Wireless Signal

gman

gman

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Graham
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Can anyone figure this one out as it's got me totally baffled.

I've got Virgin 30MB Broadband and their rathey cheap feeling 'n' modem/router. On my computer is a Cisco Linksys USB Wireless Dongle 'n'.

The modem/router is in the living room at the front of the house underneath the TV. The computer is in a room upstairs at the back of the house. The internal walls are brick and not plasterboard etc and it's standard floorboards (not those large panels).

The signal is total ******e. I'm talking about 15% max and I've tried different channels, auto channel, moving the modem/router about in the living room etc, using the USB ports in the back of the computer, using a USB extension to get it away from the computer etc and nothing makes any difference.

My first thought is the distance, it's about 40 feet and through a brick wall or two plus the ceiling. But here's the stange part, our baby monitor has 100% signal from the same two points!!! That just doesn't make sense to me.

I'm wondering if the Virgin modem/router uses omnidirectional antenna and I'm therefore losing a lot of signal quality straight away? I've also got one of the those Edimax Hi Gain USB Dongles and wondering if that will help (will need to dig it out though).

Apart from a range extender in the hall or something which I'd rather avoid does anyone have any ideas?


Cheers
G
 
2blue4u said:
Change the wifi channel. Worked for me.
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gman said:
I've tried different channels, auto channel
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I'm afraid I've already tried that, it was the first thing I did and went through all 13 channels :(


gramps said:
Dect phone anywhere in the signal path?
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:suspect: yes, a twin setup. One right next to the computer as well lol. But I also tried turning that off and it made no difference. Same with the baby monitor which I think uses DECT, turned that on and off also.

Tried finding out what the phone frequency is as I can switch the Virgin box to 5GHz although my USB stick doesn't support that so could always update?

I never turned the phone base unit off which is in the back dining room (directly below the room with computer). I wonder if it's still spreading interference about the house?
 
We had the same problem. The router is upstairs next to my PC connected by ethernet. My laptop will connect wirelessly through most of the house downstairs. The PC in hubbys study kept dropping out. We didn't want an ethernet cable trailing around the house so I solved the problem by using an home network plug. I connected master plug to my router by ethernet, master plug into house mains socket. The other plug I connected to mains plug in hubbys study. Now works a treat.
 
I'd put it down to a weak signal because of the walls in the way, and weak receiver on the small USB dongle.

Do you not have any smart phones in the house like the iPhone? or any other wireless devices, see what they are like in the same room as the PC, this would show the poor dongle as the problem.

If your router can do 5ghz i would recommend upgrading your dongle, a much more stable, stronger signal, and no interference, there are so many things using the 2.4ghz band these days.

But as mentioned above, those home network plugs are fantastic these days now they have evolved a bit
 
Carbonangel said:
I'd put it down to a weak signal because of the walls in the way, and weak receiver on the small USB dongle.
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Yup, that's what I'd put it down to too...

Carbonangel said:
If your router can do 5ghz i would recommend upgrading your dongle, a much more stable, stronger signal, and no interference, there are so many things using the 2.4ghz band these days.
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You may get less interference, but we have a dual band router (2.4 and 5) and the 5GHz signal is great if you are close, but falls away the other side of the house.
 
arad85 said:
Yup, that's what I'd put it down to too...

You may get less interference, but we have a dual band router (2.4 and 5) and the 5GHz signal is great if you are close, but falls away the other side of the house.
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That's usually the case if you run it in dual mode, i'm assuming the op's does 5ghz on its own.
 
I'm not sure about if it can run not in dual mode, I'm thinking no because it's a fairly basic Virgin router.

Unplugged all cordless phones and although the signal quality hasn't improved much the speed has gone from a fluxuating 1 - 11 Mbps to 54Mbps and sometimes 80Mbps.

But we need the phones lol

Never crossed my mind but the laptop has an excellent signal everywhere so it could be a crappy dongle. Of course aren't built in laptop aerials pretty much always high quality? I don't think the Edimax one I've got is 'n' but that may not matter so I'll dig it out.

Any suggestions for a good USB dongle?

Cheers so far :)



EDIT: I've just moved the modem/router as far away from the TV etc as possible (about 1 meter) and the speed has jumped to 216Mbps. Looks like it could be all the tv stuff causing problems and not so much the range?
 
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If it needed to be where it was originally you could get a homeplug wifi extender and put it at the other end of the house where the issues are?
 
Get Virgin to send you there bog standard, non wireless, modem and then purchase your own wireless router and plug the modem into that.

That's what I have done and I don't have any problems with my wireless signal any more, can pick it up nice and strong all over the house and out in the garden
 
Cheers for all the replies and here's a wee update....

Got a powerline kit from PC World but unfortunately one of the plugs didn't power up so I took it back and lost faith so got my £80 back. Was tempted to get a USB dongle that could do the 5GHz but it's £50 and it may not even be any better.

I've moved the Virgin (Netgear..hmmm) box out a little and I'm getting some good speed rates, better than the powerline would give me as even though it was a 200Mbps version, my LAN card is only 100Mbps, whereas the wireless will go higher.

I've decided that even though I'm probably not getting the best signal it doesn't drop and perhaps slows down a little on occasion. I stopped online gaming a long time ago (would use hardwire for that anyway) so I've no great need for a perfect connection.

Will just accept what I've got and save the £80 :)


Cheers again
G
 
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