my wireless signal is weak!!! ****************** need some practical advice ****************

my wireless problem!!!

i have a D Link Router at home. Comcast is the provider. Its a
wireless PC.

my girlfriend piggybacks wirelessly off my signal but she is at the
other end of the house. Her signal is weak and/or non existent. also
i used to be able to print on my girlfriend's color laser printer. i
cant anymore. i think the signal is weak or waving in and out...


how would i boost my wireless signal(also encrypt the signal too so my
pesky neighbor wont hop on my network)??? any practical ideas,
solutions, or websites which i could be guided by a tutorial?

thanks in advance,

markus.

if you could move the AP to another location or even maybe get an extension
for the antenna and move it to a more central location. If you have a
wireless pci card in a computer you could mayb move the computer so that the
chassis isn't blocking the line of site for the signal. I think you can also
get antenna extensions for some cardsAnything metal inhibits the signal and
if the computer chassis is between your girlfriends computer and the
antenna, it could cause problems.

As for encryption...go into the network settings and see what is available.
Ive never setup encryption on an adhoc network but that'w where I'd starting
looking. I suppose you could also buy your girl a can of pringles and keep
the can to make an amplifier.


"mark" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> my wireless problem!!!
>
> i have a D Link Router at home. Comcast is the provider. Its a
> wireless PC.
>
> my girlfriend piggybacks wirelessly off my signal but she is at the
> other end of the house. Her signal is weak and/or non existent. also
> i used to be able to print on my girlfriend's color laser printer. i
> cant anymore. i think the signal is weak or waving in and out...
>
>
> how would i boost my wireless signal(also encrypt the signal too so my
> pesky neighbor wont hop on my network)??? any practical ideas,
> solutions, or websites which i could be guided by a tutorial?
>
> thanks in advance,
>
> markus.

- Try moving the access point to a different location (more central) and see
if that fixes the issue.
- Reorient the antennas or get antenna replacements that will do a better
job.
- Add a repeater. I would recommend against this as they cut the available
bandwidth in half.
- Add a second access point. I have done this and would recommend this over
a repeater. Make sure all settings are the same including the SSID. The
two items that should be different are the channel number and the IP address
used for configuration. For channel numbers, choose either 1, 6, or 11.
The reason is that these channels do not overlap and minimize interference
between the two access points.

Jeff

"mark" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> my wireless problem!!!
>
> i have a D Link Router at home. Comcast is the provider. Its a
> wireless PC.
>
> my girlfriend piggybacks wirelessly off my signal but she is at the
> other end of the house. Her signal is weak and/or non existent. also
> i used to be able to print on my girlfriend's color laser printer. i
> cant anymore. i think the signal is weak or waving in and out...
>
>
> how would i boost my wireless signal(also encrypt the signal too so my
> pesky neighbor wont hop on my network)??? any practical ideas,
> solutions, or websites which i could be guided by a tutorial?
>
> thanks in advance,
>
> markus.

mark thought carefully and wrote on 9/16/2004 6:44 PM:

> my wireless problem!!!
>
> i have a D Link Router at home. Comcast is the provider. Its a
> wireless PC.
>
> my girlfriend piggybacks wirelessly off my signal but she is at the
> other end of the house. Her signal is weak and/or non existent. also
> i used to be able to print on my girlfriend's color laser printer. i
> cant anymore. i think the signal is weak or waving in and out...
>
>
> how would i boost my wireless signal(also encrypt the signal too so my
> pesky neighbor wont hop on my network)??? any practical ideas,
> solutions, or websites which i could be guided by a tutorial?

I have a similar problem and tried a home-made directional antenna:
http://www.freeantennas.com/

It works well, but for me, I don't like the look of my 10 cent
construction paper antenna. But now I'm sure that a directional antenna
will work for me before laying out the money.

I began looking at Hawking Technology antennas and found a nice
super-simple bare-bones intro to antennas in one of their manuals:

http://www.hawkingtech.com/images/ma...in%20final.pdf

For wireless security, enable WEP or WPA on your router and wireless cards.

Lance
*****

On 16 Sep 2004 18:44:52 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (mark) wrote:

>i have a D Link Router at home. Comcast is the provider. Its a
>wireless PC.

Any particular DLink model? What does your girlfriend use for a
radio?

>my girlfriend piggybacks wirelessly off my signal but she is at the
>other end of the house.

How many walls are you going through? One is usually no problem. Two
is a crap shoot. Three is difficult if impossible. If there's any
foil or concrete in the walls, forget it.

