Cisco Aironet 1300

Question

I recently deployed a cisco 1300 airnet ap/bridge to slove a conectivity problem with are companys laptop users in a remote bldg approx 410feet from the main bldg,i first used the 1300 with the intergrated 13dbi antenna,(poor /weak signial)so i then ordered the 1300 with the external ant port,and used the 5.2dbi omnidirectional mast antenna,and my signial is still very weak /poor for such as close distance from the ap?any clues would be a blessing,ive double checked my inital config settings,and they appear to be ok, im using this ap connected to a simple router (it to is a cisco product mfg by linkys #WRT600-N also a wirless unit,the only thing im wondering is ,could it have something to do with the radio still being on in the wrt600-n,causeing a conflict somehow??i pluged my ethernet into the spare port on the linkys unit to give the 1300 the internet,and within a 300 ft range the cisco 1300 unit performs well with signal readings on my laptop good to execelent?,so im sorta confident the 1300 is setup properly?anyone have any ideas,or should i give up the wireless idea to allow seemless usage of laptops to our netwrk,? and bury a 2 inch conduit with a cat 5 cable to connect the problem bldg,I look foward to any hints or possibile ideas as a way to slove my wireless connectivity issues,thank you in advance

Answer 1

Not sure about what you try to achieve... are you using the 1300 to connect 2 buildings? In a point to point fashion? Or are you using it to cover laptops 410 feet away? In the last case, you face what is called the near far issue, your laptops hear the signal from the AP, but the AP doesn't hear the answer from the 2.2 dBi weak clients. It is unlikely you will be able to make it work if it is the case.
a 13 dBi antenna will anyway give you better results than a 5.2 dBi, as more gain usually also means better receptivity, but that probably won't solve the near far issue.