trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

TIA

Jim K

On 04/04/2011 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


I suspect the latter, but I've x-posted it somewhere people may know.

Another solution might be a wireless bridge. I'm told it's best to get
one of the same brand as your router.

Andy

On 04/04/11 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

It's not the size that matters, I'm told.

You can increase the range of a wi-fi signal by using a higher gain
aerial. It's also possible to use more directional aerials which will
increase the range in one direction and decrease it in another. With the
right aerials at each end the maximum range of a domestic wi-fi signals
is over 3,000 metres.


--
Bernard Peek

On Mon, 4 Apr 2011 11:33:39 -0700 (PDT), Jim K
wrote:

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


Not necessarily snake oil but given the length (short) and diameter of
the ele's (chubby) just looking at it one wouldn't expect it to break
any records, and that's been my experience.

OTOH usually from the same suppliers on EBAY a couple of quid dearer
printed arrays of dipoles are available (they are square and usually
have a plastic front shell with a metal back) these give 14 - 18 db of
gain and I've used them to very good effect being equivalent to 2 - 3
11" brick walls.

The long range (high power) usb network adapters also work.

Derek G

"Jim K" wrote in message
...
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

It might do but probably not. The only way to find out is to try it.

Peter Crosland

On 04/04/2011 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

TIA

Jim K

I had a WiFi problem when I lived in Greece.

The houses are built of shuttered concrete with much re-bar. Despite my
router being in the room directly under the room with the computer (10ft
max) the WiFi signal was very weak.

I purchased an Ariel from eBay that gave a few DB gain over standard and
this was just enough to boost the signal to usable levels.

In my case they worked!!

Jim K presented the following explanation :
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

Longer will not help, they need to be a tuned length. Higher / better
located / one with more gain / more directivity will certainly help.

My routers built in antenna in the loft, cannot get a good signal
around the entire house. A simple hi-gain one in a better location,
plugged into the router - does manage to get the signal everywhere.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On Mon, 4 Apr 2011 11:33:39 -0700 (PDT), Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay ?10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

TIA

Jim K

The aerial you probably have on your router will transmit its signal
in all directions (an onmidirectional aerial). To boost the signal in
one direction you will reduce it in another - you can't magically
have more signal, just the same amount but focussed - like a torch
beam.
If you only need a little stronger signal (since you say "reliably ...")
I'd suggest a few homebrew tests first. You can find designs on t'net
for a homemade reflector to boost the wifi signal. These are basically
just bits of foil, or foil glued to cardboard for added rigidity.

If you fancy a bit of experimentation, you may find that you can
get the necessary increase in signal without spending any monkey
or having to wait for something to be delivered.

"Andy Champ" wrote in message
...
On 04/04/2011 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


I suspect the latter, but I've x-posted it somewhere people may know.

I've got a book that recommends using a tin can as a reflector to
concentrate the router's wireless signal in one direction - towards the
wireless PC. In extreme cases, for a desktop PC that will always be in the
same place, you can even use another "cantenna" (as they call it!) on the
aerial of the PC's wireless adaptor.

Another solution might be a wireless bridge. I'm told it's best to get
one of the same brand as your router.

And check that the bridge can handle the same wireless encryption as the
base router. A few years ago, I had to set up a Belkin bridge that the
customer had already bought and it could only do WEP, whereas the router
could also do WPA. But I had to downgrade the router to WEP so the bridge
could see the signal and retransmit it to provide extra coverage. At the
time, WEP was still considered to be *fairly* secure, though not as secure
as WPA. Nowadays with faster PCs it's regarded as being trivially easy to
crack by people who know what they are doing, so I wouldn't consider using
it - I'd have told the customer thy needed a bridge that could do WPA, even
if that meant them ditching the bridge they already had.

In article , Mortimer
scribeth thus
"Andy Champ" wrote in message
...
On 04/04/2011 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


I suspect the latter, but I've x-posted it somewhere people may know.

