Prototypical tech help topic: Wireless routers

BlochWave

I finally got it working with help from my mom(a computer technician)who I'm sure loves reliving her days of being on call for tech support(I called her at like 11 and she was like "OH HI SON..." and I was like "what do you know about wireless crap?")

Anyhoo it's working, except the range blows. I know you can't expect them to go more than 150 feet but I'm in a 683 square foot apartment, so I don't think it comes up

It's a D-Link WBR 2310, and here's how it goes:

1)When sitting on my bedside table, about 8 feet from the computer, connection is poor to fair, often no connection at all

2)When sitting in a central location of my house, I'd say about 15 feet away, no connection at all

3)When sitting on the floor about 3 feet from the computer, connection is consistent and very good >_>

I've got 2.4 Ghz phones, but even if I unplugged them and threw them in a corner it didn't improve after half an hour, so I dunno

As I type this it occurs to me that updating the firmware might help. Obviously this thing has a greater range than 3 feet, so I'm sure I'm just doing something stupid(I've also fiddled with orientation in various places)Would buying an antenna for my network card(I'd tell you what the card was but I'm not home)help?

Enos316

Where in the apartment is the router located? Is it near any other electronics? The phones could be interfering, however another usual suspect is microwave ovens.

You might also want to check the config page of the router and see if you can boost the power at all. Or try changing the channel (1,6, or 11). Its possible a neighbor is using the same channel you are and you guys are knocking each other out.

BlochWave

Well like I said completely removing the phones didn't help, in position #2 it's by a microwave but I certainly wasn't running it, and of course it isn't near my bedside table >_>

I'll check the config page again, I totally learned how to do that the other night from my mom! If I have a wireless connection(which I do where it is now)I don't need to plug it into the comp, right?

Now that you mention I keep seeing another wireless network pop up as available(it's secured though)but it comes and goes too, like mine. Would that be us screwing with each other's signal? Or did maybe mine start working because he changed HIS channel and not because I moved my router?

DrFrylock

Change the channel to see if it helps. Most routers will have ~11 channels available, but the ones that matter are 1, 6, and 11, since these represent points in the frequency band that don't have substantial overlap at WiFi frequencies. Because so many routers come set by default at the same channel, sometimes there's weird interference.

Most people don't even know how to change the channels on their routers so it's unlikely somebody else is changing the channel on his/her router spontaneously.