Wireless

I have a wireless network that will not produce a good steady signal, on my laptop, 15 steps away. I have an Arris cable modem, Belkin 4 Port Cable/DSL Wireless Router and a Belkin Wireless PCMCIA card in my laptop.

Does anyone have any clue why my signal will not go 15 steps? Every piece of equipment is functioning properly. I have bought new of everythiong just to confirm that everything was working properly and I get the same problems.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JB

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Comments

johnnynodough

I started having problems with my home WLAN, I had two things working against me. My WAP was failing, it was a Netgear wireless router, and I was using NetGear PCMCIA cards. My signal distance was getting shorter daily. I just got a new laptop and slapped a Intel 2200 BG miniPCI card into it and my signal problems went away, but I would still just sit there and go no where from time to time, but the signal was sure alot better. I got a new AP and now I can sit on my back porch again and surf.

So if your laptop will take a MiniPCI card try that route, needs to already have the antenae wires routed through the display though. Also if you are using budget gear, you get what you pay for as I have painfully learned.

Metal, Cordless phones, microwaves, and other electrical devices can cause signal interference as well, also if there are other nets in range that are using the same channel, that can cause some issues.

Im not to up on WIFI as most, could be something else, but thats been my experience

infamous

do you have concrete walls or marble floors/counter tops in your house? I've seen wireless signals affected by those before.

TeKniques

The best solution is to buy Linksys equipment

I've used Netgear wireless products before and have had nothing but grief from them. Went and bought all Linksys equipment and everything worked so easy I had it all up and running and I get wireless on my laptop across the street.

johnnynodough

Thats what my netgear replace, Linksys. I have never had good luck with Linksys. I just decided to fork out the bucks and get Proxim.

/usr

What model is your Belkin router?

I have one of the newer Pre-N ones and had a similar problem. I ended up restoring the factory defaults and switching the channel from 1 to 11. It shouldn't have made that much of a difference, but it fixed the problem I was having.

If you are literally right beside the AP, is the signal ok? Meaning, can you notice it get weaker and weaker as you walk further from the AP? Is the AP blocked by anything, or is it literally a straight, uninterrupted path?

jescab

I have an 802.11b router. If I am in the same room it works fine. I re-set the factory settings and changed the channel a few times but they did not help. The laptop is one room away but there is no door just an open doorway.

I got the 802.11g Linksys router and that did not help. So I went out and got the Linksys Range Expander and that did not help either. I was on the phone with 3 Linksys techs for over 4 hours and they did not know what the problem was and could not figure out anything. They said take the Linksys router and range expander back to the store and return them.

I will try re-setting the factory defaults again tonight.

Thanks guys,
JB

/usr

So you've tried two different AP's and your laptop sees the same weak signal at the same area of your house?

jescab

Yes, I have tried two different AP's and get a weak signal on both the laptop and a desktop that are wireless. My wireless desktop is one floor below in the basement.

I don't know what the problem could be their is an open doorway for the signal to go thru and the laptop is only 15 steps away.

Guess I will remove the microwave and cordless phone and see what happens even though it is the same cordless phone that I had for the last 5 years and it worked fine in the old house. There are two under cabinet florecent lights nearby but they are not on.

/usr

Wait, you get a weak signal 15 steps away on a laptop, and a weak signal on a desktop which is in the basement?

If you get a weak, but usable, on your desktop, in a basement, the problem sounds like your laptop's wireless card, not the range or interfering objects. Weak signal on your desktop is somewhat understandable.

I know you said "15 steps" and I'm not being sarcastic, but did you count them? Approximately how many feet is your laptop from the AP?

keenon

i have a belkin and have had issues from it. i haven't seen the distance thing tho, but i would suggest reinstalling the firmware that fixed alot or probs i had and i haven't notice much else past that.. i would like if they had a update firmware to support WPA and not just WEP but thats probablt for only the newer stuff.. mine is about a year old

tunerX

How do you have the access point set up. If you are forcing speed negotiation to say 54mbps then you just shortened your distance. The laptop pcmcia card will not have an antenna as good as a PC. So the PC could be farther away (in this case, in the basement) and get similar gain. If you have interfering items in your walls then you could also have loss through diffraction, reflection, deflection, or harmonic interference. You should start at 0 ft from the AP then move your laptop around to find out what spots in your house are weak. Then examine the room for anything that looks to cause interference or will add to loss. If you are 15 feet away and are LOS to the AP then either your AP or card could be crap.

Fu Loser

You can try changing the channel used on your AP. You may be getting interference on that channel. If you can, you may want to try a different chipping technique. If all else fails, get a damn lynksys.

jescab

Yes, I have actually counted the steps to the wireless laptop.
I have changed thruthe different channels.
I have already tried a Linksy swith a range expander and that did not help any.
I have configured the AP a few different ways.
I have downloaded and installed all patches, updates and firmware on all equipment.

On both my laptop, which is 15 steps away, and my desktop which is one floor below I get very weak and unstable signal.

I will try a different PCMCIA card for the laptop and see what that does.

This thing worked flawlessly for about 3-4 years. Then we bought a different house and moved. There are no obsticles in the way to block the signal in the new house. However in the old house there were thick walls and closed doors and it worked flawlessly and had a good signal a good distance away.

I kind of doubt that both the laptop and desktop card went bad at the same exact time. However I will get a different card just to verify that the card is good or bad.

Thanks for the replies guys,
JB

/usr

This thing worked flawlessly for about 3-4 years. Then we bought a different house and moved. There are no obsticles in the way to block the signal in the new house. However in the old house there were thick walls and closed doors and it worked flawlessly and had a good signal a good distance away.

Move your AP. It seems obvious that something in the house is causing significant signal degradation. Whether that is a wall, a door, metal objects, etc., we have no idea. Just because there is nothing "in the way", doesn't mean your signal is going to be strong.

Is the AP by an outside wall? If so, try going outside with the laptop and see how far you can go and maintain a usable signal.

By "unstable", do you mean that the connection drops, then reconnects, over and over?

jescab

Good suggestion - I will take it outside and see what I get.

It goes from 54% to 24 to 0 to 24 to 54 to 36 to 50 to 0 to 36 to 54 to 0% and so on. So yes the signal keeps dropping.

jescab

ok - i took the laptop outside by th ewall where the AP is located an dit worked fine. 100% signal strength and quality. I even went to the back and it worked fine. But when I went forward it got worse. It is almost like the signal will not get passed the kitchen. I even tried a Linksys Range Expander and it did not help.

Anything else I could try?

Thanks guys,
JB

/usr

You need to relocate your AP, if possible.

jescab

Ok, I will relocate the AP. But do you think moving the AP will get the signal past the dead spot (kitchen) because I have a computer in the family room that I need to connect to?

Thanks,
JB

/usr

I meant try moving it to a more "central" location. I don't know how your house is laid out, so it's hard to suggest where to put it. If you can move it freely, I would just suggest experimenting. Since you have a laptop, it should be fairly easy for you to walk around and test signal strength at different locations.

That's the only solution I can think of, given the fact that dead spots just happen, and I doubt you want to, or even can, rearrange the structure of your house just to get a WLAN to work.

This MAY improve signal and get it past the kitchen, it just depends on the underlying reason and what objects were causing the signal loss. Like I said, just try experimenting.

jescab

Kewl - thanks alot