I've got a book that recommends using a tin can as a reflector to
concentrate the router's wireless signal in one direction - towards the
wireless PC. In extreme cases, for a desktop PC that will always be in the
same place, you can even use another "cantenna" (as they call it!) on the
aerial of the PC's wireless adaptor.

Another solution might be a wireless bridge. I'm told it's best to get
one of the same brand as your router.

And check that the bridge can handle the same wireless encryption as the
base router. A few years ago, I had to set up a Belkin bridge that the
customer had already bought and it could only do WEP, whereas the router
could also do WPA. But I had to downgrade the router to WEP so the bridge
could see the signal and retransmit it to provide extra coverage. At the
time, WEP was still considered to be *fairly* secure, though not as secure
as WPA. Nowadays with faster PCs it's regarded as being trivially easy to
crack by people who know what they are doing, so I wouldn't consider using
it - I'd have told the customer thy needed a bridge that could do WPA, even
if that meant them ditching the bridge they already had.


Give Solwise a ring for equipment an advice..

http://www.solwise.com
--
Tony Sayer

Jim K wrote:

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

TIA

Jim K

I directional aerial might - more power over less area.

A better (more efficient) aerial might - but I know sod all about the finer
points of antenna design.

Got an ebay link?

--
Tim Watts

On Apr 4, 7:33*pm, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

TIA

Jim K

Aerial length is chosen for resonance at rf. Longer does help, but
only if you pick a resonant length, and its not as simple as 'longer
is better' other factors come into play too such as impedance. So one
option is to fit an extending rod antenna and test for signal versus
aerial length setting, with range maxima likely to occur ar 2x and 4x
the original length.


NT

In uk.d-i-y Mortimer wrote:
I've got a book that recommends using a tin can as a reflector to
concentrate the router's wireless signal in one direction - towards the
wireless PC.

I've done that with a kitchen sieve... stopped half the RF going out into
the garden and boosted the signal in the house. Oddly (for the small pitch
of the sieve mesh and the wavelength of 2.4GHz wifi) it didn't make much
difference with just the sieve, but worked a lot better when lined with
baking foil.

Theo

On Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:53:53 +0100, Andy Champ
wrote:

Another solution might be a wireless bridge. I'm told it's best to get
one of the same brand as your router.

That's generally good advice, but my LinkSys Range Extender works
perfectly with my Belkin router.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

No, you can get up to 300 meters or more with a good aerial and line of
sight..


TIA

Jim K

Jim K :
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

I don't know but have you considered Homeplugs? Rather dearer than ten
quid, it has to be said.

--
Mike Barnes

In message
on Mon, 4 Apr 2011 11:33:39 -0700 (PDT)
Jim K wrote:

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


Turn the existing aerial into a high gain corner reflector for a few pennies.

Here's a fully worked out design that saves all the fiddling about with baked
bean cans and the like.

All you need is a piece of cardboard and some foil. It fits over the existing
whip - just point it in the right direction ...

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/

--

Terry

Terry Casey wrote:
In message
on Mon, 4 Apr 2011 11:33:39 -0700 (PDT)
Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


Turn the existing aerial into a high gain corner reflector for a few pennies.

Here's a fully worked out design that saves all the fiddling about with baked
bean cans and the like.

All you need is a piece of cardboard and some foil. It fits over the existing
whip - just point it in the right direction ...

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/

That's a pretty good design. 10dB or more forward gain and a doddle to make.

Even a flat sheet of tinfoil the right distance behind a straight whip
will give you maybe 6dB

You are into seriously weird shapes to get much more and its no longer
simple.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Jim K saying
something like:

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

Adding a yagi or a simple reflector will extend the range. You don't
even need to spend a tenner, if you make a basic parabolic-like vertical
back to stick over the ordinary antenna on your router.

Google for it.

I think there is a slight gain to the colinear design, but the best bet is a
line of sight aerial. Also no all routers give out the same power and of
course for it to work the other way around needs similar treatment.
To me the problem is only solvable with more than one signal source as you
surmise I think that is if you want to still rely on built in aeraials on
the computers.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Andy Champ" wrote in message
...
On 04/04/2011 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?


