No, not because it’s frying my brain or making my testicles grow to mammoth proportions; it’s just rubbish. I’m typing this on a laptop that’s about 20 feet away from my wireless router (the router’s upstairs in the office, I’m downstairs on the sofa), and after about 20 attempts at turning airport off and on again I’ve finally got a one-bar signal. It’s the same with my Xbox, which is about ten feet away: sometimes I can get a signal, most of the time I can’t.
I suspect the problem is a combination of my house’s construction – it’s a 1940s job, built in solid brick – and more recent changes such as the two extremely big reinforced steel joists that hold the roof up. But whatever the reason, my Netgear 108Mbps router simply isn’t delivering a decent wireless signal downstairs.
Can anybody recommend a Wi-Fi router that (a) works with Airport and (b) doesn’t lose its signal when faced with a couple of brick walls? Or a way to add a wireless repeater so I can get a decent signal in all of my house?
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0 responses to “My Wi-Fi is a menace”
Is yours MIMO? I’ve got the netgear MIMO one and have no issues. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of repeaters for MIMO or Pre-N routers. Plenty if you’re just using 802.11g though.
I’ve been having problems with mine, it’s a cheap kCorp 54G. Ever since I enabled WPA, it’s been disconnecting more. I’ve been wondering if it is just windows messing me about though. Luckily, my gaming PC and 360 are wired in, so I can get the important things done.
If you find something good be sure to post, I’ll be picking one up soon when I move so some pointers would be great!
I’ve been using a cheap Belkin job for ages – signal is solid as a rock at 4 bars even at the back of an old, solid as fuck, terrace when the router is right at the front of the house downstairs. I’ve even got it at 4 bars a good 20 feet up the garden.
Oh, one thing I’ve noticed is that sometimes the software upgrades from Apple have caused me problems. Since the last stable update for Airport that worked for me I’ve ignored all others.
I think the software’s okay because I have the same signal flakyness with Xbox. Moving the router might help – it’s finding a place for it that won’t involve trailing cables or make the dog think she’s got a new chew toy.
> Is yours MIMO?
No, just a G thang. Ahem. Might look into MIMO actually.
In fact, I will. I reckon that could well be the answer.
Except if you get MIMO you might be stuck as there aren’t many MIMO repeaters if it doesn’t fix it.
True. I’ve ordered a MIMO box, if it doesn’t work I’ll just ebay it.
Mike, if the MIMO one solves my problems I’ll send you the old one to see if it solves yours.
>>I’ve been having problems with mine, it’s a cheap kCorp 54G. Ever since I enabled WPA, it’s been disconnecting more.
I used to have a half-decent netgear one which would drop out for no reason every couple of hours. Never worked out why.
This isn’t my most helpful post ever. ;-)
>>I used to have a half-decent netgear one which would drop out for no reason every couple of hours. Never worked out why.
If the netgear you mentioned is the one I got from you, I’ve never really had any problems. It has have various firmware updates though.
the very same. That’s why it was puzzling. I think it just didn’t like me.
In case anyone cares, I’ve got a Speedtouch, with added telephony capabilities, and it’s class. I also have a big steel girder in my living-room ceiling and a good clear signal when said girder is between me and the router.
Looks like for me at least, MIMO is the answer: I now have a full-strength signal downstairs. Woo and indeed hoo.