Wi-fi Connection:

The whole point of a laptop and wi-fi is being able to go anywhere in the house with it. Many, many people use wi-fi very successfully. Almost every ISP supplies a wi-fi router nowadays and desktop PC's are definitely fading out in mainstream household use, a majority of households now have a wi-fi connection. I'm using computers pretty much day and night, 2 laptops, smartphones, xbox, TV, and I'd have to go up the attic to find a CAT5 cable if I needed one. Most people only use it for web connectivity, they don't transfer large amounts data over it from device to device, so the connection to the internet itself is usually the speed bottleneck, not the wi-fi. In a minority of environments trying to use wi-fi or fix a wi-fi problem is a non-starter I'd agree, but we don't know if the OP is one of those minorities.

Cables are not the only option here, it's worth having a go to see if the OP's wi-fi problem can be solved.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

The whole point of a laptop and wi-fi is being able to go anywhere in the house with it. Many, many people use wi-fi very successfully. Almost every ISP supplies a wi-fi router nowadays and desktop PC's are definitely fading out in mainstream household use, a majority of households now have a wi-fi connection. I'm using computers pretty much day and night, 2 laptops, smartphones, xbox, TV, and I'd have to go up the attic to find a CAT5 cable if I needed one. Most people only use it for web connectivity, they don't transfer large amounts data over it from device to device, so the connection to the internet itself is usually the speed bottleneck, not the wi-fi. In a minority of environments trying to use wi-fi or fix a wi-fi problem is a non-starter I'd agree, but we don't know if the OP is one of those minorities.

Cables are not the only option here, it's worth having a go to see if the OP's wi-fi problem can be solved.

well said! like i'm gonna run cables to every piece of wifi enabled equipment in my house, it would end up looking like spaghetti junction!

[Mark_h]

Download and run inSSIDer It'll show you what other wifi channels are being used in your area and then you can shift yours to a less cluttered channel. inSSIDer is free but slows your PC down a lot so only run it when doing the diags.

Worked well for me. No longer get drop-outs when I used to have loads.

who provided your router?
If it's one of those talk talk tiny things chances are it's about to fail. Seen a few gone like that, then eventually you connect but that's about it, no internet connection.

[SoulKiss]

If you have an Android Phone, Wifi Analyser is good for checking out Channel Usage in the area.

[timwilky]

I currently have 3 Wi-fi access points in my home, ground,first floor and loft that are all set for different channels of 1,6, 11. despite my home being brick built and signals through walls being a pain (hence the 3) I do also get interference from the neighbours.

Each room has wall ports to the gigabit switch in the loft where my 100Mb internet router lives. The wi-fi is for guests and tablet/phone browsing. real computers get real connections.

The daughter has a problem that her landlord will not permit her to drill holes/route cables from the router in the cellar to her 2nd floor flat. WiFi was terrible. Homebplug solved that and she has about 85Mb bandwidth between her laptop and the router. Rock solid,

[tinpants]

Originally Posted by timwilky

I currently have 3 Wi-fi access points in my home, ground,first floor and loft that are all set for different channels of 1,6, 11. despite my home being brick built and signals through walls being a pain (hence the 3) I do also get interference from the neighbours.

Each room has wall ports to the gigabit switch in the loft where my 100Mb internet router lives. The wi-fi is for guests and tablet/phone browsing. real computers get real connections.

The daughter has a problem that her landlord will not permit her to drill holes/route cables from the router in the cellar to her 2nd floor flat. WiFi was terrible. Homebplug solved that and she has about 85Mb bandwidth between her laptop and the router. Rock solid,

I have absolutely nooooooooooooooooooooooooo idea WTF you are talking about. You might just as well have written it in Swahili . All I know is that we've got a BT Homehub and, despite a few teething problems when first installed, we're very happy with it.



So there. With brass knobs on!!

[timwilky]

Basically I am saying wifi is ****, It does not support decent speeds and is subject to interference. to those above who suggest moving channel, people need to be aware that your signal is spread across multiple channels, so if you are suffering interference on channel 1, moving to channel 2 or 3 will not help. So I spread my access points across the spectrum to ensure they do not interfere with each other.

I only use wifi for ad hoc connections. For real work I use wired connections, they are reliable and give me full bandwidth, are not subject to interference bleed through from neighbours, microwave, etc.

The reference to my daughters setup is the ideal solution, connect a home plug to your router. connect a second wherever you use your laptop etc and then use a proper wired connection with bandwidth in excess of you isp's service provision.

You dont live in my street do you , im sure I have most of my neigbours are wondering why there wifi signal is turd - I have a roof mounted 8db antenna with a 1 watt amp

On a seriouse note though, with wifi you have very little control on performance, if you have interference you can change channel (bearing in mind you only have 3 true channels), if there's an obstetrical like a wall in the way then you only choice is to knock it down or move the access point / router.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by tinpants

I have absolutely nooooooooooooooooooooooooo idea WTF you are talking about. You might just as well have written it in Swahili . All I know is that we've got a BT Homehub and, despite a few teething problems when first installed, we're very happy with it.
So there. With brass knobs on!!

I'll be going down the home plug route soon, for my media centre, something like this

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/prod...ucts_id=113229

Although I think I'll buy some NETGEAR ones which are 500mps.

Tinpants, home plugs use your household wiring to transfer the data instead of over the air like WiFi, so good for houses with big thick walls, which WiFi can't get through. Saves having to chase cables everywhere.

One Home-plug is situated next to the router and is connected by an Ethernet cable. This master is plugged into the mains at the nearest socket.

Your other computer/device is anywhere in the house by a wall socket and the other home plug goes in there. Again connected by Ethernet cable to your computer.

Don't ask me how they get the data travelling round on house electrical wiring, I just know it can