I suspect the latter, but I've x-posted it somewhere people may know.

Another solution might be a wireless bridge. I'm told it's best to get
one of the same brand as your router.

Andy

In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

No, you can get up to 300 meters or more with a good aerial and line of
sight..


You might guv .. you won't all be able to do that like here, as theres
too much 2.4 GHz being used. A local, and were not in that densely
populated area, netstumbler scan shows up most every other house has a
wi-fi point now;!..

--
Tony Sayer

In article , Andy Champ
wrote:
On 04/04/2011 19:33, Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

Given that a quarter wavelength is only about 3cm, I wonder how much of
those extra long aerials is actually the aerial. Maybe it's just a co-
axial feeder with a 3cm monopole at the end, in which case the extra
length of the stick just gives a bit more freedom to move the active part
without moving the box?

I suspect the latter, but I've x-posted it somewhere people may know.

Another solution might be a wireless bridge. I'm told it's best to get
one of the same brand as your router.

The only advantage in connecting network gubbins from the same brand is
that it has a greater chance of working straight away with the default
settings, which might be a help if you're not sure what you're doing.
Otherwise as long as it all conforms to the same technical standards it
should be possible to configure anything to work with anything.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

On Apr 4, 9:19 pm, Tim Watts wrote:
Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

TIA

Jim K

I directional aerial might - more power over less area.

A better (more efficient) aerial might - but I know sod all about the finer
points of antenna design.

Got an ebay link?

eeny meeny miny ...... ;)

ebay 300541249925

Jim K

On Apr 4, 11:43 pm, Mike Barnes wrote:
Jim K :

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay 10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?

I don't know but have you considered Homeplugs? Rather dearer than ten
quid, it has to be said.

I did try with these but had issues with a split load RCD CU, garage
supplied from one side, router from't'other... signal was very erratic

Jim K

tony sayer wrote:
In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
Jim K wrote:
trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay £10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?
No, you can get up to 300 meters or more with a good aerial and line of
sight..


You might guv .. you won't all be able to do that like here, as theres
too much 2.4 GHz being used. A local, and were not in that densely
populated area, netstumbler scan shows up most every other house has a
wi-fi point now;!..

That's why a good directional antenna is the thing to use.


Stick one on yer net stumbler..


But yes, the craptitude of wifi is in geometric proportion to its market
penetration..

Jim K wrote:
On Apr 4, 11:43 pm, Mike Barnes wrote:
Jim K :

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay 10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?
I don't know but have you considered Homeplugs? Rather dearer than ten
quid, it has to be said.

I did try with these but had issues with a split load RCD CU, garage
supplied from one side, router from't'other... signal was very erratic

Jim K
I find it hard to understand why someone who is capable of laying a
mains feed to a garage, is incapable of running a bit of cat 5 as well.

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:46:48 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Jim K wrote:
On Apr 4, 11:43 pm, Mike Barnes wrote:
Jim K :

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay 10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?
I don't know but have you considered Homeplugs? Rather dearer than ten
quid, it has to be said.

I did try with these but had issues with a split load RCD CU, garage
supplied from one side, router from't'other... signal was very erratic

Jim K
I find it hard to understand why someone who is capable of laying a
mains feed to a garage, is incapable of running a bit of cat 5 as well.

Not to mention the amount of RFI that they (homeplugs) radiate!

The Natural Philosopher :
Jim K wrote:
On Apr 4, 11:43 pm, Mike Barnes wrote:
Jim K :

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay 10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?
I don't know but have you considered Homeplugs? Rather dearer than ten
quid, it has to be said.
I did try with these but had issues with a split load RCD CU, garage
supplied from one side, router from't'other... signal was very erratic
Jim K
I find it hard to understand why someone who is capable of laying a
mains feed to a garage, is incapable of running a bit of cat 5 as well.

I don't see the connection g - in my case there's an awful lot of
concrete been poured since I put in the SWA to the garage some time in
the early 1990s. And in any event, most of the cable routing problems
would actually be *inside* the house. I find the Homeplugs work just
fine.

