Net Gear Range Max
Discussion
Can you elaborate a little further on the isuue?
Can you get good wireless coverage in the same room as the router? (could be interference on the Channel you are using).
How far are you trying to reach with your WiFi connection?
What obstacles are in the way - i.e. are you trying to go up through floors in the house or from front room to back room - what are the walls made of? Concrete, brick, plaster board?
Bit more info needed to help with any recommendations.
cheers
Ex
Can you get good wireless coverage in the same room as the router? (could be interference on the Channel you are using).
How far are you trying to reach with your WiFi connection?
What obstacles are in the way - i.e. are you trying to go up through floors in the house or from front room to back room - what are the walls made of? Concrete, brick, plaster board?
Bit more info needed to help with any recommendations.
cheers
Ex
My PC and router are about 30cm away from each other. I used to use the 311t to wirelessly contect to my router but never managed to solve the problem of cpu spike/cpu usage, so just took the bloody thing out (wasn't really needed) and used cable. My lap top and Roku are in the lounge. To get there the signal must travel through a cupboard, brick wall *2 and cover a distance of about 10 meters. I can get a signal in the lounge enough to keep my Ipaq and PSP happy but trying to download anything on the laptop is a no go. Also the Roku just wont pick up a signal at all. I even bought a WGE111 adapter to plug into the Roku to see if that helped.
There are also at least 2 other networks I can see. One in the same room as the router and one in the lounge.
There are also at least 2 other networks I can see. One in the same room as the router and one in the lounge.
A cupboard and two brick walls might be pushing it a bit with stock antennas.
You do need to acertain that you are operating on a clear channel.
Normally you want about 5 Channels in separation from any other Networks.
So if your neighbour is on CH1 you want to be on CH6 or better still CH12.
If the popular Channels (1, 6 & 12) are all occupied then you need to pick one between the weakest of these, say 3 or 9.
Have you downloaded NetStumbler and installed it on your laptop? It will scan all the Channels for you and also give you a graph of signal strength verses noise (noise will be intereference from other devices - DECT-Phones, microwave ovens and other Networks will all contribute to the noise level).
You really should be able to get a perfect signal in the same room, then it's a case of moving around the place with your laptop to see where the black spots are.
Could you move the Access Point into the loft so it is radiating down through the floors rather than through the walls.
Also try moving the AP around the place a bit, sometimes you can find a location where you get some strange reflections that improve the signal strength.
Before buying any new equipment don't forget (sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here
) that wireless is a two way thing - so boosting the signal at the AP is fine, but unless the laptop end is boosted too then the laptop can here the AP but not vice-versa. So maybe a wireless repeater would be an option.
From what I've read you are not alone with these problems:
www.shopireland.ie/electronics/detail/B0006M5UQG/4/
Might be time to invest in a different router?
You do need to acertain that you are operating on a clear channel.
Normally you want about 5 Channels in separation from any other Networks.
So if your neighbour is on CH1 you want to be on CH6 or better still CH12.
If the popular Channels (1, 6 & 12) are all occupied then you need to pick one between the weakest of these, say 3 or 9.
Have you downloaded NetStumbler and installed it on your laptop? It will scan all the Channels for you and also give you a graph of signal strength verses noise (noise will be intereference from other devices - DECT-Phones, microwave ovens and other Networks will all contribute to the noise level).
You really should be able to get a perfect signal in the same room, then it's a case of moving around the place with your laptop to see where the black spots are.
Could you move the Access Point into the loft so it is radiating down through the floors rather than through the walls.
Also try moving the AP around the place a bit, sometimes you can find a location where you get some strange reflections that improve the signal strength.
Before buying any new equipment don't forget (sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here
) that wireless is a two way thing - so boosting the signal at the AP is fine, but unless the laptop end is boosted too then the laptop can here the AP but not vice-versa. So maybe a wireless repeater would be an option. From what I've read you are not alone with these problems:
www.shopireland.ie/electronics/detail/B0006M5UQG/4/
Might be time to invest in a different router?
