54GL and use it as a repeater.

 

I assume I would put the Linksys WRT54GL in the other building and use it to receive and transmit wireless. I found a Linksys WRT54GL on ebay with DD-WRT built in, would that be good or would it be better without the DD-WRT in this case?
Thanks for your help

George

 

DD-WRT is just a firmware so it doesn't matter. You can buy one with Linksys firmware and flash it with DD-WRT or buy one with DD-WRT already flashed.
Repeater should go somewhere half way- by that I mean somewhere where signal from the E3000 is still good but as far from E3000 as possible. The repeater picks up the signal and transmits it farther.

 

A drawback to consider with wireless repeaters halves the bandwidth between the transmitter and the receiver as the repeater have to retransmit and has to differentiate 2 same signals of different gains.

 

As I said earlier I am not familar with wireless routers. I looked up the Linksys WRT54GL and read the specs and I never read anywhere it was a repeater. My question is how does the WRT54GL receive the signal? Does it receive wireless signals as well as transmit them?
I bought the Linksys E3000 and it was new from SAMS in a box with no instructions, only a disc with minimum information. I had to call Linksys to help me set up IP addresses etc. It took over an hour and we had no problems. The signal in my work building is a little better but not much.
If I had instructions I believe I could have set up the router.
Will it be just as difficult to setup the WRT54GL?
Thanks for your help, I need it.
George

 

WRT54GL works as a repeater if you use DD-WRT. Standard firmware doesn't have this feature.
It does receive signal wirelessly (it has to be in the range of E3000 to receive its signal) and then it transmits it again this improving the coverage E3000 can manage.
Make sure that your E3000 is placed properly i.e. not on a shelf of a metal cabinet or not too low.