WiFi experts?

[ollypenrice]

Hi, help needed...

Monique's son helped us install a WiFi booster to get the signal distributed better around the guest part of the house. (Thick walls, thick owner!) Then he left and we are in a mess...

The router (Livebox Fb42) is near the back and fed my office machines quite well but not the rest of the house. Sasha put in a gadget which uses the house wiring to connect to a second transmitter in the front of the house. Now both do work, but with miserably regular cuts every few minutes.

I have no idea how these things work (or don't work) but has the addition of a second transmitter diluted the signal to below viable levels? Or is there some other explanation and solution?

Help before I fling myself off the top of a tall Dobsonian...

Olly

[dmahon]

The professional way is to use multiple transmitters (each connected by wire - including over power cables) but have each transmitter use a frequency that does not interfere with the transmitter(s) next to it. Use channels 1, 6 and 11, as they do not overlap any frequencies, and try not to place a transmitter on one channel next to another transmitter on the same channel. Each does use the same network name (SSID) and password. As you move around, your equipment will move to other transmitters - just like a cell phone.

The easy way is to relocate your transmitter to the centre of the house, get a better aerial or use a retransmitter/booster/range-extender (that will pick up the signal and restransmit it, no wires involved. It can slow down the network by half though).

[mark7331]

Olly, if both front and back of house drop then I would think they are using the same channel as dmahon states above. To rectify this open a browser and login to each box and, under wireless lan (WLAN) you'll see channel numbers. Change one of the boxes to another number and the outages should go away. The address of the boxes are usually printed on the bottom and look something like http://192.168.0.1

If it's the second transmitter that drops - the one that you use the house mains to connect to I would first check for channel problems as above but it might be worth trying a different socket. Sometimes a sockets earth may not be entirely the same as another (wiring problems etc) and this fluxuation can cause a 'loss of signal' across the mains wire. You can also rule out the mains as a problem by getting a cable long enough to go from box to box directly. If it doesn't drop it's the mains or the mains adaptors.

Mark

[ollypenrice]

Thanks very muvh for that, both. Dropping the network speed by half would not be a good idea with my poor input to the house, I think.

Olly

[r3i]

In relation to the PowerLine adaptors (the gadgets that use the mains as a network carrier): You don't happen to have more than one consumer unit/fuse box in your house? My understanding of these devices is that a consumer unit can block the continuity of the network signal. This is a good thing in a home with a single consumer unit as it prevents your network traffic leaking out of your house and into the wider world, but it would cause a problem for a building with multiple units on the inside.

[MartinB]

Hi Olly, I use "network over wire" to connect my house computers to the observatory and use software called Tight VNC which enables me see and control the obsy laptop from the house.

I couldn't get the network over wire to work reliably at first. The problem was that I was it into an extension cable which had surge protection. Worth checking there is no surge protection between your connections.

[ollypenrice]

In relation to the PowerLine adaptors (the gadgets that use the mains as a network carrier): You don't happen to have more than one consumer unit/fuse box in your house? My understanding of these devices is that a consumer unit can block the continuity of the network signal. This is a good thing in a home with a single consumer unit as it prevents your network traffic leaking out of your house and into the wider world, but it would cause a problem for a building with multiple units on the inside.

I do! Thankd for the Heads Up and thanks also to you, Martin. I will pass this onto Sasha and plead with him to rescue me.

Olly

[PhoenixRising]

I have to say that in dealing with Liveboxs in my job on a daily basis, theyre terrible routers and maybe a Netgear DG834G would be more productive, theyre going for £30 on ebay and are alot better pieces of kit. Ive had nothing but problems with Livebox wireless routers, only for the problem to go away when replaced with another router. just my tuppence worth.

[dmahon]

Thanks very muvh for that, both. Dropping the network speed by half would not be a good idea with my poor input to the house, I think.

Olly

Halving the network speed (down to 27mb/sec from 54mb/sec) will have no noticable effect for most people, unless you are transferring large files across the network (if you use a NAS device to store files on, for example). It will certainly make no difference to your internet access - even less so if your internet access is slow to begin with (I take it that is what you were referring to by "poor input to the house").

I would first:

1) Change channel numbers (if neighbours are using the same channel, that will cause yours to have poorer performance - use a different one). If you have two transmitters, make sure they are both on different channels as previously mentioned.

2) Get a stronger transmitter - something with MIMO from Netgear second hand, like a DG834 (or if buying new, perhaps a DGN3500).

[ollypenrice]

More thanks, you are all most helpful.

Er, neighbours? We don't do neighbours here!!

Olly

[milan]

you also need to make sure that the powerline adaptors (homeplugs) are plugged directly into the wall and not into an extension lead as this can cause problems as well.

[Nillchill]

with regards wireless channel distribution in Europe, the wireless network spectrum in use is separated between 2.412 and 2.472 GHz in 22Mhz channels each channel overlaps. Therefore it is best to use channels 1, 6 and 11, whereever possible, this is because those channels are the only channels where no overlapping can occur.

With regards the Ethernet over power systems, many brands only operate with only Half duplex connectivity, and in some cases can cause time out of links, in some cases a half duplex link may only provide up to 30% of the actual throughput on the link. They also require good earthing, hence why some suffer on extension leads.

It would be far better to utilise Cat5 cabling throughout the house whenever possible, B&Q actually sell quite reasonable kits for doing this. and it is a lot easier than people expect.

hope this helps

cheers

[Tinners]

Suprised no-one suggested adding a reflector behind the wireless anttana!

You can get good results just with a metal tray - but you can easily make a parabolic reflector from card and foil.