Wireless networking question

fish99

fish99

fish99

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2005
Posts
5,053
Location
Doncaster
I've just setup my first wireless network but it's not working too great so far.

We've got Blueyonder 512 K/s broadband (about to be upgraded to 2 MB), connected wired to a Belkin F5D7230-4 wireless router, connected wired to my PC, then a second PC with a Belkin wireless network card. I can't say where I bought them because of the rules, but they were £35 and £20 respectively from the high street, so they're at the budget end of the market.

We've moved the second PC and the router so there's as little between them as possible - currently just one floor and one wall I think - and it's working 'ok' but not great. World of Warcraft isn't working too well on the 2nd PC, it's having some lag problems. Also we were playing Diablo 2 co-op on the two PCs over the same wireless network, and while it was 'ok' it wasn't perfect - a few problems cropped up (town portals stopped working right, the game was a bit laggy on the 2nd PC).

We've already tried changing the router channel and it's using the best one.

It's not terrible, browsing the web on the 2nd PC is fine and transfering files over the network seems to work fine. The signal strength is in the 85-90% range most of the time. Is this as good as wireless gets, or is it just cause I've bought cheap rubbish? If so, can someone recommend a better router and wireless network card? It wouldn't have to be 128 Mbps, 54G would be fine. Those LinkSys ones look sweet.

I would also like to know how much you have to pay to get a router that won't crash/shutdown when using something like Azureus (Bit Torrent client), which has a lot of simultaneous connections, or other P2P programs. Usually within 6-10 hrs the router hangs. There's no firmware update available.

Cheers,
Simon.
 
I always use thompson speedtouch routers, they seem to have a decent feature set and some features which you dont find in other routers which are aimed at the home market.
 
Cheers lads, I'll certainly look into those.

Funnily enough though, it seems to be running much better now. I had the router on the floor on fluffy carpet, and the air vents are all on the bottom. As soon as I put a flat surface under it (just by sliding a book under it without moving it), the signal strength leapt instantly to 99% and has stayed there :cool: I guess it was overheating.

It still drops though if anyone stands in the 'line of sight' :rolleyes:
 
Right, the router is still crashing, anything up to 4 or 5 times per day, and not just when running Azereus, it crashed twice when playing Diablo 2 last night, which shouldn't be stressing it out.

Looks like it's going back to the shop to be swapped for a Linksys.
 
Got the router and network card both changed for Linksys ones, just the plain 54G ones, not the GS speedboosters, which were too expensive at this particular shop.

The router (WRT54G) has been running all day now without hanging, plus Diablo 2 now works flawlessly over the network. The signal strength does vary quite a bit, but it never seems to affect the actual performance.

Result :cool:
 
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