Very poor wireless signal is this normal??

sid · 12 Oct 2006 at 18:36

Hi,

Heres my wireless setup. I have a telewest cable modem connected to a netgear rangemax wpn824 router. 2 pcs connect to the router wirelessly using wireless G technology. 1 pc connects using cable (its next to the router)

Questions.

I have constant problems with the wireless connection. These include poor signal. i get barely 40% signal strength in my room? which is only 4-5 meters from the router with 1 wall inthe way.

The router sometimes refuses to pick up an IP address from the cable modem. I dont know whos at fault here but my old netgear wireless router didnt seem to have this problem.

The second pc also has the same poor signal problem. Even when the distance is reduced to 1 m in open sight the signal strength is still like only 80% percent.

I have recently bought new 9bdi gain antennas and that hasn't made an ounce of difference from what I can see? these things are a good foot long as well.

PLease help !!!

I have also bought something from the bay which allows me to remove the antenna and position away from the pc.

ARGH this is stupidly retarded !!!!!!

GuruJockStrap · 12 Oct 2006 at 21:30

Do you have any encryption (WEP/WPA/WPA2) enabled? Have you tried it with no security?

What wireless channel are you using? Left it on default? Have you tried the other channels?

Is the router flashed with the latest firmware?

sid · 12 Oct 2006 at 21:51

GuruJockStrap said:
Do you have any encryption (WEP/WPA/WPA2) enabled? Have you tried it with no security?

What wireless channel are you using? Left it on default? Have you tried the other channels?

Is the router flashed with the latest firmware?

Yup currently using WEP, i dont want to risk without security as my appartment contains various other wireless users.

Channel is 5 to avoid conflict as there are other APs around.

Router is flashed with newest firmware.

sid

Ricochet J · 12 Oct 2006 at 22:17

Have you done the usual stuff?
Opened/closed/forwarded the necessary ports?
Correct gateway seeing as you're using a modem?
Have you played with any firewall settings or NAT?

sid · 12 Oct 2006 at 23:47

eXSBass said:
Have you done the usual stuff?
Opened/closed/forwarded the necessary ports?
Correct gateway seeing as you're using a modem?
Have you played with any firewall settings or NAT?

Everything is set to auto for the ISP settings ( for IP and DNS servers) there are no other settings really. They seemed to work fine before so perhaps it might be a problem with the modem. I haven't played with the ports, im not that far up yet in setting it up.

I dont know what you mean by gateway? i've plugged the modem into the WAN port and the gateway is the router ip rite?

The standard router firewall is enabled. I haven't seen any settings for NAT though .

sid

sid · 13 Oct 2006 at 10:05

This is ridiculous, I am getting better signal from APs and routers that not even in my flat :rolleyes:

I thought wireless would be better than this tbh,

sid

Steve JL · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:02

Tell me about it,I am in the same position as you different kit though as I am using Linksys Speedboost stuff.
As the crow flies its approx 15 foot from router to wireless pc through one wall and two doors but I can barely get connected but I can see my neighbours wifi networks no problem.

Makes me want to beat my head against a wall.I think there is a lot to be said for wired.

Good luck getting it sorted will update if I get any joy as it may help you.

Steve

sid · 13 Oct 2006 at 21:19

Well Heres a update,

I bought a magnetic stand for the wlan antenna and now im getting much better reception
it used to be upto 40% and now its gone rite up to 60-70% which is a hell of a lot better.

Perhaps you should try that. I presume its now isolated from the electrical and magnetic fields from the actual pc itself.

sid

Avalon · 13 Oct 2006 at 22:43

OK what's the signal like next to the AP ? Assuming it's better (and it should be near 100%) let's look at the single wall you mention, if the straight line between the antenna and your device hit's the wall at the wrong angle (eg not | but \) that wall can be much much thicker.

sid · 14 Oct 2006 at 11:09

Avalon said:
OK what's the signal like next to the AP ? Assuming it's better (and it should be near 100%) let's look at the single wall you mention, if the straight line between the antenna and your device hit's the wall at the wrong angle (eg not | but \) that wall can be much much thicker.

YUp its not a straight hit but the AP has to serve more than my pc so i can't just point it at mine.

The detachable base seems to have made a lot of difference though so thats good.

Another problem is my other pc has a built in safecom g card and it doesnt even sync at anything greater than 11mbps even with a decent signal. sounds like an incompatibility.

sid

sid · 14 Oct 2006 at 23:22

Well

I've been doing more research online now and it seems that it is router at fault.

The forums are full of cases where the netgear router constantly crashes and needs to be reset. In most of my problems, it was indeed the router that needed resetting , so i think that solves this problem then.

sid