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Computer questions you'd be embarrassed to ask any where else!

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,126 ✭✭✭Jellybaby_1


    Hi folks, I hope someone can offer advice. I'm trying to access Facebook but I keep getting the Filipino Facebook site and I can't get any further. Would my computer be at fault?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 47,336 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    I don't know anything about Facebook. Are you using a VPN by any chance? Also you could try clearing the cache to see if that helps.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,777 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    You can check the system locale (the region and country) this way:

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/132050-change-system-locale-windows-10-a.html

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2327599/how-to-change-system-locale-in-windows-10-the-lang

    Beyond that, it's most likely a browser cookie problem or an issue with the setup of FB itself.

    To change the language in FB:

    https://www.facebook.com/help/327850733950290/

    Or clear the cookies in your browser (best google the method for your specific browser).

    Hope it helps.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,126 ✭✭✭Jellybaby_1


    Thanks folks, I'll try clearing the cookies. I'm not using a VPN. I only know its Filipino because I entered some of the text into Google translate and it's the usual message that's normally there in English. Thanks again.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,627 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Bit of non techy help here please? I have NBI broadband which is excellent in the rest of the house. Part of the house is the old cottage that the 'extension' was built on to. The cottage has 18 inch thick walls and, unsurprisingly, the broadband reception is pretty poor - Ookla says a download speed of just under 12, about the same as before NBI.

    The connection and modem is in an upstairs sitting room, the cottage is not far away, but separated by the solid stone walls. I suspect I need some sort of mesh system like Nest (am I right that one is s system and the other a commercial solution?) Am I correct? Would the unit go inside the walls of the cottage? How complicated are they to set up? What do I need to know before purchasing? Don't need gaming or streaming capabilities just better reception for surfing etc.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,777 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    I can recommend the TP-Link Deco x50 system for creating a wifi mesh. It has worked well in two installations where I deployed it. The trick I find is that you dont deploy one of the repeaters directly into the worst areas, you deploy it instead in the areas around the problem so that you provide a stronger signal in the area, and it works a treat then.

    The config takes about 30 mins using an app on your phone. Its not too tricky to configure, you just need to follow the guidance within the app.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 40,037 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Solid stone walls are challenging for any sort of wifi setup.

    Ideally run ethernet cable (cat 5e/ cat6) into each room where you want reception, then put a wifi access point in each room.

    Ethernet cable is only about 6mm diameter and not that difficult to run through walls etc, suitable long drill bits and indeed SDS drills to do it are widely available and cheap, I did this myself.

    Mesh is really only worthwhile when the points have wired access back to your router

    Wireless "repeaters", or any wireless so-called "mesh" an ISP might sell you, is basically worthless. They work - up to a point - but will halve the wifi speed on your network, at best. They'll struggle though heavy masonry walls and ruin the wireless speed of the rest of your network while they're doing it.

    I'm partial to your abracadabra
    I'm raptured by the joy of it all



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,627 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Thank you for your replies. I have a better idea of what I am doing. There is an area where the signal is coming through a block wall then a stud wall, the house/cottage connection, into the upper area of the cottage - the apex of the roof - the route I suspect the bit of signal that I have is using. I could boost that relatively easily I think.

    Would there be any point putting a booster near the modem? The signal in that room is excellent.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,777 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    I'll offer another perspective on this having fitted a mesh system to a solid wall house recently. As I mentioned I used the Deco system and distributed two of the nodes around the centre of the house and another (which becomes the main unit) at the router located at one of the walls. The mesh then connects from the main unit to the remote ones - either directly or by hopping off one to get to the other (you'll see the structure in the app).

    There may be a slight drop in absolute performance on a high-performance network, yes, but at the end of the day the system is more than capable of running all of the TikTok and YouTube streams that looksee needs 😆 without flapping.

    Note above I mentioned that I fitted the remote Deco units to the centre of the house and not into the extremes where there is no coverage - that's the mistake that many make - they put the remote units into the far-off room and wonder why it won't talk to its friends. Put it half-way and let it extend the coverage. Another trick might be to place one of the remote units into a window bay which overlooks the problematic area.

    Now, if cables can be run to two of the Deco's, then by all means do it (you then have a wired 'back-haul' or connection to the main unit, rather than another WiFi link), but if you follow my logic above then the Deco will sort itself out in the majority of installations.

    For the 180 EUR it cost for the x50 or the 130 for the M4, it's a very good solution.

    Post edited by 10-10-20 on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 7,411 ✭✭✭jj880


    Good advice. Id just add it very much depends on the house. Try a few different wireless positionings first and if you get the coverage you need then all good. Sometimes you may find in the end you need to drill. Was setting up in a pretty big house with bison slabs recently. Downstairs all good wireless but eventually decided to make 1 hole for upstairs for M4 mesh. All fine after that.

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,777 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Ah yeah, all depends on the house, but it might be sufficient to for many to use.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,777 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Would there be any point putting a booster near the modem? The signal in that room is excellent.

    The mesh will work alongside your existing WiFi (you could alternatively disable the old WiFi if you wanted by messing with the old WiFi router config), so you would add the main mesh point to the main router and expand out from there. So you would have double-coverage in that room, but it's unavoidable for many really.



  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 26,614 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    Are homeplugs an option? They re-use your electrical wiring as short network cables between rooms. They can be a bit variable, and may be useless if your wiring is particularly old or noise prone.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,627 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    the system is more than capable of running all of the TikTok and YouTube streams that looksee needs 😆

    Cheek! 😁



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 7,411 ✭✭✭jj880


    I try to avoid unless you can test a set for a while first to see how reliable they are. As you say depends on house wiring. Even newer houses have trouble with spikes killing the link. Only solution it to turn off and on the affected plug to re-establish connection. Its something tp-link etc. have not been able to fix properly as far as I know…

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,759 ✭✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    I have had great success with them, but one was in a new apartment, and one was in an old house that had been re-wired, partially by my dad in relatively recent times.

    Just like wifi, mileage can vary depending on house and other external factors.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭RiderOnTheStorm


    i looked into the mesh system when we moved into the current house (3 stories) and wifi was poor in certain areas. looked complicated and as earlier poster said, you have to commit to buy one and then see if it works …. but I did have an old wifi router , so I bought some cable and ran it from the broadband box to a poor area and bingo! Very simple and totally do-able with my (reducing) IT skills. So +1 on earlier suggestion to drill through the offending wall and run a cable through. Cheap and guaranteed to work.



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