Wireless Problems (Netopia)

Dublinstiofán

Right here’s the story bought one of these netopia wireless routers when it was the ‘in thing to do here on boards’. Worked perfectly, for a while.Originally, I could pick up the signal anywhere in the house and at around 50%.And even in the kitchen (which is the furthest room away from where the broadband is located)

Now I can’t get the signal anywhere but in the room where the router is.
It’s a ****ing joke!

I’m on BT broadband and have done all the business to set it up correctly through the eircom site at 154.168.1.254. with the Esat BT login information.

The problem (In my opinion) is the fact that the two neighbours have eircom connections and I’d imaging that the signals of the routers are conflicting.
I don’t know what channel they’re on or whether they’re using ‘a’ or ‘b’ or ‘g’ routers, so I don’t know what channel to change to to get out of their way, Or how to for that matter. I have an idea of the basics of routers but know nothing about the technical side of things.

All I know is mine won’t bloody work and need to get it going around the house again. No point in having wireless if you have to be in the damn room where the computer is to use it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Stephen.

p.s I have a new Macbook pro so I can’t imagine that the problem is anything other than the router itself.

the merchant

Is the router on the floor? If so raise it on to a table or cabinet or something.

Dublinstiofán

the merchant wrote:

Is the router on the floor? If so raise it on to a table or cabinet or something.

Nope its on a desk about 3/4 of a metre off the ground.

It's also worth noting that i changed the channel from the default one of 6 or 7 to like 1 or 2 and it made no difference.
Unless i was unlucky enough to actually pick the channel that my neighbour used to get away from the router on the far side of him as his neighbour has BB too.

the merchant

Try Channel 1, 6, or 13. If this fails you may need an antenna.

Dublinstiofán

the merchant wrote:

Try Channel 1, 6, or 13. If this fails you may need an antenna.

I'll try these when i get home, thanks Merchant.

I thought the two ariels that were sticking out of the back of it were antenna's of a sort. Is there another available to boost the signal?

the merchant

There are loads of booster antennas available, it's unlikely that you'd need one though, unless it's a big house with solid walls. I reckon it's channel issue.

Dublinstiofán

the merchant wrote:

There are loads of booster antennas available, it's unlikely that you'd need one though, unless it's a big house with solid walls. I reckon it's channel issue.

No its not that big standard 3 bedroom. Its well built though. I'll try what you suggested anyway and see what happens. I'll let you know this time tomorrow.
Thanks for the quick response, with a bit of luck it will sort it out

dub45

Download Netstumbler and it will tell you what other networks are around and this should allow you to change your channel. Although I see now you have a mac powerbook so try Macstumbler - http://www.macstumbler.com/

If your neighbours have wireless networks and they are causing problems then the mac should be picking them up too. Has the problem only started since you got the Macbook?

Dublinstiofán

dub45 wrote:

Download Netstumbler and it will tell you what other networks are around and this should allow you to change your channel. Although I see now you have a mac powerbook so try Macstumbler - http://www.macstumbler.com/

If your neighbours have wireless networks and they are causing problems then the mac should be picking them up too. Has the problem only started since you got the Macbook?

Alright i'll try that later on, thanks. The mac picks up all the networks but has trouble picking up my own, it comes and goes when it feels like it. I can really only get my own signal in the room where its located. When i got the router i had my Mac 2 months, it worked perfectly for about 1 month and has been dodgy ever since. Pretty sure its the router and not the Mac though as i can get the signal in town and in college no problem, even though the college network is ****e.

Dublinstiofán

the merchant wrote:

There are loads of booster antennas available, it's unlikely that you'd need one though, unless it's a big house with solid walls. I reckon it's channel issue.

May just need one of these boosters.
I updated the Firmware of the router and changed the channel to 1 and 13 last night but to no effect.
Any further ideas?

dub45

Dublinstiof&#225 wrote: »

May just need one of these boosters.
I updated the Firmware of the router and changed the channel to 1 and 13 last night but to no effect.
Any further ideas?

If you could previously receive a worthwhile signal it seems unlikely that you need a booster and they can be pretty expensive too.

Is there any chance of borrowing a wireless router from a friend to see if it would work better than your own - alternately could you get a friend to bring a laptop to your place to see how it would perform with your router?

Was there a firmware update for the mac anytime around the beginning of the signal deterioration? Might be worth asking in the mac forum if anyone has had any trouble with their mac and the netopia?