Improving Wireless Reception

[Puzzled]

Hey

We have a Sagem wireless router provided by sky and my computer keeps losing the connection due to a poor signal.

The router is barely 10m away and sometimes my pc will connect at full strength, but in the end it will always drop out at some point.

Now I also have a advent netbook and that will pick up an excellent signal anywhere in the flat, so it must be my network card which is an old belkin 54Mbps wireless adapter.

If I were to buy a new wireless adapter such as the Edimax 150Mbps High Gain Wireless USB Network Adapter is that more likely to hold a steady connection or would I be better off buying a Wireless Range Extender?

I know the new G range of adapters are capable of higher speeds but are they better at connecting to low strength networks?

Thanks for any advice

 

[Arachnae]

Does your netbook lose connection at all when your pc does?

If it's less than 10m, why don't you use a cable?

 

[wozencl]

Buy a new adapter. I had a Belkin 54Mbps G one and it was terrible - I have since given it to a family member so it's now inflicting it uselessness on them.

 

[errata]

pc's suffer from having the wifi card and aerial generally behind a big steel case on the floor under a desk unsurprsingly this does nothing for the reception or transmissin of radio signals.

if you go usb get one with a lead so you site the aerial in a better spot or at least fit it to the front of the case.

newer wifi cards are generally better with weak signals particualy if they use more than 1 aerial.

I use homeplug ethernet through the mains adapters to avoid any wifi realted ickyness and this tends to simplfy the need for fancy routers as well

regretably ocuk's range is currently limited

 

[Puzzled]

Does your netbook lose connection at all when your pc does?

If it's less than 10m, why don't you use a cable?

Nope, the netbook stays connected all the time.

I live in a shared flat, so I can't really have a cable running through the kitchen. Certainly would make life easier though

I'll give a new adapter a try

Cheers

 

[Puzzled]

Update:

Ok, I bought a Edimax 150Mbps High Gain Wireless USB Network Adapter and now the connection stays up, but I'm still getting terrible speeds.

At the minute I'm connected at 1Mbps , while my netbook next to me is getting a full strength connection.

I've tried changing the channels as I was also getting some interference with my bluetooth mouse, but even the best still goes down to 1Mbps when downloading.

Anything else I can try before buying a wireless extender?

Cheers

 

[-=Vect0r=-]

PCI cards are generally better than USB. This has stood me in good stead prior to switching to Homeplugs (Devolo AV200) They are the future and so stable you can put a horse in them!

 

[errata]

pci are generally better because they take less resources than usb, pci cards can be a lot worse for reception if they are stuck at the back of the pc !

have you tried the latest drivers, the shipping ones are rarely up to date also which usb socket are you using , if its a case one rahter than the back panel it might not be woriking at maximum speed, also try making you router and usb adaper aerials more or less parallel for maximum reception ie

like this I I if on the same floor or

like this

/

/ if on differnt floors, this should maximise the reception and braodcst of the radio signals

 

[HaMMuS]

I was having very similar problems to you MonkeyMan, but then I bought an aerial extension cable from ebay for about a fiver, it basically allows you to site your PCI card's aerial away from the EM noise of your PC. I'd highly recommend it!
Also it may be worth looking at what wifi channels any other networks around you are using, as if they are using the same channel it can often cause interference. Channels 1,6 or 11 are the best channels to use, so look and see which of those has the fewest networks on it around you.
Hope this helps
Mikey

 

[Puzzled]

Thanks guys

I've had a play with the position of the aerials, seems a little better today. What happens is that when the connection is idle I get an excellent signal but as soon as I start downloading it drops down in speed and eventually settles on 1Mbps.

Had a look at the channels of the other networks around here and most seem to be on 6 or 11. Mine was on 1 but that was interfering with my bluetooth mouse, so I changed it to 9. (Seemed the best after going through them all)

I've tried removing interference such as my mouse and the wireless phone but it didn't make a difference.

What I find weird is that my netbook in exactly the same place receives a great signal, so I'll try to find some better drivers for the edimax.

Cheers

 

[HaMMuS]

Thanks guys
when the connection is idle I get an excellent signal but as soon as I start downloading it drops down in speed and eventually settles on 1Mbps.

That's exactly what used to happen with my wifi before I got the aerial extension!
Search for "WiFi Antenna Magnetic Base (with 1 metre Cable)" on Google if you want to see what I'm on about, honestly it makes the world of difference.

If channel 9 works best, by all means use it, but the only wifi channels which don't overlap with any others are 1, 6 and 11, so channel 9 may give you interference from other adjacent channels.

Mikey

 

[Puzzled]

That's exactly what used to happen with my wifi before I got the aerial extension!
Search for "WiFi Antenna Magnetic Base (with 1 metre Cable)" on Google if you want to see what I'm on about, honestly it makes the world of difference.

If channel 9 works best, by all means use it, but the only wifi channels which don't overlap with any others are 1, 6 and 11, so channel 9 may give you interference from other adjacent channels.

Mikey

Cheers I'll have a look at that.

Channel 9 was working well but it's interfering with my bluetooth mouse again now.

I thought all these things were supposed to work ok together but whenever I download something my mouse gets really unresponsive and laggy.

If the flat wasn't rented I would have drilled holes in the all the walls by now and just put a cable in.