>Her signal is weak and/or non existent.
>also
>i used to be able to print on my girlfriend's color laser printer. i
>cant anymore.

Make life simple. Get it working when the two radios are close
together. Check the printing, setup the encryption, verify
performance, and basically make it work in a test designed to verify
that the problem is anything other than the wireless link. Then,
after you have it working and setup correctly,

>i think the signal is weak or waving in and out...

http://www.j-walk.com/other/wifispray/

>how would i boost my wireless signal(also encrypt the signal too so my
>pesky neighbor wont hop on my network)??? any practical ideas,
>solutions, or websites which i could be guided by a tutorial?

The instructions that came with your unspecified DLink model should
have something on setting up WEP or WPA encryption on the access
point. It's difficult to give specific advice without specific model
numbers or some clue as to the operating system.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

OK...the OS's are XP PRO and ME. i am not sure if the OS really makes
a difference as all windows support networking(though i am not sure if
PRO is better than HOME ed. when it comes to wireless networking. any1
know???).

either way, when i set up WEP with 64 or 128 bit encryption, what
kind of key do use?? it has 4 keys fields that i could possibly use in
either hex or decimal, so how long does it have to be? and the channel
and SSID really do not matter too much as long as they(the wireless
NICs) are configured on the same channel and SSID of the wirless
router, right?

and netstumbler 4.0 i heard was a good way to map out an area, to see
where are the strong points of the house and also the weak
signals....any input on this??

thanks for all your input people. it really helps.






Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>. ..
> On 16 Sep 2004 18:44:52 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (mark) wrote:
>
> >i have a D Link Router at home. Comcast is the provider. Its a
> >wireless PC.
>
> Any particular DLink model? What does your girlfriend use for a
> radio?
>
> >my girlfriend piggybacks wirelessly off my signal but she is at the
> >other end of the house.
>
> How many walls are you going through? One is usually no problem. Two
> is a crap shoot. Three is difficult if impossible. If there's any
> foil or concrete in the walls, forget it.
>
> >Her signal is weak and/or non existent.
> >also
> >i used to be able to print on my girlfriend's color laser printer. i
> >cant anymore.
>
> Make life simple. Get it working when the two radios are close
> together. Check the printing, setup the encryption, verify
> performance, and basically make it work in a test designed to verify
> that the problem is anything other than the wireless link. Then,
> after you have it working and setup correctly,
>
> >i think the signal is weak or waving in and out...
>
> http://www.j-walk.com/other/wifispray/
>
> >how would i boost my wireless signal(also encrypt the signal too so my
> >pesky neighbor wont hop on my network)??? any practical ideas,
> >solutions, or websites which i could be guided by a tutorial?
>
> The instructions that came with your unspecified DLink model should
> have something on setting up WEP or WPA encryption on the access
> point. It's difficult to give specific advice without specific model
> numbers or some clue as to the operating system.

On 17 Sep 2004 23:21:15 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (mark) wrote:

>either way, when i set up WEP with 64 or 128 bit encryption, what
>kind of key do use??

WEP has two key "types". ASCII (text) and Hexidecimal.

>it has 4 keys fields that i could possibly use in
>either hex or decimal, so how long does it have to be?

The 4 fields are for 64 bit keys. You're allow to store 4 of them and
select which one the radio will use. For 128 bit, it's all one long
field.

Encryption Ascii key Hex key
bits length length
64 5 10
128 13 26
256 29 58

This might help explain the different lengths and types.
http://www.andrewscompanies.com/tools/wep.asp
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/.../mixed_wep.htm

>and the channel
>and SSID really do not matter too much as long as they(the wireless
>NICs) are configured on the same channel and SSID of the wirless
>router, right?

Sorta yeah. The access point (or router) is what selects the channel
and SSID in infrastructure mode. The client radio scans the channels
looking for access points and lists the available SSID's found. When
you select an network SSID to connect to from the client radio, the
client radio matches the channel number and SSID.

>and netstumbler 4.0 i heard was a good way to map out an area, to see
>where are the strong points of the house and also the weak
>signals....any input on this??

Yep. Netstumbler works really nice as a signal strength indicator.
Try it, you'll like it.


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
# (E-Mail Removed)
# 831.421.6491 digital_pager (E-Mail Removed) AE6KS

SOME MORE INFORMATION ON MY Wireless PRoblem!!!!!!

Part of the issue is where the COMCAST cable physically enters the
house.