Do you have any heavy duty radio repeating masts for TV, public wireless internet or mobile phones near you?
From this thread and what you have said about your Roku performance it sounds very much like something is interfering with the radio integrity leaving your router.
Alternatively, it could be knackered...
From this thread and what you have said about your Roku performance it sounds very much like something is interfering with the radio integrity leaving your router.
Alternatively, it could be knackered...
ultra violent said:
I should say that the wireless utility shows that signal strength is about 40% but this only translates into 1Mbps. Some times it'll jump up to 5.5Mbps but it just falls back to 1...
I wouldn't bother with that too much
Here's a quick test I just did with my AP here... admittedly I have high gain flat panel antenna but it's out side facing away fro mthe house.
You mention that you see 40% signal strength - but 40% of what? - You need to get acurate dBm readings.
Anything above -80 will see you reaching acceptable levels - I have some long links running over here at arround -87 and they can still swamp a 1Mbit internet connection.
You'll notice in the pic that the noise level (shown in red) is practically zero - I live on the side of a hill in the middle of nowhere so the spectrum is extremely clean.
Also notice the decrease and increase in gain going from about -88 to -90 and then almost upto -75. That was caused by me adjusting the position of my laptop on the desk - I can't have moved it more than about 12 inches, and rotated it a little! There is nearly 15dB change in signal strengh.
Don't forget that every 3dB equates to a 50% change in strength!
Like good sex, it's all about the position!
TheExcession said:
You'll notice in the pic that the noise level (shown in red) is practically zero - I live on the side of a hill in the middle of nowhere so the spectrum is extremely clean.
Does netstumbler show the noise level on your card? I haven't found one it works with yet. Mines always blank like your pic. On the stumbler site most people go for orinoco based cards?
What card are you using?
edit for speelings and to apology for thread hijack
>> Edited by malman on Thursday 10th November 17:47
malman said:
You'll notice in the pic that the noise level (shown in red) is practically zero - I live on the side of a hill in the middle of nowhere so the spectrum is extremely clean.
Does netstumbler show the noise level on your card? I haven't found one it works with yet. Mines always blank like your pic. On the stumbler site most people go for orinoco based cards?
What card are you using?
edit for speelings and to apology for thread hijack
>> Edited by malman on Thursday 10th November 17:47
Now don't I feel like a prize dick?
You are completely correct, the first pic was done with a USB dongly cheapo WiFi jobby, this one is done with my Orinoco Silver card, and you can see some real noise in the spectrum.
Surprised it didn't click with me really, but it's been a very long arduous day.
Still, again you can see the difference in making minor adjustments to the position of the laptop.
cheers
Ex
My sig/noise ratio is always around 85-90%.
Spent most of the day buggering around with this and finally got things working. First I read about 20 posts on the netgear forum. Seems i'm not the only one struggling with NG GT products. When I first installed the wireless network I spent all weekend getting the f'ing thing to work due to rubish drivers and Indian help desks.
And guess what, more driver updates... Then something that I really don't understand about the NG firewall. Although I configured it correctly I had to turn it off, connect to the roku, then turn it back on. Then it would work left on.
So, I would advise people to visit the Netgear forum before buying any of their GT stuff. Seems they have well documented issues...
And the Roku is a nice bit of kit.
Spent most of the day buggering around with this and finally got things working. First I read about 20 posts on the netgear forum. Seems i'm not the only one struggling with NG GT products. When I first installed the wireless network I spent all weekend getting the f'ing thing to work due to rubish drivers and Indian help desks.
And guess what, more driver updates... Then something that I really don't understand about the NG firewall. Although I configured it correctly I had to turn it off, connect to the roku, then turn it back on. Then it would work left on.
So, I would advise people to visit the Netgear forum before buying any of their GT stuff. Seems they have well documented issues...
And the Roku is a nice bit of kit.
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