[Closed] Improving Wireless Network at home

Home plug?

http://www.faculty-x.net/homeplug%20value%20range.htm

homeplug

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-XEB1004-85Mbps-Powerline-Ethernet/dp/B00167D96S/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260305799&sr=8-13

same price as above but better know

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-WGXB102-Wall-Plugged-Wireless-Extender/dp/B000ENOR3E/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260305862&sr=8-18

ouch!!

Worth trying a simple "booster" before laying out any cash - basically you use paper/card/a Pringles tube to make a reflector around the antenna. There are various templates if you Google, try [url= http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-WIFI-Antenna-Reception-Booster/ ]here[/url] and [url= http://www.freeantennas.com/ ]here[/url] for starters.

18Mb max connection. Router is in line of site of desktop but there is a table leg next to wireless card.

If you network speed is only 2.5mb why is the 18mb at your desktop an issue? Its still transferring data roughly 6 times faster than your interweb connection.

Unless you are file sharing on your wireless lan?

What he said.

Not file sharing but if I click a link on a website the page 'loads' but nothing happens...if I click again, the page starts to refresh but nothing happens, then when I click again it finally does load...not ideal for online banking and the like where you need to login. Connection is now back at the desktop and I'm wired into the router - 100Mb is fine but the web connection is now below 1Mb. The laptop however seems to be flying (new Acer running Windows 7 and wireless)...I'm not sure if it's my PC that is now slowing things down, but it's crawling.

If I plug the router into the test socket in the house, I get 2.5Mb but then everything needs to be wireless, so although the web connection is faster, my connection between PC and router is slower so the same sort of issues occur. I'm looking at ways to either improve my web connection speed or improve my wireless reception so that either of the 2 solutions I can do in the house will work better.

sounds like your desktop needs a nice clean reinstall.

sounds more like a software issue than a hardware issue tbh

sounds like your desktop needs a nice clean reinstall.

Nah, it's just slow at initiating the connection due to crap ping times over wireless.

Couple of things you can try DickBarton:

- if all your wireless devices are 802.11g compatible then change the router settings to "g only" rather than "b and g" which is probably what is is currently set to.

- use a tool like [url= http://www.stumbler.net/ ]NetStumbler[/url] on a laptop and walk about the house noting all the other wi-fi networks that are present and what channel they are on. [url= http://www.geekzone.co.nz/inquisitor/2996 ]Then change your router to use a better channel.[/url]

- get better antenna for router and desktop or make yourself some tinfoil parabolic reflectors

[img] [/img]
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Wi-Fi-Extender/

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WokFi ]wokfi[/url]

I click a link on a website the page 'loads' but nothing happens...if I click again, the page starts to refresh but nothing happens, then when I click again it finally does load...not ideal for online banking and the like where you need to login

That sounds like a DNS / resolve issue rather than a wireless issue to be honest. As long as you have more than a 1 mb connection from your desktop to router all should be fine for web browsing.

Also check the desktop and see what is actually pulling down data from the internet - use something like [url= http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=983b941d-06cb-4658-b7f6-3088333d062f ]this[/url]. Virus scan and spyware scan etc as well.

David.

I'd say it's more a packet loss issue instead; I've had issues where the download speed isn't that bad but web pages often sit there for ages, seemingly stalled, and either take ages to fully load or don't do anything at all. "ping -t ip.of.your.router" in a command prompt will let you know what's going on.

Wireless networks often work better when using stuff from one manufacturer; could you get a Netgear wireless card for the desktop to match the router?

I'd second what Phiiiiiil suggested regarding the Wireless card. The WLAN standards are all well and good but there are countless cases of compatibility issues between kit made by difference manufacturers.