Problem: Wireless connection drop often; sometimes AP disappears altogether.
Hardware: Linksys WRT54G, Dell Wireless USB Device. Adelphia Cable Internet
Hypothesis: Too much interference from other WAPs in the area, hardware failure, or good ol' fashioned user error.
Setup a wireless network for my in-laws; they have Adelphia HSI (cable internet). I would've preferred to run ethernet cable directly to their PC, but the cabinet storing their new PC isn't really near any of their cable outlets, and I didn't have the carte blanche to start drilling holes in the walls.
The closest I could get the router (with stock firmware) was a linear 10 feet from the PC, but unfortunately that line between them intersects two walls. Outside of the admin password and enabling wireless access, the only thing changed on the router is a MAC filter and enabled WEP.
During the daytime, the connection will drop ever couple of hours, forcing them to "Repair" the wireless connection (right click on the wireless icon, select Repair). Usually that does the trick, and it's a quick fix. It gets much worse in the evenings, sometimes to the point where it is unusable and won't repair (error reports cannot connect to the network)- the only successful method in that situation is to go away for 15-30 minutes and return. In those cases, the AP drops sometimes from the list of available APs. We have tried unplugging the router and/or modem for 30 seconds and then plugging them back in, but that has no discernable difference than just waiting.
Of course, picking up the phone (2.4 Ghz) kills the connection most times; but I've accepted that. I ran netstumbler this weekend, and spotted a six [open] networks across the 11 channels. Most were either at 1, 10, or 11, so I switched to 6. Problems still occurred. They live in a townhouse, in a rather tight development, so I'm not so surprised at the number of networks. Maybe some are using channels 6-10, but not broadcasting their SSID. Would this be adequate enough crowding to continually down their connection?
I'm new to wireless networking, and would appreciate any suggestions people have, even PEBKAC (if constructive). My father in law does some of his work from home, and needs the connection to be reliable. He's to the point of calling Adelphia to have them put a cable outlet directly behind the PC so we can run the Cat5 directly. Other than that approach, my best guesses are a) Switching to 11a, which would cut interference from the phone and anything else I haven't identified, or b) Some kind of signal amplification. It's only 10 feet, for cryin' out loud. I've given him a 25' ethernet cable in the mean time for when the wireless goes down, but that's a sub-optimal solution.
I won't be able to test any thorough suggestions until we go back to their place, probably not for another two weeks. Thanks in Advance,
Josh
Hardware: Linksys WRT54G, Dell Wireless USB Device. Adelphia Cable Internet
Hypothesis: Too much interference from other WAPs in the area, hardware failure, or good ol' fashioned user error.
Setup a wireless network for my in-laws; they have Adelphia HSI (cable internet). I would've preferred to run ethernet cable directly to their PC, but the cabinet storing their new PC isn't really near any of their cable outlets, and I didn't have the carte blanche to start drilling holes in the walls.
The closest I could get the router (with stock firmware) was a linear 10 feet from the PC, but unfortunately that line between them intersects two walls. Outside of the admin password and enabling wireless access, the only thing changed on the router is a MAC filter and enabled WEP.
During the daytime, the connection will drop ever couple of hours, forcing them to "Repair" the wireless connection (right click on the wireless icon, select Repair). Usually that does the trick, and it's a quick fix. It gets much worse in the evenings, sometimes to the point where it is unusable and won't repair (error reports cannot connect to the network)- the only successful method in that situation is to go away for 15-30 minutes and return. In those cases, the AP drops sometimes from the list of available APs. We have tried unplugging the router and/or modem for 30 seconds and then plugging them back in, but that has no discernable difference than just waiting.
Of course, picking up the phone (2.4 Ghz) kills the connection most times; but I've accepted that. I ran netstumbler this weekend, and spotted a six [open] networks across the 11 channels. Most were either at 1, 10, or 11, so I switched to 6. Problems still occurred. They live in a townhouse, in a rather tight development, so I'm not so surprised at the number of networks. Maybe some are using channels 6-10, but not broadcasting their SSID. Would this be adequate enough crowding to continually down their connection?
I'm new to wireless networking, and would appreciate any suggestions people have, even PEBKAC (if constructive). My father in law does some of his work from home, and needs the connection to be reliable. He's to the point of calling Adelphia to have them put a cable outlet directly behind the PC so we can run the Cat5 directly. Other than that approach, my best guesses are a) Switching to 11a, which would cut interference from the phone and anything else I haven't identified, or b) Some kind of signal amplification. It's only 10 feet, for cryin' out loud. I've given him a 25' ethernet cable in the mean time for when the wireless goes down, but that's a sub-optimal solution.
I won't be able to test any thorough suggestions until we go back to their place, probably not for another two weeks. Thanks in Advance,
Josh
