Anyone got/use one. Are they any good

Can you recommend one for my mate who is having problems with thick walls blocking signals.

Answers to the usual adress please

Why not consider binning the Wifi and using homeplug AV units mate.

Up to 200mb/sec through the house wiring. I bought a new router this weekend with built in homeplug AV and it's blisteringly fast compared to wi-fi for shifting large chunks of data and streaming movies etc.

Which router did you buy Tony?

Steve

Why not consider binning the Wifi and using homeplug AV units mate.

Up to 200mb/sec through the house wiring. I bought a new router this weekend with built in homeplug AV and it's blisteringly fast compared to wi-fi for shifting large chunks of data and streaming movies etc.

Trouble is he only just bought the router so I don't think he'll be all that thrilled with buying more stuff, he doesnt mind buying an extender though.

It's unbeliveable as the router is only the other side of a landing but there is a thick wall in the way which causes the signal to drop big time. I used net stumbler to work it out to -10db in front of the wall and -70 behind the wall (I think thats right lol).

I bought a bundle Steve

ZyXEL NBG 318S

and a

ZyXEL DMA 1000

This with an extra homeplug AV which runs into a 4 port GB Switch (tiny thing) then that is split to the 360, the DMA 1000 and the Panasonic Hifi. All nicely hidden behind the TV.

What router has he got Dave? Linksys do a great extender, but it only works with certain linksys routers

I haven’t looked into the properties of the RF involved in WiFi, but I think the main problem won't be the router itself. Usually the problem with low level RF comes from the weakest (usually battery powered) transmitter ie your laptop or PS3 etc. walkie talkies work like this too, they can often receive a distant signal coming from a base station (you can hear stuff), but the handsets don’t generate enough power to transmit back clearly (they can’t hear you). Mobile phones as well, suffer from this to a degree…..a dirty big mast somewhere and a tiny little battery powered transmitter (your phone) in your hand, although this usually just means your phone drops out.

The usual way to remedy low Signals if you can’t boost the transmission strength, is to do lots of little things, move the router a few feet nearer or perhaps try a slightly different angle on the ariel (it may be upstairs and he is downstairs) I don’t know what type of ariel the router has, but some ariels work in more of a donought sort of pattern and aren’t as sensitive directly above or below themselves. Anyhoo, I’d try fiddling with these sorts of things and sometimes, a few minor tweaks add just enough to get a system working. Good look.

My mate has a Belkin router and bought a Belkin range extender. We struggled with it for some time and eventually he gave up and bought the Devolo EOP products and seems well impressed.

One of these .........DG834PN - RangeMax? Wireless Modem Router - NETGEAR.com

We did take the range max bit with a pinch of salt. The daft part is that in a straight line the router is only about 10feet away from the machine across the landing

The usual way to remedy low Signals if you can’t boost the transmission strength, is to do lots of little things, move the router a few feet nearer or perhaps try a slightly different angle on the ariel (it may be upstairs and he is downstairs) I don’t know what type of ariel the router has, but some ariels work in more of a donought sort of pattern and aren’t as sensitive directly above or below themselves. Anyhoo, I’d try fiddling with these sorts of things and sometimes, a few minor tweaks add just enough to get a system working. Good look.[/font][/color]

I think you may have a point there lady E maybe a shift around will help

Drop the Wireless to 802.11G, Make sure the wall it is near isn't full of electrical wires.

Next you could look at putting a higher gain aerial on the thing if it is removable, although staying within regulations.

Other thing is to make sure the aerial on the box are not directly against the wall but a distance from it. Just turning the box so that the front is facing the wall can make quite a difference.

Personally I don't rate the generic range extenders and they add an extra hop to the connection so adding lag.

Thanks everyone I think we'll have a shifty of all the gear first.

We did take the range max bit with a pinch of salt. The daft part is that in a straight line the router is only about 10feet away from the machine across the landing

Wow! Have you tried pairing another device to this router?

Also, is the router near any potential points of interference? Digital wireless home phone base station? Microwave oven etc?

