[geeks] Usual or Unusual? More wireless Q's

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

velociraptor wrote:
> So, I have the Linksys WRT54GS, WUSB54G for the desktop,
> and WPC54GS for the laptop.  I figured the WUSB54G would
> be more versatile going forward, since the wireless for the desktop
> is a "temporary" thing while I am living at the current place.
> 
> The WPC54GS is pretty stable at 110/125, so long as I keep it
> in certain areas of my room; if I move around it tends to fluctuate
> a lot but will usually stay at least at 54.
> 
> The WUSB54G is all over the place though; I expected the rate
> to be lower, given the USB interface, but didn't think that I would
> be having this sort of problem.  I have a a week or so to do more
> tweaking before I'd have to return it to the store.  Signal strength
> is strong, so I figure that antennas are a later resort.

Many things can affect signal strength, such as moving your hand near
the antenna. :-)

I had a wifi card in a laptop exactly where I rested my hand when I wasn't
typing. I used a USB adaptor until i learned to rest my hand elsewhere.

Surprisingly strange things block signals. For example paper (such 
as books) or composite (wood chips with glue) funiture. Placing my
router on top of a high shelf on a composite TV/stereo shelving unit
reduced it's range dramaticaly.

Check your polarization. The antenna should be the same orientation
(horizontal/vertical) on both the router and the computer. The difference
is about 26 db (about 20 times)

> There is no driver more recent than the one that came with the device.
> I have not tried using the Linksys connection tool instead of XP's;
> I attempted to use it with the PCMCIA card, and it didn't work, so
> I figured it would not be any better for the USB device.

That's what I found too. The latest version of XP (automagicly installed
if you use windows update) has far better wireless support than any vendor's
drivers. It seems that the vendors no longer include XP connection tools,
relying on Microsoft's.

Drivers do matter, I had a 3com card and USB dongle that both improved
greatly with later drivers.
 
> 
> Any suggestions for non-obvious things I should be looking at?
> Cluebats appreciated. :-)

You should have WEP on even if it is 40 bit. The point is to declare
that your network is not public and prevent both accidental connections
and connections from people driving down the street looking for places
to download kiddie porn or send spam email.

It's really not to prevent hackers from getting in, it just makes your
average person looking for a free ride look eleswhere.

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, C.T.O. GW&T Ltd., Jerusalem Israel
gsm at mendelson.com gsm at gwandt.com
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