Wireless Craze

I just put my old wired system back. Connect speeds are about 3-5 Mbps. Win
XP all.

I had bought a Linksys WRT54GS with a PCI card and a notebook adapter for
the laptop. I thought it would be helpful to be able to have it all wireless
and the freedom to move around. Get rid of those cables.
Well I was promised great range ( house is only 48 feet wide ) and
comparable speeds. The way to go everyone said.

Well an alarm bell should go off when right next to these great devices are
range extending antennaes for sale. What does that tell you?

I tried it for two days. Very low signal strength, speeds dropped to about
700k ! I tried changing channels, tweaking it with Linksys people, moving
the router etc. No change. Reinstall adapter driver NG. I never did even get
the notebook to connect at all!

What a circus. I guess most have the router on the desk next to their
computer. Guess it works at three feet.

Linksys support people are very hard to understand and just read off a
script.

I will eventually go back to it I guess after I research the bull.

Oh well. I feel better now!

Linksys sucks. Tried it last year.

i have a Hawking right now that is rock solid.

Clyde
"Anom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:aZidnTiDdq9677reRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I just put my old wired system back. Connect speeds are about 3-5 Mbps.
Win
> XP all.
>
> I had bought a Linksys WRT54GS with a PCI card and a notebook adapter for
> the laptop. I thought it would be helpful to be able to have it all
wireless
> and the freedom to move around. Get rid of those cables.
> Well I was promised great range ( house is only 48 feet wide ) and
> comparable speeds. The way to go everyone said.
>
> Well an alarm bell should go off when right next to these great devices
are
> range extending antennaes for sale. What does that tell you?
>
> I tried it for two days. Very low signal strength, speeds dropped to about
> 700k ! I tried changing channels, tweaking it with Linksys people, moving
> the router etc. No change. Reinstall adapter driver NG. I never did even
get
> the notebook to connect at all!
>
> What a circus. I guess most have the router on the desk next to their
> computer. Guess it works at three feet.
>
> Linksys support people are very hard to understand and just read off a
> script.
>
> I will eventually go back to it I guess after I research the bull.
>
> Oh well. I feel better now!
>
>

On 13-Sep-2005, "Anom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I just put my old wired system back. Connect speeds are about 3-5 Mbps.
> Win
> XP all.
>
> I had bought a Linksys WRT54GS with a PCI card and a notebook adapter for
> the laptop. I thought it would be helpful to be able to have it all
> wireless
> and the freedom to move around. Get rid of those cables.
> Well I was promised great range ( house is only 48 feet wide ) and
> comparable speeds. The way to go everyone said.
>
> Well an alarm bell should go off when right next to these great devices
> are
> range extending antennaes for sale. What does that tell you?
>
> I tried it for two days. Very low signal strength, speeds dropped to about
>
> 700k ! I tried changing channels, tweaking it with Linksys people, moving
> the router etc. No change. Reinstall adapter driver NG. I never did even
> get
> the notebook to connect at all!
>
> What a circus. I guess most have the router on the desk next to their
> computer. Guess it works at three feet.
>
> Linksys support people are very hard to understand and just read off a
> script.
>
> I will eventually go back to it I guess after I research the bull.
>
> Oh well. I feel better now!

Although I prefer D-link, the Linksys WRT54G is a very good and stable
product. I tried the GS version, but was not at all impressed. Anyway, in
reference to your situation, could you be a little bit more detailed? For
instance, have all of your attempts been made with encryption enabled,
without it enabled or both? Are you using the WZC utility to manage your
wireless connectivity or are you using another utility? Where in your home
is the WRG54GS placed? Is it center in the home, placed high atop a shelf?,
etc. Is MAC filtering enabled without entering the MAC address of the
laptop? Did you follow the directions, precisely? Again, although Linksys
makes very good and stable products, it is possible that you have a lemon.

--
Just Me, D

Anom wrote:

> Well an alarm bell should go off when right next to these great devices
> are range extending antennaes for sale. What does that tell you?

With a WRT54G running Sveasoft Talisman, and a Dell Inspiron laptop with a
built-in Intel ipw2200 wireless adaptor, I get 1000' with two windows and a
tree in the way! Speeds vary from 1 to 11Mbps, but I'm amazed the
connection's there at all.

> What a circus. I guess most have the router on the desk next to their
> computer. Guess it works at three feet.

60' through two wood floors.

> Linksys support people are very hard to understand and just read off a
> script.

It's, unfortunately, not only Linksys. Support people are generally hard to
understand - if not, they get promoted or move to greener pastures, and you
never get to speak to them again.
--
derek

On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:46:26 -0400, "Anom" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I had bought a Linksys WRT54GS with a PCI card and a notebook adapter for
>the laptop.

Ok. So the client is a Linksys WMP54G and WPC54G for the notebook.
Is my guess correct?

>Well I was promised great range ( house is only 48 feet wide ) and
>comparable speeds. The way to go everyone said.

What is the house made from? If poured concrete or aluminum foil
backed insulation, you're going to have a problem going through walls
with 2.4GHz.

>Well an alarm bell should go off when right next to these great devices are
>range extending antennaes for sale. What does that tell you?

It tells me that users are trying to stretch the limits of technology.
Having aftermarket performance products available in the automobile
market does not automatically assume that the basic automobile is
junk. As for aftermarket performance products, you should see the
prices in the aftermarket audiophile area. Would you believe $1000.00
power cords?
http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/pr...?sku=KKPK10P12
Aftermarket antennas and overpriced power cords are there because
there's either a perceived or real need for performance improvements.

