Wireless network problems

fish99 · 23 Feb 2007 at 00:39

Hi, having a bit of a problem with our wireless network.

We've got the Linksys WRT54G wireless router (basic £45 job), connected wired to one PC, and connected wireless to another PC with a Linksys WMP54G wireless PCI card in it. The wireless connection has never been the best but it does work.

We've now bought a 2nd Linksys WMP54G PCI card for a third PC, but on that PC the network signal keeps dropping out randomly. Between PC number 3 and the router are 2 perpendicular walls (interior brick walls), and one wall that the signal goes through lengthwards (for probably about 2 metres), and the total distance is about 5 metres.

So my first question is - should this router be able to get a signal through those walls without problem?

If I move the router so it's got more or less a clean line of sight to the 3rd PC then the connection is fine naturally, so I think we've ruled out a problem with the actual PC, but the router can't stay there. Is it worth investing in a better router (something like one of the Netgear rangemax ones), and would I also need to buy new rangemax PCI cards to make it worthwhile?

A lot of question I know, but hopefully someone can help

Cheers for reading,
Simon.

tolien · 23 Feb 2007 at 00:44

Better antennae, and/or third party firmware (www.linksysinfo.org is your friend) that'll let you turn up the power would be a cheaper first choice.

fish99 · 23 Feb 2007 at 13:49

I'll try the firmware, cheers lads

fish99 · 24 Feb 2007 at 15:00

Tried changing the firmware and upped the signal strength to full. Improved things but the signal would still drop out which meant WOW wouldn't stay connected for more than a few minutes.

Tried lots of other things too, but then finally got it working just by moving the PC in question about a foot and now it's fine. With the router and PC where they were the signal was going lengthwards through a whole wall, for probably over 2 metres. If you think about it, that's the same as going through about 15 perpendicular walls, so no wonder it wasn't working.

Just gonna have to get a new antenna with a wire so we can position it away from the PC, since with the PC where we've put it, the dvd tray won't open

fish99 · 24 Feb 2007 at 15:14

Btw can anyone can recommend a decent cheap desktop antenna, preferably with quite a long wire? If it was better than the linksys one that'd be a bonus too. Or would it be better just to get an extension cable to move the current antenna?

fish99 · 25 Feb 2007 at 00:20

Hmm... all the high gain antennae I've looked at has been 5 dBi which is just the same as the one on the WMP54G.

edit:found some options. 9 dBi antenna + base + 2m wire for £12 delivered, also found 2m SMA extension cable for £6.50 delivered, or SMA base + 2m wire for £6.50 delivered. Any should do the trick.