wan problems

[Osmer_Toby]

anyone running a laptop with a wan card off a router ? i got a netgear router, cheapest one i could find on amazon.com. here's my question- does the quality of the router affect how well the signal is picked up by the card? also, do microwaves knock down the signal between router and comp?
any special tricks anyone follows to maintain signal?

 

[aggiezach]

First, how far from the basestation are you when you are experiencing problems?
Second, Is the AP (access point/ router) in another room, surrounded by other electronic component, next to a metal wall, etc...

Some routers do have better antenae, but for general purpose use it shouldn't really matter that much. Netgear makes a decent product so I doubt thats the problem.

Microwaves can cause some interference, but most modern MW's have internal shielding which keep most of the microwaves from interfering with other electronice equipment.

I'm guesing you got an 802.11B access point b.c you said you got the cheapest one. If you continue to experience problems with this, you may want to look into 802.11g which is backwards compatiable with B but uses the same frequency has 802.11B but offers higher data rates.

 

[Geronimo]

also do you have a cordless phone near the basestation or the laptop? The 802.11b uses the open 2.4 ghz range will the 802.11g uses the 5.4 ghz range but can down grade to the 2.4 ghz range. Might also try changing the channel the AP is using. Most are defualt to 11 i think.

 

[aggiezach]

802.11b uses the open 2.4 ghz range will the 802.11g uses the 5.4 ghz range but can down grade to the 2.4 ghz range. .

As far as I know, the 802.11G standard still operates on the 2.4 GHz frequency, it just uses a different form of frequency modulations to get faster data rates closer to the base station. 802.11A does however operate at 5.4 GHz. Just thought I'd clear that up. It can get pretty confusing

 

[Geronimo]

ah yes you are right. Been far too long since I have read up on the different standards for each.

 

[aggiezach]

eh its all good, I've just had several classes over all of this stuff so its all fresh in my mind! Word yo!

Zach

 

[Patrick]

I purchased a Link-sys router acouple years ago and was frustrated too with the range, until a friend came over with his laptop and a cheaper D-Link card. Poof...he's got a signal where I only dreamed I could. Needless to say I headed straight to the store to pick up 2 new d-link cards.

My router is sitting next to a cordless phone base over top of the cpu and have had no problems getting a signal.