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Horizon Wireless coverage and speed

  • 16-08-2013 10:03am
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 896 ✭✭✭


    Hi All

    Just a little info on the Horizon box. I installed it wednesday and did the full setup to match previous wireless network. Coverage though is terrible and I could no longer get my xbox to connect from our attic room (3 floors up) which we had no problems with on the Thomson modem.

    So I called UPC yesterday and was passed around to a couple of people who eventually decided that the encryption WPA2 Personal was the reason the xbox couldn't connect, I told them that had nothing to do with the coverage but they insisted on changing.

    Anyways, did a speed test on the top floor and was getting 320kbits on a 150mbit connection so useless for anything up there, also had to set the box encryption to WPA for the xbox to connect which is totally ridiculous.

    Speed testing beside the unit on laptop/iphone resulted in 68mbit on laptop and 26mbit on iphone. Luckily I had a (supplied by UPC to a company I look after) netgear wireless router. I hooked this in to the ethernet port on the Horizon box, configured the network to match previous network. Getting 32mbit speeds on the top floor from the phone and laptop topped out a 90mbit speedtest beside the unit using the netgear wireless network.

    Might be worth picking up a router/wireless access point folks.

    N


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13 like


    Hi Nialler,

    I'm having the same wireless speed problems now having just switched to horizo, but they've left me with the Thomson box which was pretty good. Can I ask, when you say you configured the network to match previous network, what exactly did you do ? Thanks, Dave, Edit : Mainly do I set the same or different channel number ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,905 ✭✭✭steveon


    Set your wireless channel no to either 11 or 7 these usually work best in Ireland. Or alternatively if you have another wireless router simply connect a lan cable from the back of the horizon box to the wan port of the wireless router and this will also help extend the range of the crappy horizon box


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13 like


    Thanks steveon.

    There's no WAN port on the UPC Thomson router, only 4 x LAN, but some info online about configuring it as a wireless access point - to try soon.

    UPC's latest is to tell me that the reason I'm only getting approx 20 Mbps (I'm subscribed to 200 Mbps and get 30 - 90 Mbps using ethernet) on both laptop and desktop (using 150 Mbps and 300 Mbps USB network adapters ) is because I'm running Vista on both.

    I did notice that adapter speed is listed as 54 Mbps (g !) in properties which would explain slow speed and I can't see any option to change this up.

    So next move is to install Windows 7 Enterprise (free Evaluation 90 days copy) on desktop and some Linux distro on laptop and check speeds again - and if no improvement, then back onto UPC.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,905 ✭✭✭steveon


    Would doubt win vista would have anything to do with you getting slow speeds ask a mate who has a win7 or win8 computer and disable your own before updating your system.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13 like


    I know, I seriously doubt it either, but you know with UPC, one MUST try each and every wonderful suggestion they have first :-)...


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    like wrote: »
    I did notice that adapter speed is listed as 54 Mbps (g !) in properties which would explain slow speed and I can't see any option to change this up.

    If you have a G (802.11G) adapter, that explains it. The maximum (theoretical) speed with a G device is 54Mbps, and in real-world scenarios you'd be doing very well if you see half of that in downloads or speed tests. 20Mbps sounds about right.. no version of Windows will fix that! :)

    To get better speeds, you'll either need to use an Ethernet cable. Or else upgrade to an N (802.11N) adapter. Try to find one that works with both bands (2.4GHz & 5GHz). Ideally, you'd get one with MIMO, but I'm not sure you can with any kind of add-on adaptor as it may require more than one antenna.

    If you can afford it, I'd also recommend a (simultaneous) dual-band N router with MIMO; the Wifi in the Horizon box is fairly average. With a good 5GHz MIMO router & computer, the max download speed is about 450Mbps; I've had downloads of ~130Mbps over Wifi "in the real world".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13 like


    Thanks who_me, but no, on the desktop I have a belkin n300 micro wireless usb adapter f7d2102, so its 300 mbps N max , but stuck on 54 mbps when i check status in Network and Sharing center


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    like wrote: »
    Thanks who_me, but no, on the desktop I have a belkin n300 micro wireless usb adapter f7d2102, so its 300 mbps N max , but stuck on 54 mbps when i check status in Network and Sharing center

    Ok, it might be set on the Horizon box then. I'm not at home so can't check if there's an "N / Mixed Mode" setting on Horizon. Do you have any G Wifi devices connected?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13 like


    Thanks, I don't know to be honest - so it might default to slowest ??, I have a wii, my phone, old laptop with TP-Link 150 Mbps Wireless N and a NABI tablet... I'll disconnect all later and try again...


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