Wireless dropping out

  • Thread starter Thread starter GT
  • Start date Start date
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GT

Using a USB wireless 54mbps dongle (no visible black antenna) and signal is
dropping in and out regularly. PC is 3 rooms and 1 floor away from router.
Laptop gets good reception when used in same room, suggesting to me that the
router aerial is strong enough - do I just need a better, or high gain
antenna on the USB dongle, or do I need to match a high gain wireless card
with a high gain router? In other words - do high gain aerials have to be
present at both ends of the signal?
 
GT said:
Using a USB wireless 54mbps dongle (no visible black antenna) and signal is
dropping in and out regularly. PC is 3 rooms and 1 floor away from router.
Laptop gets good reception when used in same room, suggesting to me that the
router aerial is strong enough - do I just need a better, or high gain
antenna on the USB dongle, or do I need to match a high gain wireless card
with a high gain router? In other words - do high gain aerials have to be
present at both ends of the signal?
Click to expand...

Would this be a problem with some

"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

type setting ? Either the USB entry in Device Manager, or something
related to the Wifi device itself ? That's where I'd start.

Save the "antenna" stuff for later :-)

http://static2.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/5/3/1/large2/135010.jpg

Paul
 
Paul said:
Would this be a problem with some

"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
Click to expand...

I have no power settings switched on - it drops out during use, not when
quiet, but will check later tonight...

How about the high gain thing - would a high gain module on the PC need to
be paired with a high gain router, or can I have high gain at just one end?
type setting ? Either the USB entry in Device Manager, or something
related to the Wifi device itself ? That's where I'd start.

Save the "antenna" stuff for later :-)

http://static2.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/5/3/1/large2/135010.jpg
Click to expand...

I bet that would get good reception, but I don't think my TV would cover it
quite as well as the little 3-inch black ones!!
 
GT said:
How about the high gain thing - would a high gain module on the PC need to
be paired with a high gain router, or can I have high gain at just one end?
Click to expand...

Assuming the antenna does both TX and RX, I would think you could use
a modified antenna on just one end. Standards like 802.11n support
multiple antennas, so a solution there might not be quite as simple.

The only thing I find disturbing about the discussion of antennas, is
the assumption that the problem is always "signal level". It can also
be multipath, where multiple copies out of phase, arrive at the destination.
In fact, in one lab experiment, results improved when the experimenter installed
an absorptive mat in the lab. So it isn't always "Scotty, I need
more power, more power...".

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a00807f34d3.shtml

It's possible even rotating the device a bit, can help. A USB Wifi
device is probably using something like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_antenna

There are definitely products out there, with poor power characteristics.
If you read the Newegg reviews, and some customers find their purchase
"weak" while others find it "OK", that can be a design that is being
pushed too hard, and has no headroom to speak of. There are even
some designs that seem to "wear out". A good design, uses a separate
chip for the RF section, which allows the best silicon technology
(i.e. not CMOS) to be used.

It might be easier to just search for another adapter.
This one seems to have pretty good reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045

Paul
 
Den 16/02/11 11.46, GT skrev:
Using a USB wireless 54mbps dongle (no visible black antenna) and signal is
dropping in and out regularly. PC is 3 rooms and 1 floor away from router.
Laptop gets good reception when used in same room, suggesting to me that the
router aerial is strong enough - do I just need a better, or high gain
antenna on the USB dongle, or do I need to match a high gain wireless card
with a high gain router? In other words - do high gain aerials have to be
present at both ends of the signal?
Click to expand...
Try changing the channel - if it's possible. I've had luck with it.

---JanH
 
Jan Hovard said:
Den 16/02/11 11.46, GT skrev:
Try changing the channel - if it's possible. I've had luck with it.
Click to expand...

I changed the channel in the router from 3 to (a random) 8 and it made
little difference. I have messed about a bit more with the position of the
USB dongle. I now have it on a USB extension and I've fine tuned its angle
and position and got my signal strength up to 60%-75%. Hopefully this will
make things more reliable. I still think its a low power antenna inside the
USB dongle because the signal strength drops even when people walk past the
device, or up the stairs between the downstairs PC and the upstairs router.
 
GT said:
I changed the channel in the router from 3 to (a random) 8 and it made
little difference. I have messed about a bit more with the position of the
USB dongle. I now have it on a USB extension and I've fine tuned its angle
and position and got my signal strength up to 60%-75%. Hopefully this will
make things more reliable. I still think its a low power antenna inside the
USB dongle because the signal strength drops even when people walk past the
device, or up the stairs between the downstairs PC and the upstairs router.
Click to expand...

I'm not a wireless guru, but aren't there only three channel values that
are non-overlapping ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11g

"To prevent interference, there are only three non-overlapping usable channels
in the U.S. and other countries with similar regulations (channels 1, 6, 11,
with 25 MHz separation), and four in Europe (channels 1, 5, 9, 13, with only
20 MHz separation). Even with such separation, some interference due to side
lobes exists, though it is considerably weaker."