>I tried it for two days. Very low signal strength, speeds dropped to about
>700k !

1. Did you try the laptop at a wireless hot spot to make sure it was
working?
2. Did you upgrade the firmware on the WRT54GS and the drivers on the
client adapters?
3. Any nearby sources of potential interference? (micrwave ovens,
wireless TV xmitters, municipal networks, neighbors with wi-fi).
4. Did you reset the WRT54GS to defaults and start over after Linksys
support suggested their usual assortment of useless tweaks?
5. Is the 700k kbits/sec or kBytes/sec? How were you measuring
speed?

>I tried changing channels, tweaking it with Linksys people, moving
>the router etc. No change. Reinstall adapter driver NG. I never did even get
>the notebook to connect at all!

Well, something is wrong. Kinda sounds like a defective WRT54GS but I
can't be sure from your description. It's unlikely that both the PCI
card and laptop card would both be defective. If you suspect one part
of the puzzle is a problem, you can always substitute.

>What a circus. I guess most have the router on the desk next to their
>computer. Guess it works at three feet.

My office WRT54G v1.1 has the stock antennas attached and is buried
behind a pile of junk heaped on top of the server. Going through one
plywood partition, a glass window, and a few bushes, I have no problem
doing 100ft before I run into the neighbors houses on the opposite
side of the street. If you can only do 3ft, something is broken.

>Linksys support people are very hard to understand and just read off a
>script.

True. Be sure to email Linksys sales and inform them that support was
not able to salvage the sale. I'm sure they'll be thrilled.

>I will eventually go back to it I guess after I research the bull.

Sorry about the problems, but you should have yelled for help before
you gave up, not after.

>Oh well. I feel better now!

I don't. However, you did give it a good try. I suggest you yell for
help before giving up, not after.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

> What is the house made from? If poured concrete or aluminum foil
> backed insulation, you're going to have a problem going through walls
> with 2.4GHz.

Hey, Jeff, is that actually the concrete, or the rebar in the concrete?
It's probably not something I really need to know, but I've been
wondering :-)

> Would you believe $1000.00 power cords?

Not until you told me...
--
derek

"Anom" wrote in message
> I just put my old wired system back. Connect speeds are about 3-5 Mbps.
Win
> XP all.
>
> I had bought a Linksys WRT54GS with a PCI card and a notebook adapter for
> the laptop. I thought it would be helpful to be able to have it all
wireless
> and the freedom to move around. Get rid of those cables.
> Well I was promised great range ( house is only 48 feet wide ) and
> comparable speeds. The way to go everyone said.
>
> Well an alarm bell should go off when right next to these great devices
are
> range extending antennaes for sale. What does that tell you?
>
> I tried it for two days. Very low signal strength, speeds dropped to about
> 700k ! I tried changing channels, tweaking it with Linksys people, moving
> the router etc. No change. Reinstall adapter driver NG. I never did even
get
> the notebook to connect at all!
>
> What a circus. I guess most have the router on the desk next to their
> computer. Guess it works at three feet.
>
> Linksys support people are very hard to understand and just read off a
> script.
>
> I will eventually go back to it I guess after I research the bull.
>
> Oh well. I feel better now!

Rest assured, your wifi experience isn't the normal status quo.

I'm with Jeff, something is definetly going on. He'll steer you in the
right direction if you want to get it working as it should -- and break
everything down into frames and bits, if need be, as well. :^)

Have you tried to see what the maximum LOS distance you can get between the
two? That might be a good way to eliminate or determine if there is a
hardware problem or strong RFI problem going on. (And, maybe, raise your
neighbors' eyebrows if you try it outside.) :^)

Could just be something like an antenna not working properly. I'm sure, if
it's a removeable antenna, you already tried un-attaching and re-attaching
it, but could be a weak internal connection somewhere. I've already had to
re-solder a contact point for one piece of hardware (a bridge) already
because the thing fell behind an entertainment center once too many. Point
was so fragile to begin with, that I wouldn't be surprised if many of them
broke off just from shipments. (Not saying you should have to open
something brand new up, but if it is something like that then returning it
for a replacement would solve the problem.)

If it doesn't even work acceptably LOS, my suspicion is also that one of two
is probably bad hardware as RFI would be unusually strong to cause such bad
performance. Its still possible though. Security systems, baby monitors,
cordless phones. Does the card pick up other SSID's, neighbors or wisps?

If it does work acceptably LOS, then the walls being RF shields, comes to
suspicion. Got any cordless 2.4Ghz phones? How do they standup while going
room to room? Do the walls break them up?

Cheers
Eric

On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 14:36:57 -0300, Derek Broughton
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> What is the house made from? If poured concrete or aluminum foil
>> backed insulation, you're going to have a problem going through walls
>> with 2.4GHz.
>
>Hey, Jeff, is that actually the concrete, or the rebar in the concrete?
>It's probably not something I really need to know, but I've been
>wondering :-)

It's the water. Concrete is mostly water. You get the same water
attenuation with plants and shrubs. The rebar also blocks the signal
but there's not enough of it to be a problem.

I dug out some numbers on attenuation of materials:
http://www.thirdbreak.org/pipermail/...ne/000804.html
Think of 6dB loss as cutting your range in half. 12dB is 1/4th the
range.

>> Would you believe $1000.00 power cords?
>Not until you told me...

I still can't believe somone would pay $1000 for a power cord.
However, that doesn't mean that there's something wrong with the
worlds supply of power cord operated devices that would necessitate a
premium upgrade.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558