poor wireless

liamhana

Hi
sorry, I'm completely untechnical but will one of these help boost our wifi signal in the house? are they worth it.

The eircom modem & pc are located in the study which is downstairs at the front of the house, usage though is mostly the other end & upstairs.
Until 2 weeks ago we'd no problem but have noticed that wifi on our iphones & laptop has been poor enough downstairs & non existent upstairs. Nothing new introduced to the house...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/netgear-universal-wi-fi-range-extender-531662

cheers.
liam

FSL

As it had been working previously I would download Inssider http://download.techworld.com/715/inssider-206/ and check whether there are any other networks nearby running on the same channel before buying additional equipment.

If there are others on the same channel then change the channel on yours to one 5 or 6 numbers away from them. e.g. if yours and another's are both on channel 1 then change yours to 7 or 8.

liamhana

FSL wrote: »

As it had been working previously I would download Inssider http://download.techworld.com/715/inssider-206/ and check whether there are any other networks nearby running on the same channel before buying additional equipment.

If there are others on the same channel then change the channel on yours to one 5 or 6 numbers away from them. e.g. if yours and another's are both on channel 1 then change yours to 7 or 8.

we live in the arse end of nowhere - neighbours a good ass's roar away! And nothing has changed internally - no new equipment etc.

PogMoThoin

Any baby monitors, tv senders, wireless ip cameras, cowshed cameras etc? Try changing channel.

humaxf1

Firstly, how old is the router and can you describe it...colour, shape, number of aerials?

An easy troubleshooting step would be to perform what's known as a factory reset. On the back of the router you will see a small hole big enough for a paper clip or pen. With the router powered on, press the recessed button with a paper clip for e.g. for at least 30 seconds. You will feel a "click" as you press the button.

The front lights will go out/flicker and the power light (depending on the model) will go red for a few moments. Routers are kinda like mini computers and they do crash, like computers. The factory reset in effect reboots the router.

If the reset doesn't resolve the signal, depending on the age of the router, it may well be knackered, wireless wise. The wireless section just burns out while the wired section carries on regardless.

FSL

Make sure you have made a note of all the settings on the router before doing a factory reset. If you don't know how to get the settings from the router then don't do a reset until you do know.

humaxf1

FSL wrote: »

Make sure you have made a note of all the settings on the router before doing a factory reset. If you don't know how to get the settings from the router then don't do a reset until you do know.

Eircom routers default back to ''out of the box'' Eircom settings, un, pw, vpi/vci etc after a hard reset.

Any firewall rules will have to be added manually afterwards, AFAIK.

Voodoo2

liamhana wrote: »

Hi
sorry, I'm completely untechnical but will one of these help boost our wifi signal in the house? are they worth it.

The eircom modem & pc are located in the study which is downstairs at the front of the house, usage though is mostly the other end & upstairs.
Until 2 weeks ago we'd no problem but have noticed that wifi on our iphones & laptop has been poor enough downstairs & non existent upstairs. Nothing new introduced to the house...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/netgear-universal-wi-fi-range-extender-531662

cheers.
liam

They work ok they will improve signal but will reduce throughput as they put a slight overhead on the transmissions as they are know as a universal repeater - I would go ahead with what the guys are saying do a reset first and see - Check out what other networks are around and change the channel