Shoutbox

I got a router 2 days ago a Belkin F5D7231 -4. It's been ok so far, except for one thing. The connection to the router is Low and the speed decreases until it eventually disconnects. I have the latest firmware for the router and I have tried resetting it but has made no difference. The router is only in the room next door so I can't see why the signal strength is so poor. Any ideas?

Do you have any other PCs in the home that see the router fine?
If so it could be your wireless card in the PC/Notebook.

If not are there any devices Operating on the same channel as the router? If so log into the router config and change the channel the router is operating on.

The other PC is connected to the router via cable so I can't compare, and even still, the wireless card in my PC is fairly new.

Well, I set the channel as 6, but when this started happening I changed it to auto. What's the best channel to have it set at, to avoid interference?

There isn't a 'best' channel, just one that works well for you. So experiment.

Ok, thanks for the help.

If you have a desktop PC with something like this in it (an internal card with an antenna sticking out the back of the computer), keep in mind that the metal case effectively shields it from one side and you may have to reposition the computer to improve the connection.

The most likely source of persistent interference would be cordless phones, if you have any in the house. Most of them operate in the same band.

My personal opinion is that WiFi was meant for laptops and other portable devices, not as an alternative to proper cabling for stationary computers.  It will always add latency, drop a packet here and there, suffer from interference, and just won't be as reliable.  You would be much better off running a cable -- it may be difficult, but usually isn't impossible.

quote:

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Originally posted by Adeptus
My personal opinion is that WiFi was meant for laptops and other portable devices, not as an alternative to proper cabling for stationary computers.

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Unless you can't run wires all over the place. In that case wireless makes perfect sense for desktops too.