Why does my wireless suck like so?

Now that my lap has a new companion, I figured it’d make sense to buy a wireless router rather than keep an ethernet cable close at hand whenever I want to use my macbook.

So, I went down to CompuSmart in Terrace (probably a bad idea, I know) to see what they had for routers.  I had just passed by Staples but they’re weird in there so I avoided them, and I don’t like buying from WalMart so I went there.  Anyway, I bought a D-Link one with 802.11g or whatever, it was $89… so about $50 more than I think I saw it on NCIX  :blush:

I bring it home, plug it in, protect it from outsiders, all that stuff, and it works great!.. for about 15 minutes when my macbook loses connection.  Now, all I can really get is about 15 minutes of connectivity before I lose it and wait for it to come back.

The router is downstairs in my house and I’m typing this from upstairs, not a very far distance direct from where I am to directly where the router is.  It’s on “extended range mode” right now since I was having worse luck before, but it still totally blows.

I’m not going to be all over the house often, just my desk is a mess right now with preparing my desktop to be sold, so when I get back there I’ll be one room away from the router (too far for 25ft ethernet cord, though) so I’m hoping my wireless will be reliable then.

But other than hopes and dreams, any tips?  I was thinking I probably should have bought a Linksys since I’ve heard good about them, but my last one was a D-Link and I didn’t mind it.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Dlink and Linksys SUCK!! I have had both and hated them. The new linksys’s suck balls i was reading a artical on tomshardware.com about the linksys’s and they are going down hill. My self i use a 802.11b Wireless router from netgear its about 2 years old and works flawlessly. My macbook pro running with the netgear never gets disconnected but it is donkey slow on the internet. I borrowed a laptop from work to test my wireless at home here and it is not the router it is the new cards they are using in these macbook’s I usually turn on mac filtering and turn off dhcp on my routers and then change the range of ip’s. Not many people where i live that would want to hack my router and steal internet but oh i still lock it down because i have servers behind it.

What i would do is upgrade the routers firm ware see if that does the trick. Also try moving the router around in it’s spot if it has antennas move them into different positions. One trick i did at work with ours was turned it upside down. I HAVE NO idea why that cured the problem but it did.

Buy a linksys router that supports dd-wrt install it boost the signal to 250mW  sit back and smile. You may also want to see how many other access points are around you and what channels they are running on. If possible pick a channel that is not being used so there will be less interference. OH and shut off your microwave… and if you have a 2.4ghz phone… make sure its wifi safe.

You cant install that software on a mac. :smile:

I’m using both an Airport Express and a D-link router now, and they both work fine with my Macbook.

Do you have a cordless phone?  2.4 ghz?

Try “interference robustness” on and off?  I know there’s an issue of one of the D-links that won’t do DHCP properly when you use WPA. 

When you’re disconnected, what are the symptoms?  Are there no bars in the Airport indicator?  Or are you just losing your IP address?

I have tried linksys, netgear, and dlink routers and cards, all with similar problems to yours. When it works, it works well.

Keep in mind that anything on the 2.4Ghz spectrum can interfere with the network. Try setting it to a different channel. My joystick, microwave and the neighbours phone all screwed with me. At my current location, I’m borrowing internet from a Dlink router. Previously, I had many problems keeping connected or even finding the network, and occasionally my IP couldn’t be renewed etc etc… Very annoying, so I changed the channel on the router to ‘2’ and it’s been fine, but slow. Staples had a cheap external antenna made by dlink, so i had to give it a try. Now i have no troubles at all.

A strong, interference-free network is the way to go.

I almost had some trouble posting this, I actually had to grab my ethernet cable that’s lying on the floor and plug it in (I just sold my PC so I’m still all wired up here).

Anyway,

Symptoms are just that I can’t access anything.  Messenger logs off, gmail notifier x’s out, webpages time out, but there are still bars for airport.  Usually in about 5 minutes it comes back.

I’m usually on Channel 6 I think since there was something in my manual that mentioned it.  As for phones, I think all of ours are 900mhz, and in the ways of other networks I’ve got “Allan” which I think is 2 doors down and some other one that pops up from time to time.

I’ll get it figured out eventually, find the ‘sweet spot’… I hope :stuck_out_tongue:

Try flipping the router upside down. Wont hurt it, It cured that same problem with ours here at work.

Jase

[quote=“SteveDVS”]
Symptoms are just that I can’t access anything. Messenger logs off, gmail notifier x’s out, webpages time out, but there are still bars for airport. Usually in about 5 minutes it comes back.[/quote]

It’s not a physical problem, not an interference problem.

If there are still bars for airport, it appears you’re just losing your IP address. Like I said, it’s a known issue with several D-Link routers – if you use WPA, DHCP is flaky.

Next time it disconnects, fire up System Prefs and then hit Network, Airport, and check the TCP/IP settings. I’ll bet you have a strange IP address when it’s not working.

Another way to confirm this is happening:  next time your internet access isn’t working, turn airport off and on from the menu, and try selecting another network and then selecting your network again.

The simple solution is to just give it a permanent IP address, but you’ll have to go back to DHCP when you use another network.

Well if this works for him then he could create locations for each place. that would help also. 

If you’re doing upstairs-downstairs turn the antenna horizontal, straight out. Move it a few feet either way. You could have a heating duct clipping things and if youre directly above it you wont be hitting the best output.
I also had 3 bad Dlink524s out of a batch of 12 w consecutive serial numbers. I wish I could say Linksys was better, but the terms “quality control” and “under $100” just don’t go together…

also use Chan 1 or 3 because of the 12 wireless routers in your apt building, 11 will be named “default” and on Channel 6…  :smiley:

Thanks for the responses, I’ll try to give it a permanent IP like mig suggested and see how that works.  For the time being, I’ve got my desk back, so with 4 cables plugged into it I figured it wouldn’t hurt to add #5: 50ft ethernet cable that I used to have running to my PC.

I really wish these macbooks had more than 2 USB ports, mine are being used by my mouse and my memory reader… looks like I’m gonna need a hub or something to connect my printer and scanner.