Very disappointing wifi connection!

[superboyac]

I've had my wifi connection for about a year now, and I have to say, the performance is extremely disappointing.  I know a thing or two about computers and hardware, but I can't set this up so that I can transfer between computers at any reasonable rate, let alone get a "good" connection.  I mean, even when I bring my laptop like 3 feet away from the router, it's still barely a good signal, what's up with that?  I've heard people tell me that their wifi connection is good enough to watch movies through the network.  No freakin way here!  I can't even transfer a 10 MB file without a hitch in the connection, and that would take me like 10 minutes.

I have one of those linksys speedbooster wifi routers, and I can't figure it out.  Most of the time, I can get a better signal using one of my neighbor's unsecured wifi router.  Yesterday, I went in my bedroom, and I couldn't even connect to the router...it's like 20 feet across the hallway!

[Carol Haynes]

Don't know what the problem is but it sounds like it must be a hardware issue in the router itself if you can connect to your neighbours more effectively.

I have a Linksys ADSL/Gateway/Router and don't have any of these problems.

Does your router have Ethernet ports or is it a pure WiFi product? If it has Ethernet ports you could try connecting via that route to see if it works better - at least then you might be able to eliminate a configuration issue.

[Rover]

superboyac -  I had a similar problem with some D-Link hardware.  Which brand are you using?

Some things I learned:  The channel can matter a lot.  There are a bizzilion things using your airwaves and some of them "noise up" Wi-Fi channels.  In the US, most mfgs use channel 6.  Try changing to 11 or something.

Also, most WiFi antennas do NOT create a consistant broadcast sphere.  It ends up looking more like a donut that runs in some relation to the direction of the antenna -- I forget which way.

Check the manufacture site for additional tips.

[superboyac]

I've tried changing the channels around, but it didn't do much.  I have an ethernet connection, which I use for my main computer, but I need the wifi for the laptop for convenience.  They say that the encryption level and some of the security connections can affect the connection speed, and I've tweaked with some of them, but I haven't noticed much.  It's just annoying, the laptop is like 3 feet away and it's still getting a stronger signal from my neighbors.

It's a Linksys router WRT54GS (version 2).  I certainly hope it's not a hardware issue.  To be honest, I don't think I've ever had that great results with wifi.  I set up a wifi at my parent's house, and it's better there, although not that great.  I set up a wifi at my friend's house, and it's not super-fast either.  I've certainly never seen anything capable of streaming large video files over the network, like some people have told me.

[m_s]

I installed one of those for a customer, and had real hassles with it: three machines (1 pc laptop, 1 pc desktop, and an iBook) worked brilliantly straight out the box; but the final machine in the house, a Compaq laptop, had terrible troubles maintaining a connection.  It would work fine for a few days, and then couldn't connect at all.  Eventually, I dug around on the Compaq support site and found updated wifi drivers there, and it now works perfectly.  So it might be worthwhile, if you haven't done so already, checking for updated drivers for the laptop.

[superboyac]

hmm...interesting.  I'll try seeing if I can install different drivers for the laptop.  It's an acer, and I just installed the software for it a couple of weeks, but I'll check to see if there are more up to date drivers.  There MUST be something configured wrong, it just doesn't make sense for the signal to be that weak.

[Carol Haynes]

I suppose if it is working OK otherwise it could be your portable's wifi card? Do you have access (borrow one?) to a PCMIA WiFi card you could try instead?