--
Mike Barnes

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:45:56 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

Adding a yagi or a simple reflector will extend the range. You don't
even need to spend a tenner, if you make a basic parabolic-like vertical
back to stick over the ordinary antenna on your router.

Ve haff vays of making your signal better.

http://www.heise.de/netze/artikel/Di...ne-223704.html


Thomas Prufer

On 05/04/11 12:22, Thomas Prufer wrote:
On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:45:56 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

Adding a yagi or a simple reflector will extend the range. You don't
even need to spend a tenner, if you make a basic parabolic-like vertical
back to stick over the ordinary antenna on your router.

Ve haff vays of making your signal better.

http://www.heise.de/netze/artikel/Di...ne-223704.html


Elsewhere on the net there's instructions for building a cubic biquad
aerial for WiFi.



--
Bernard Peek

On Apr 5, 11:46 am, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
Jim K wrote:
On Apr 4, 11:43 pm, Mike Barnes wrote:
Jim K :

trying to tweak my wifi signal to reliably get to the garage - will
adding a longer aerial (ebay 10) increase the range noticeably? or is
it snake oil?
I don't know but have you considered Homeplugs? Rather dearer than ten
quid, it has to be said.

I did try with these but had issues with a split load RCD CU, garage
supplied from one side, router from't'other... signal was very erratic

Jim K

I find it hard to understand why someone who is capable of laying a
mains feed to a garage, is incapable of running a bit of cat 5 as well.

perhaps cat5 didn't "exist" when *whoever* built this garage?

Jim K

On 05/04/2011 12:48, Bernard Peek wrote:
On 05/04/11 12:22, Thomas Prufer wrote:
On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:45:56 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

Adding a yagi or a simple reflector will extend the range. You don't
even need to spend a tenner, if you make a basic parabolic-like vertical
back to stick over the ordinary antenna on your router.

Ve haff vays of making your signal better.

http://www.heise.de/netze/artikel/Di...ne-223704.html


Elsewhere on the net there's instructions for building a cubic biquad
aerial for WiFi.



All kinds of stuff like that on:
http://www.educypedia.be/

On Apr 5, 10:44*am, Roderick Stewart

Otherwise as long as it all conforms to the same technical standards it
should be possible to configure anything to work with anything.

And therein lies the root of most of the problems.

Mathew

On Apr 5, 12:22 pm, Thomas Prufer prufer.pub...@mnet-
online.de.invalid wrote:
On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:45:56 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon

wrote:
Adding a yagi or a simple reflector will extend the range. You don't
even need to spend a tenner, if you make a basic parabolic-like vertical
back to stick over the ordinary antenna on your router.

Ve haff vays of making your signal better.

http://www.heise.de/netze/artikel/Di...ne-223704.html

Thomas Prufer

that looks worth a go Cheers! However - when I read the Googgly
translated version the bit about the wire lengths and spacings is
rather lost on me:-

"The building materials are usually around as well. First, there is at
least 15 cm long residual electrical installation cables with solid
copper conductors; braided wire not good enough now. Usual, 0.75 mm 2
cross section, diameter of just 1 mm corresponds to a. For this
thickness, the element lengths are in the following table:

Dimensions of the 2.4-GHz antenna
Length Distance
50 mm 122 mm
51 mm 88 mm
51,5 mm 57 mm
52 mm 31 mm
53 mm 9 mm
60 mm -25 Mm

But a little thicker lines a For wire with 1.5 mm 2 (diameter 1.4
mm), the elements 1 mm shorter turn out each for 2.5-mm 2-wire
(diameter 2 mm) 2 mm shorter . It does not necessarily have the soul
of a copper cable may be, any other highly conductive, stiff and solid
material is also: welding wire, long nails or threaded rods. However,
would be for the optimum gain the dimensions adapted to the material.
For a first attempt with unnecessary objects you have to make the
effort not."


so what's the table on about??

TIA
Jim K

"Mathew Newton" wrote in message
...
On Apr 5, 10:44 am, Roderick Stewart

Otherwise as long as it all conforms to the same technical standards it
should be possible to configure anything to work with anything.