The picture of the non-overlapping channel assignments 1,6,11.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/2.4_GHz_Wi-Fi_channels_(802.11b,g_WLAN).svg

I'm surprised whatever interface allows channel selection, doesn't highlight
any preferred values. I don't have any wifi here, so can't test this.

Paul
 
Paul said:
I'm not a wireless guru, but aren't there only three channel values that
are non-overlapping ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11g

"To prevent interference, there are only three non-overlapping usable
channels
in the U.S. and other countries with similar regulations (channels 1,
6, 11,
with 25 MHz separation), and four in Europe (channels 1, 5, 9, 13,
with only
20 MHz separation). Even with such separation, some interference due
to side
lobes exists, though it is considerably weaker."

The picture of the non-overlapping channel assignments 1,6,11.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/2.4_GHz_Wi-Fi_channels_(802.11b,g_WLAN).svg

I'm surprised whatever interface allows channel selection, doesn't
highlight
any preferred values. I don't have any wifi here, so can't test this.
Click to expand...

Interesting - I'm in the UK, so it would be 1,5,9,13 here, but my router was
on its default of channel 3 and offered the full list. I just picked 8 at
random. I'll experiment with the other channels when I'm next on the PC
downstairs.
 
Using a USB wireless 54mbps dongle (no visible black antenna) and signal is
dropping in and out regularly. PC is 3 rooms and 1 floor away from router.
Laptop gets good reception when used in same room, suggesting to me that the
router aerial is strong enough - do I just need a better, or high gain
antenna on the USB dongle, or do I need to match a high gain wireless card
with a high gain router? In other words - do high gain aerials have to be
present at both ends of the signal?
Click to expand...

No answers for your questions, just more questions. What sort of router and
what standard are you running (a,b,g,n)? Is there some reason that you are
using wireless instead of wired? If it must be wireless then is it
necessary that the router be such a long way away (3 rooms and 1 floor)?
Don't forget that this is a rather fragile technology and is subject to
interference from any number of sources and the further away the parts the
more likely they will not play well together.
 
John McGaw said:
No answers for your questions, just more questions. What sort of router
and what standard are you running (a,b,g,n)? Is there some reason that
you are using wireless instead of wired? If it must be wireless then is it
necessary that the router be such a long way away (3 rooms and 1 floor)?
Don't forget that this is a rather fragile technology and is subject to
interference from any number of sources and the further away the parts the
more likely they will not play well together.
Click to expand...

The router is a philips (can't find model info, but it 'might' be this one -
http://tinyurl.com/4tp6o39), running 54G speed.

I have 2 PCs and a laptop that use wired connections in my office, which is
a bedroom of my house. The wireless connection that is dropping out is a PC
connected to the TV in my living room. That room is 1 floor down and has a
stairs and 3 internal walls blocking the signal.

I'm blaming the USB dongle on the PC downstairs because we have a WII right
next to the PC and its connection is fine. Also, my laptop gets a decent
signal when I use it in the same downstairs room and it even gets a decent
signal when I use it at the top of my garden - 1 floor down from the router,
through a structural wall, then 50 yards away!
 
On 2/24/2011 6:54 AM, GT wrote:
snip...
The router is a philips (can't find model info, but it 'might' be this one -
http://tinyurl.com/4tp6o39), running 54G speed.

I have 2 PCs and a laptop that use wired connections in my office, which is
a bedroom of my house. The wireless connection that is dropping out is a PC
connected to the TV in my living room. That room is 1 floor down and has a
stairs and 3 internal walls blocking the signal.

I'm blaming the USB dongle on the PC downstairs because we have a WII right
next to the PC and its connection is fine. Also, my laptop gets a decent
signal when I use it in the same downstairs room and it even gets a decent
signal when I use it at the top of my garden - 1 floor down from the router,
through a structural wall, then 50 yards away!
Click to expand...


In that case it does indeed sound as if the dongle is to blame. There are a
number of USB wifi units on the market which boast higher sensitivity and
higher power than your run-of-the-mill sort and none of them seem to be too
terribly expensive. This is one unit which seems as if it might be useful
in a situation such as you describe (not promoting it, just offering it as
an example):

http://wifirush.com/store/products/High-Power-%2d-High-Sensitivity-Wireless-USB-Adaptor.html

I have only just turned on the wireless in my home, preferring to use wired
gigabit for my computers. Sadly, the maker didn't see fit to give me an
Ethernet port on my Nexus S phone so I was forced to break my own
no-wireless rule.
 
Den 21/02/11 13.40, Jan Hovard skrev:
Den 16/02/11 11.46, GT skrev:
Try changing the channel - if it's possible. I've had luck with it.

---JanH
Click to expand...
You should try all channel one by one - i ame sure it will work

---JanH
 
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