My Wireless connection is crap...help

[xltros]

Hi, I just recently moved to a place and for some reason my wireless internet connection keeps going out on me. My dsl is fine as i never get discconnected when i plug the line into my laptop. It seems like the wireless is just having trouble staying connected, even when it's like 5 ft. away, so i don't think distance is the problem. i never had these problems before so i'm pretty sure the router is ok. Any body know what might be causing this and how to fix it?

I live in a apt. complex. and it usually disconnects me after an hour or 2.
Thanks.

There could be a lot of interference from appliances all over the complex.

[xltros]

[ QUOTE ]
There could be a lot of interference from appliances all over the complex.

[/ QUOTE ]
ok, anyway to work around this?

[CrazyN8]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There could be a lot of interference from appliances all over the complex.

[/ QUOTE ]
ok, anyway to work around this?

[/ QUOTE ]

change the wireless setting channel from 6 (usually the default) to...oh....say, 11.

Do you have a signal strength meter that shows you your signal?

Do you have "other" connections stealing your bandwidth?
Log into your router to mnake sure no one is sharing your connection also. This will slow you down.

[xltros]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There could be a lot of interference from appliances all over the complex.

[/ QUOTE ]
ok, anyway to work around this?

[/ QUOTE ]

change the wireless setting channel from 6 (usually the default) to...oh....say, 11.

[/ QUOTE ]

sounds good, how do you do this?
i'm not too good with this stuff.
thanks.

[xltros]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have a signal strength meter that shows you your signal?

Do you have "other" connections stealing your bandwidth?
Log into your router to mnake sure no one is sharing your connection also. This will slow you down.

[/ QUOTE ]

again....
sounds good, how do you do this?
i'm not too good with this stuff.
thanks.

[Freakin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There could be a lot of interference from appliances all over the complex.

[/ QUOTE ]
ok, anyway to work around this?

[/ QUOTE ]

change the wireless setting channel from 6 (usually the default) to...oh....say, 11.

[/ QUOTE ]

sounds good, how do you do this?
i'm not too good with this stuff.
thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

This fixed my identical problesms. Also, I changed teh SSID, and turned on my SSID Broadcast (on by default).

Freakin

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


change the wireless setting channel from 6 (usually the default) to...oh....say, 11.

[/ QUOTE ]

sounds good, how do you do this?
i'm not too good with this stuff.
thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is the make and model of the router you have?

Router brand and model?
Hopefully im familar with it to give some help /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[xltros]

Netgear MR 314
thanks again, you guys are great!

[StevieG]

First off, you'll want to login to it. I assume that you have changed none of the default settings, so you will want to go to http://192.168.0.1 and login. The username is admin, password 1234. This is one of the things we are going to get you to change later.

You will see an Advanced link on the left hand side. Click it.

The first section there is System settings. Under that you will find a password tab. Go there and change the password from 1234 to something else. Apply that change.
Otherwise anyone who can look up the default password can pwn your router.

Next go back to the Advanced main menu. The third section is Wireless LAN Setup. Select that. On the setup you will see a section for ESSID and Channel. This is where you can change the channel from 06 to 11. If there are other wireless access points in your building, they are likely on 06, so this will help prevent interference.

You should also change the ESSID from the default of wireless to something else.

So far so good? You should also enable WEP encryption. Let us know and we'll guide you through that, too.

[Cerril]

If you're in a complex, chances are you're out of luck. Try switching the channels as suggested, but chances are if it's appliance (i.e. leaky microwave) interference you're out of luck entirely, and will want to hook up manually.

That's the situation here at our complex. Aside from likely an appliance, there are 12 wireless networks within sniffing range of where I sit. We ended up having to thread an ethernet cable through a couple rooms to get in here, and I'm going to eventually need a switch for my laptop if I want to use it online at home.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There could be a lot of interference from appliances all over the complex.

[/ QUOTE ]
ok, anyway to work around this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Line your entire apartment with tinfoil. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[xltros]

[ QUOTE ]
First off, you'll want to login to it. I assume that you have changed none of the default settings, so you will want to go to http://192.168.0.1 and login. The username is admin, password 1234. This is one of the things we are going to get you to change later.

You will see an Advanced link on the left hand side. Click it.

The first section there is System settings. Under that you will find a password tab. Go there and change the password from 1234 to something else. Apply that change.
Otherwise anyone who can look up the default password can pwn your router.