And therein lies the root of most of the problems.

So true. In particular, Wireless-N equipment seems to have compatibility
problems between one manufacturer and another - or even between Wireless-N
router and Wireless-G adaptor made by the same manufacturer.

I spent ages trying to get a Wireless-N Netgear router to work with a
Wireless-G Netgear adaptor that was bundled with the router: the connection
was intermittent, varied in signal strength or failed to connect at all when
the PC was first booted, requiring the device to be unplugged and replugged
a couple of times to kick it into action. The adaptor (I think Wireless-G)
built into a laptop seemed to work fine.

Changing the adaptor to a Netgear Wireless-N solved all the problems.

A reflector would have been very useful for one customer: her router was in
the house, where there was a phone line, but she needed internet access in a
wooden shed that was used as an office. The shed was on a different mains
phase so Ethernet-over-mains was a non-starter. Given that there was clear
line of sight and the distance was only about 20 yards, with the router on a
first floor looking through a window and with no obstructions, it is odd
that wireless coverage was rather indifferent. I wonder if the shed had any
foil lining on the inside of the plasterboard internal walls... Mind you,
the problem with a reflector is that it makes the signal *too* directional:
she also wanted wireless coverage inside the house which would probably be
severely attenuated by a directional aerial :-( She might have needed an
omni-directional aerial on the router to cover the house and then an access
point on a different channel, connected by Ethernet and fitted with a
reflector, to get the signal across to the shed.

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 05:11:01 -0700 (PDT), Jim K wrote:

so what's the table on about??

Use 0.75mm^2 solid copper (not braid). This corresponds to copper wire about 1
mm diameter, as stripped from 3 x 0.75 mm^2 wiring cable. Cut the lengths given
in the "length" column.

length distance from aerial
50 mm 122 mm
51 mm 88 mm
51,5 mm 57 mm
52 mm 31 mm
53 mm 9 mm
60 mm -25 mm

Place them at the distances given in the "distance from aerial" column, zero
being the middle of the aerial. (Lookit the pictures at the bottom of the first
page to see what others have placed the wire in. Flipflops, Lego, wine corks...)

The stuff going on about the "thicker lines" says: for 1.5 mm^2 copper (diameter
1.4 mm), cut to (length - 1 mm). For 2.5 mm^2 (diameter 2mm), cut to (length - 2
mm), proceed as above.

At the end is a bit about a "signal meter" program, free, here,

http://www.heise.de/software/download/wlan_info_wlaninfo/51560

which translates signal strength into the pitch of a tone, so you can fiddle the
antenna and (possibly) hear the result to point the antenna optimally. It's just
an windows exe, no installer, and something like 50k.


Thomas Prufer

On Apr 5, 9:43 pm, Thomas Prufer prufer.pub...@mnet-
online.de.invalid wrote:
On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 05:11:01 -0700 (PDT), Jim K wrote:
so what's the table on about??

Use 0.75mm^2 solid copper (not braid). This corresponds to copper wire about 1
mm diameter, as stripped from 3 x 0.75 mm^2 wiring cable. Cut the lengths given
in the "length" column.

length distance from aerial
50 mm 122 mm
51 mm 88 mm
51,5 mm 57 mm
52 mm 31 mm
53 mm 9 mm
60 mm -25 mm

Place them at the distances given in the "distance from aerial" column, zero
being the middle of the aerial. (Lookit the pictures at the bottom of the first
page to see what others have placed the wire in. Flipflops, Lego, wine corks...)

The stuff going on about the "thicker lines" says: for 1.5 mm^2 copper (diameter
1.4 mm), cut to (length - 1 mm). For 2.5 mm^2 (diameter 2mm), cut to (length - 2
mm), proceed as above.

At the end is a bit about a "signal meter" program, free, here,

http://www.heise.de/software/download/wlan_info_wlaninfo/51560

which translates signal strength into the pitch of a tone, so you can fiddle the
antenna and (possibly) hear the result to point the antenna optimally. It's just
an windows exe, no installer, and something like 50k.