Both computers are wireless, (DELL) even though my computer is three
feet from the D-LINK. Previously I was hard-wired to the D-LINK, but
the last tech guy "unwired" me. Now I have this little antenna thing
attached to my computer via a cable. Elizabeth's computer(my
girlfriend) has a little antenna poking out of the back (must be
attached to a card?).

Its where Elizabeth's office is located. It's down a hall, 90 degree
turn and down another hallway. So the wireless signal is
theoretically cutting the corner, through siding, outside, through
siding, through a closet, to Elizabeth's antenna.

The only potential solution is to relocate the D-LINK that is sending
the signal to the "90 degree point" in the hallway. But there's no
where to put it and the cable is not there...


what can/ought to do about this? does this give more detail or insight
into the problem?













Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>. ..
> On 17 Sep 2004 23:21:15 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (mark) wrote:
>
> >either way, when i set up WEP with 64 or 128 bit encryption, what
> >kind of key do use??
>
> WEP has two key "types". ASCII (text) and Hexidecimal.
>
> >it has 4 keys fields that i could possibly use in
> >either hex or decimal, so how long does it have to be?
>
> The 4 fields are for 64 bit keys. You're allow to store 4 of them and
> select which one the radio will use. For 128 bit, it's all one long
> field.
>
> Encryption Ascii key Hex key
> bits length length
> 64 5 10
> 128 13 26
> 256 29 58
>
> This might help explain the different lengths and types.
> http://www.andrewscompanies.com/tools/wep.asp
> http://www.practicallynetworked.com/.../mixed_wep.htm
>
> >and the channel
> >and SSID really do not matter too much as long as they(the wireless
> >NICs) are configured on the same channel and SSID of the wirless
> >router, right?
>
> Sorta yeah. The access point (or router) is what selects the channel
> and SSID in infrastructure mode. The client radio scans the channels
> looking for access points and lists the available SSID's found. When
> you select an network SSID to connect to from the client radio, the
> client radio matches the channel number and SSID.
>
> >and netstumbler 4.0 i heard was a good way to map out an area, to see
> >where are the strong points of the house and also the weak
> >signals....any input on this??
>
> Yep. Netstumbler works really nice as a signal strength indicator.
> Try it, you'll like it.

SOME MORE INFORMATION ON MY Wireless PRoblem!!!!!!

Part of the issue is where the COMCAST cable physically enters the
house.

Both computers are wireless, (DELL) even though my computer is three
feet from the D-LINK. Previously I was hard-wired to the D-LINK, but
the last tech guy "unwired" me. Now I have this little antenna thing
attached to my computer via a cable. Elizabeth's computer(my
girlfriend) has a little antenna poking out of the back (must be
attached to a card?).

Its where Elizabeth's office is located. It's down a hall, 90 degree
turn and down another hallway. So the wireless signal is
theoretically cutting the corner, through siding, outside, through
siding, through a closet, to Elizabeth's antenna.

The only potential solution is to relocate the D-LINK that is sending
the signal to the "90 degree point" in the hallway. But there's no
where to put it and the cable is not there...


what can/ought to do about this? does this give more detail or insight
into the problem?













Jeff Liebermann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>. ..
> On 17 Sep 2004 23:21:15 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (mark) wrote:
>
> >either way, when i set up WEP with 64 or 128 bit encryption, what
> >kind of key do use??
>
> WEP has two key "types". ASCII (text) and Hexidecimal.
>
> >it has 4 keys fields that i could possibly use in
> >either hex or decimal, so how long does it have to be?
>
> The 4 fields are for 64 bit keys. You're allow to store 4 of them and
> select which one the radio will use. For 128 bit, it's all one long
> field.
>
> Encryption Ascii key Hex key
> bits length length
> 64 5 10
> 128 13 26
> 256 29 58
>
> This might help explain the different lengths and types.
> http://www.andrewscompanies.com/tools/wep.asp
> http://www.practicallynetworked.com/.../mixed_wep.htm
>
> >and the channel
> >and SSID really do not matter too much as long as they(the wireless
> >NICs) are configured on the same channel and SSID of the wirless
> >router, right?
>
> Sorta yeah. The access point (or router) is what selects the channel
> and SSID in infrastructure mode. The client radio scans the channels
> looking for access points and lists the available SSID's found. When
> you select an network SSID to connect to from the client radio, the
> client radio matches the channel number and SSID.
>
> >and netstumbler 4.0 i heard was a good way to map out an area, to see
> >where are the strong points of the house and also the weak
> >signals....any input on this??
>
> Yep. Netstumbler works really nice as a signal strength indicator.
> Try it, you'll like it.