AWFUL wireless in UCD/Merville

LAUNWU

What the **** is going on? I'm getting 1MBPS out of a potential 54, and signal strength is at "very low". Just recently upgraded to lynksis wireless speedbooster PCI card. It's the worst internet connection I've ever had, bearing in mind I am FOUR walls away from the ****ing router. This is hardly what I signed up for. Any help with this?!?

conor2007

get a mac


my macbook wireless


was great!

LAUNWU

.........

princess-sprkle

i know this doesn't help in any way, but...
wireless in Glenomena is great

Riamfada

invest in ripwave or get in touch with IT services / Merville Reception.

failing that contact IT and Comms SU officer ... Stephen Fitzpatrick

Stepherunie

Actually simple explanation.

6 of the Access points were stolen last night so the signal has a result suffered. They should be replaced soon enough but obviously it's going to take a bit of time.

Normal service shall resume shortly.

Riamfada

oh people are so crazy and random when they finally gain a bit of freedom from Mammy and Daddy and get into big boy school.

If I was their RA id be selecting people at random and taking them around the back. Cruel but effective.


This , Steph, brings me back to my original point. One that you have seen in practice all this week. I dislike the general masses.

Stepherunie

Grimes wrote:

This , Steph, brings me back to my original point. One that you have seen in practice all this week. I dislike the general masses.

*Feigns Shock* NEVER!

OT: I'm seriously unimpressed, i'm stuck with really really really bad wireless in my room which means I've got to move to the living room for my downloading. Grr.

LAUNWU

yes, but the access point on our floor is still there...

Stepherunie

Are you in bedroom 4? Because that can screw up the connection.

Plus considering 6 access points are down there's a lot more people connecting to the remaining points so that may have a bearing *hopes that some techie person will insert technical knowledge here*

LAUNWU

yep im in bedroom 4, bit unfair really.

would an 802.11n wireless card make a difference? i.e. a card with a wider and more powerful range? or is it to do with the access points inability to provide?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-127-NG&groupid=46&catid=116&subcat=220

Stepherunie

Eh, i'm gonna go with ask IT services.

Tends to happen anywhere where they retrograde fit the access points because they put one point per floor rather than one per flat like they did in Roebuck hall.

Plus you get really good connections in the living rooms.

LAUNWU

ive a desktop

Stepherunie

Right then i'd go with option a ask it services!

Red Alert

Even in our house we've had to put in two access points because the signal isn't the best in places. One per floor works grand in an open plan area like a library, but just doesn't cut it in a retrofitted building divided into apartments.

mloc

If the wireless acess points were stolen, then there will be far more traffic through the remaining few. Most UCD APs are only 11 mbps anyway. The increase in connections etc will slow them down big time.

What kind of tit steals an AP that they probably can't use because of specialised firmware etc?

Stepherunie

The type of person who probably nicked the 7 computers over the weekend....

Red Alert

Actually the problem is they're quite good access points and the ones UCD use have no problem working 'stand alone'. They do have some extra features to allow them to be centrally managed and hand you over from one to another when you move around but that's about it. So they're quite OK for someone who'd want one. (Me didn't steal them )

irlrobins

Just to inject some tech stuff into thread.

would an 802.11n wireless card make a difference?

Not at all, since the APs in UCD are g (54mbps) type at best with a lot still b type (11mbps). So buying a n card would be of no benefit. In fact it could perform worse than a g card since many n cards are draft. "Speedbooster" cards will also not give any performance boost as the AP would need to have the "Speedbooster" feature. These "Speedbooster" features are unique to each manufacturer and are not cross compatible. Best best is just to buy a good g type card from Linksys, Netgear or Dlink or Intel. Avoid Belkin and Sitecom as they're shite.

Plus considering 6 access points are down there's a lot more people connecting to the remaining points so that may have a bearing

The ickle one is correct. The more people active the slower it gets. Internet in ucd at summer=uber fast. Internet in UCD during term=slower.

just doesn't cut it in a retrofitted building divided into apartments

The constuction material in a building has a huge impact on wireless signal. Older buildings with brick walls are often grand, more modern buildings with stud partition walls (i.e. Glenomena, new Roebuck etc) block the signal way more than brick walls. When Glenomena was first equipped with wireless there was an AP per floor. But due to the building materials used the signal barely got passed the door to each apartment. So they had to put in repeaters in each apt to allow the signal to get in. Took a few months to figure that one out. I had to dangle my wireless card out the window to surf

they're quite good access points

top of the range Cisco ones. RRP is about €800.

This is hardly what I signed up for

What exactly did you sign up for?

LAUNWU

irlrobins wrote:

What exactly did you sign up for?

a RELIABLE and CONSISTANT internet connection which operates at reasonable speeds!

Stepherunie

And where in any of the literature does it say that's available pretell???

Because as far as I know it just says wireless available.

irlrobins

Stepherunie wrote:

And where in any of the literature does it say that's available pretell???

Because as far as I know it just says wireless available.

QFT

ptashek

LAUNWU wrote:

What the **** is going on? I'm getting 1MBPS out of a potential 54, and signal strength is at "very low". Just recently upgraded to lynksis wireless speedbooster PCI card. It's the worst internet connection I've ever had, bearing in mind I am FOUR walls away from the ****ing router. This is hardly what I signed up for. Any help with this?!?

Yes.

Just ask everyone in the residences to stop P2P-ing the ****e out of the access points and all's going to be merry. UCD has a state of the art network, but it's not limitless!

irlrobins

in my time on res P2p apps didn't work anyway. Do they now?

Stepherunie

Not really, occasionally they work in the library but even then most of the p2p software that used work on the network doesn't work with itunes 7 due to them changing the authentication process.

Limewire etc never work.