Thomas Prufer

thankyou Thomas I'll re-study that now

Cheers
Jim K

In article , Mortimer wrote:
I spent ages trying to get a Wireless-N Netgear router to work with a
Wireless-G Netgear adaptor that was bundled with the router: the connection
was intermittent, varied in signal strength or failed to connect at all when
the PC was first booted, requiring the device to be unplugged and replugged
a couple of times to kick it into action. The adaptor (I think Wireless-G)
built into a laptop seemed to work fine.

Changing the adaptor to a Netgear Wireless-N solved all the problems.

Did you try setting the 802.11 Mode in the router to 145Mb/s rather than the
default 300? Sometimes this helps. And you'll probably get more reliable
results by switching the auto channel select off and using "InSSIDer" to pick a
clear channel manually. Also make sure you have the service "Wired Auto
Configuration Startup Type" in the laptop (Wireless Zero Configuration if it's
XP) set to "Auto". If the dongle adaptor comes with its own wireless manager
utility, preferably disable it so it doesn't clash with the Windows wireless
manager ("Too many Managers" - where have we encountered that before?). Also,
if the laptop is running Vista, it's worth a reboot even if everything else
appears to be correct, better still you might consider reformatting the drive
and installing W7 instead, or Ubuntu.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in
message .myzen.co.uk...
In article , Mortimer
wrote:
I spent ages trying to get a Wireless-N Netgear router to work with a
Wireless-G Netgear adaptor that was bundled with the router: the
connection
was intermittent, varied in signal strength or failed to connect at all
when
the PC was first booted, requiring the device to be unplugged and
replugged
a couple of times to kick it into action. The adaptor (I think
Wireless-G)
built into a laptop seemed to work fine.

Changing the adaptor to a Netgear Wireless-N solved all the problems.

Did you try setting the 802.11 Mode in the router to 145Mb/s rather than
the
default 300? Sometimes this helps. And you'll probably get more reliable
results by switching the auto channel select off and using "InSSIDer" to
pick a
clear channel manually. Also make sure you have the service "Wired Auto
Configuration Startup Type" in the laptop (Wireless Zero Configuration if
it's
XP) set to "Auto". If the dongle adaptor comes with its own wireless
manager
utility, preferably disable it so it doesn't clash with the Windows
wireless
manager ("Too many Managers" - where have we encountered that before?).
Also,
if the laptop is running Vista, it's worth a reboot even if everything
else
appears to be correct, better still you might consider reformatting the
drive
and installing W7 instead, or Ubuntu.

Yes I tried setting the router's 802.11 mode to G-compatible or to a slower
N-compatible speed. I tend to normally turn off auto-channel as I'm
sceptical about how well it works: I use InSSIDer to look for a vacant
channel.

As regards using the Wireless Zero Config or the adaptor's own wireless
software, I'm never sure which is better. I've had problems with both.
However I find that WZC often works better. It also has the advantage that
it is started before a user logs on to the PC, unlike most proprietary
wireless software, so you can boot the PC to the logon screen and access its
shares even when the user account is password-protected and the user isn't
around to logon.

In article , Mortimer wrote:
Yes I tried setting the router's 802.11 mode to G-compatible or to a slower
N-compatible speed. I tend to normally turn off auto-channel as I'm
sceptical about how well it works: I use InSSIDer to look for a vacant
channel.

As regards using the Wireless Zero Config or the adaptor's own wireless
software, I'm never sure which is better. I've had problems with both.
However I find that WZC often works better. It also has the advantage that
it is started before a user logs on to the PC, unlike most proprietary
wireless software, so you can boot the PC to the logon screen and access its
shares even when the user account is password-protected and the user isn't
around to logon.

Oh well, seems like you did all the right things, so I guess it must be a
cunning plot by Netgear to make their g-dongles incompatible with their n-
routers in the hope of getting you to single-source all wireless-n equipment
from them.

Did it work, or did it just make you buy a different brand?

Rod.
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