Philip Dawson
Posted 7 years ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
New to wireless connections. We bought a laptop (win XP sp2) with 80211g wireless capability and a D-link modem/adsl router rather than cable 3 rooms, which had no space for a PC anyway. The laptop works nice and fast when connected via ethernet cable.
When connected via the wireless option the icon in sys tray says signal strength is strong. It initially connects at 54mps but drops to 1mps when 5 rooms away. I ran it for a while on the desk 1m from the wireless antenna and signal strength stayed "strong" but speed varied from 1 to 36mps, mostly below 20. Not enough to run our software.
I also attempted to enable wep encryption for security, but could get a connection, even entering the same 26 alphanumeric key in both. Not sure we need it as DNS is disabled on the router, IP addresses are static so to connect to the wireless router would require guessing the routers IP address, and an acceptable IP address and subnet mask, and the network servers address. These are not the in the default range 198 etc addresses, so it would require a fair bit of supercomputing to check all possible combinations of 4 12 digit numbers.
Phil Jackson
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: Wireless connectivity
What are you asking about the wep encryption?
54mps is the theoretical maximum and you will never get this. Being around 20mps is normal and the reason it drops to 1mps 5 rooms over is that the signal has to travel through all of the walls and if you want it to be stonger get a bigger antenna.
Philip Dawson
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: Wireless connectivity
I indicated that it drops to 1 Mbs when the laptop is placed 1 Metre from the Antenna and was wondering why, when the system tray icon said strong signal. It is no worse 5 rooms away, where internet, including multimegabyte downloads, interoffice email, and an sql database all work fine, despite the fluctuations in network connection speed. The problem is our main database ( which is access based until proposed change to sql in november) which drops out and program freezes if connection speed drops below 20mps. How can I ensure it runs at 20mps. The sys tray icon still says strong signal, even when speed fluctuates, so I think it must be a setting rather than a stronger aerial that is required. It shouldnt drop to 1mps when its right next to the aerial!
Phil Jackson
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: Wireless connectivity
I understand and know what you were saying and I agree it should not be dropping to 1mps only one metre away. And if I remember right there was a similar question asked a fair while ago and it was a result of a hardware problem to do with the receiving capabilities of the laptop. So I suggest if possible that you try to connect to another network and see if the problem persists. If not, it may well be the settings issue you suggested or the router itself.
Philip Dawson
Posted 6 years, 11 months ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: Wireless connectivity
I have hooked it up via ethernet and it works very fast. Don't know anywhere else in rural Tasmania that has a wireless network to test it on, but I believe these sorts of problems are common. I was wondering if there are any common workarounds -does a wireless booster work?
Anonymous
Posted 6 years, 7 months ago
Joined: 12 years, 5 months ago
Re: Wireless connectivity
Where in Tas are you? I'm in the NE, and I have a wireless network running. contact me deanl81@hotmail.com. I'll give you a real email address from there.