Next go back to the Advanced main menu. The third section is Wireless LAN Setup. Select that. On the setup you will see a section for ESSID and Channel. This is where you can change the channel from 06 to 11. If there are other wireless access points in your building, they are likely on 06, so this will help prevent interference.

You should also change the ESSID from the default of wireless to something else.

So far so good? You should also enable WEP encryption. Let us know and we'll guide you through that, too.

[/ QUOTE ]

great, i'll try all this today. If you can tell me how to do the encryption and how to change the essid? I'd appreciate that as well.
Thanks again!

[StevieG]

The ESSID is on the same page as the channel. Change it from "wireless" to something you understand, butis otherwise meaningless. Like "thegreatestloverofalltime"

When you do this, you will lose the wireless connection until you tell your PC to look for the new ESSID, "thegreatestloverofalltime".

Do this, and then we'llwork on getting WEP established.

[xltros]

[ QUOTE ]
The ESSID is on the same page as the channel. Change it from "wireless" to something you understand, butis otherwise meaningless. Like "thegreatestloverofalltime"

When you do this, you will lose the wireless connection until you tell your PC to look for the new ESSID, "thegreatestloverofalltime".

Do this, and then we'llwork on getting WEP established.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great! I'm connected and these are looking good. If you could help with the encryption i' appreciate it. Also, my roomate is having troubles connecting to the web. I use sbc dsl. is there something i have to do to let him login through his laptop. i thought he should automatically connect if i was on?
thanks again!

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The ESSID is on the same page as the channel. Change it from "wireless" to something you understand, butis otherwise meaningless. Like "thegreatestloverofalltime"

When you do this, you will lose the wireless connection until you tell your PC to look for the new ESSID, "thegreatestloverofalltime".

Do this, and then we'llwork on getting WEP established.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great! I'm connected and these are looking good. If you could help with the encryption i' appreciate it. Also, my roomate is having troubles connecting to the web. I use sbc dsl. is there something i have to do to let him login through his laptop. i thought he should automatically connect if i was on?


[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean his laptop will connect through your wireless router, too? It could be that he is still looking for "wireless" and not "thegreatestloverofalltime". Look in the available wireless networks of his wireless network configuration.

More on WEP encryption in a bit.

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]
If you could help with the encryption i' appreciate it.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK. On the same page where you changed the channel and renamed the ESSID you will see a set of fields at the bottom called WEP Key 1, WEP Key 2, etc.

Go here to this strong WEP key generator (http://www.warewolflabs.com/portfolio/programming/wlanskg/wlanskg.html) and generate a 128 bit key. Copy the HEX value to the clipboard and then paste that value into the WEP Key 1 field. Make sure the radio button is checked for that key #1.

The next thing you do is hit "Apply" to use the encryption. When you do this you will lose connection to your own wireless network, so make sure you know how to configure the encryption on your wireless device, or have a wired connection to the router if you need to take the encryption off.

Now you need to change your wireless configuration to also use this key. If you use a laptop with Centrino, this is relatively painless. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections. Right click on "Internal Wireless" choose properties.

In the new window, choose the tab for "Wireless Networks". In preferred networks in the middle of the window, find "thegreatestloverofalltime" or whatever you called your network,and highlight it. Choose properties. On the first tab, association, choose Open for Network Authentication, WEP for Data encryption, and then type in the network key you generated on the link above.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

If you are using a different wireless device than Centrino, let us know what that is and we'll be able to help you configure it.

[xltros]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The ESSID is on the same page as the channel. Change it from "wireless" to something you understand, butis otherwise meaningless. Like "thegreatestloverofalltime"

When you do this, you will lose the wireless connection until you tell your PC to look for the new ESSID, "thegreatestloverofalltime".

Do this, and then we'llwork on getting WEP established.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great! I'm connected and these are looking good. If you could help with the encryption i' appreciate it. Also, my roomate is having troubles connecting to the web. I use sbc dsl. is there something i have to do to let him login through his laptop. i thought he should automatically connect if i was on?


[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean his laptop will connect through your wireless router, too? It could be that he is still looking for "wireless" and not "thegreatestloverofalltime". Look in the available wireless networks of his wireless network configuration.

More on WEP encryption in a bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, i would like him to be able to connect through my wireless connection as well. He seems to be able to connect to it. just not to connect to the sbc connecction. thanks again, you da man!