I've also found in the past that those nice old Victorian type radiators are excellent at soaking up large amounts of the signal!

Steve

Wow! Have you tried pairing another device to this router?

Yep I tried with my laptop .........same problem

Also, is the router near any potential points of interference? Digital wireless home phone base station? Microwave oven etc?

I've also found in the past that those nice old Victorian type radiators are excellent at soaking up large amounts of the signal!

Steve

It is quite an old well built house which doesn't help:rolleyes:

Yeah, you're quite right - old houses do present more problems. But I've sorted installs for people in houses with more potential problems than you're describing, and haven't had too many problems. Haven't needed to resort to boosters in a lot of cases. This includes Victorian and Georgian properties, with devices over 3 floors

Especially considering the distance between device and router....

Steve

Yeah, you're quite right - old houses do present more problems. But I've sorted installs for people in houses with more potential problems than you're describing, and haven't had too many problems. Haven't needed to resort to boosters in a lot of cases. This includes Victorian and Georgian properties, with devices over 3 floors

Especially considering the distance between device and router....

Steve

Something doesn’t quite add up does it

It works fine downstairs and up in the attic it's just in his daughters room across the landing which has trouble.

It's deffo the wall, which is about 12" thick and sticks out in the way of the router. I reckon it's lead lined or summat. like I say I've used a signal monitor and as soon as you pass the wall it shoots up to normal levels

Other thing is to make sure the aerial on the box are not directly against the wall but a distance from it. Just turning the box so that the front is facing the wall can make quite a difference.

Certainly did the trick for me - the wall in question was actually pretty much perpendicular to the line-of-sight between the router and my PC's dongle, but was obviously causing lots of interference. Now works fine with two internal walls, a BFO heated towel rail and a fitted wardrobe twixt router and PC!

Although this next suggestion goes against everything I learned in A-Level physics and the Royal Signals, the troubleshooting stuff that came with my router suggested having the router's antenna at 45deg. Bit sceptical, but any port in a storm!

Although this next suggestion goes against everything I learned in A-Level physics and the Royal Signals, the troubleshooting stuff that came with my router suggested having the router's antenna at 45deg. Bit sceptical, but any port in a storm!

This works well if an ariel is a 5/8ths whip type. Think of the zone of the RF signal like a ball but with the top and the bottom squished in a little and the sides squished out a little too. You need to be in the zone of the squished ball so 45 degrees might do the trick.

Useful thread this

Quite a bit of this could well come in handy, when future problems no doubt present themselves

Steve

With our wireless at home, and normal 54G we have one room in the house where just part of the room is a dead spot, the rest of the room is fine. Changed to router to a wireless "N" one, with an appropriate wireless "N" PCMCIA card for the laptop, and the problem is no more.

With our wireless at home, and normal 54G we have one room in the house where just part of the room is a dead spot, the rest of the room is fine. Changed to router to a wireless "N" one, with an appropriate wireless "N" PCMCIA card for the laptop, and the problem is no more.

That’s the funny thing about digits and RF, sometimes better encryption helps protect the data and keeps it salvageable and sometimes things like changing frequency can have a dramatic effect. Receivers sometimes get swamped with RF on a similar frequency and moving out of the interference band can be a life saver, similarly chopping ariels down on receivers (not usually recommended for several reasons) or putting pads in them to reduce their sensitivity can make the reception clearer (seems a little counter intuitive at first but it’s a bit like listening some shout to you in a noisy environment as opposed to listening to someone whisper in a quiet room…if you see what I mean)

My mate has a Belkin router and bought a Belkin range extender. We struggled with it for some time and eventually he gave up and bought the Devolo EOP products and seems well impressed.

I know the feeling, the crap thing kept crashing, it works ok as a wifi access point but is crap as an extender

One of these .........DG834PN - RangeMax? Wireless Modem Router - NETGEAR.com

We did take the range max bit with a pinch of salt. The daft part is that in a straight line the router is only about 10feet away from the machine across the landing

I have one of these and the signal is fantastic, I have it on top of the bookcase and it's great wherever I am in the house, or even the garden.