Another question: wireless routers
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From: Joseph Mostarda on 6 Jan 2010 18:38 On 2010-01-02 10:47:20 -0800, Otto Pylot <otto(a)bogus.address.invalid> said: > I've been using a Linksys WRT-54G for a very long time but my > neighborhood has become more crowded with wireless overtime and I think > that has affected my ability to reliably find my signal and lock on. I > resorted to getting the Linksys Wireless-G Range Extender and placing > it about mid-point from my router and where we usually sit and use the > laptops. That works but the extender has lots of issues like losing the > connection to my router or bouncing back the signal to the laptops to > where I either lose connection, get a slow connection, or am unable to > connect at all and get the "self-assigned ip address" problem. I don't > seem to have any problems seeing my neigbors routers. I've gone thru > all of my configuration settings and checked them for correctness and > all seems well. I've had to replace the extender twice because the > first one failed altogether about 5 months into its warranty period. It > seems to me that range is my primary issue so my question is this: what > do ya'll recommend as a replacement router with longer range for simple > home use that is easy to configure for Apple laptops, Dell laptops, > iTouch, etc? I have a mix of B, G, and N devices but use B and G > because my current router doesn't support N and most of my devices are > either B or G. Do the newer Linksys's (the ones that look like a little > spaceship) have better range so I don't have to use an extender or is > the Apple router better as far as range, reliability, and > configurability? Oh yeah, the router also has to have wired ability as > well. Thanks, I'd recommend the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station. It's not too expensive ($179), extremely easy to set up and works wonderfully. Has dual-band 802.11n, which is currently the best Wi-Fi technology available. I've had it for almost six months now, and have only configured it once. Since then, it's never gone down, never needed to be restarted, etc. Works beautifully.
From: John McWilliams on 6 Jan 2010 20:59 nospam wrote: > In article <hi34cd$4ms$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, John McWilliams > <jpmcw(a)comcast.net> wrote: > >> Is there software that'll tell you what channel your neighbors are using? > > yes, and some wifi routers can do it too. > >> Would have iStumbler? (hoping it'll be made SL compatible.) > > yes > > there are even a few apps for the iphone/ipod touch that will do it, > which makes it easy to go outside and figure out who actually owns a > particular network. It'd be helpful to know a name or two.... I found Hotspot Shield just now, but that doesn't do it. Thanks. -- john mcwilliams
From: nospam on 6 Jan 2010 21:38 In article <hi3f5e$9ht$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, John McWilliams <jpmcw(a)comcast.net> wrote: > > there are even a few apps for the iphone/ipod touch that will do it, > > which makes it easy to go outside and figure out who actually owns a > > particular network. > > It'd be helpful to know a name or two.... I found Hotspot Shield just > now, but that doesn't do it. i like wififofum & wifitrak, but i'm sure there are others.
From: David Empson on 6 Jan 2010 23:50 nospam <nospam(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > In article <hi34cd$4ms$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, John McWilliams > <jpmcw(a)comcast.net> wrote: > > > Is there software that'll tell you what channel your neighbors are using? > > yes, and some wifi routers can do it too. > > > Would have iStumbler? (hoping it'll be made SL compatible.) > > yes It is worth pointing out that Snow Leopard has a new built-in method of displaying this information, at least for wireless networks that are publishing their SSID. Hold down the option key and click on the Airport menu. Point the cursor at one of the listed networks and after a short delay a tooltip appears with lots of information, including the channel. You can then scan up and down through visible networks quickly and note the various channels. I see that the ones near my office are all over the place - two on 11, two on 7, one on 8. Plenty of overlaps. I haven't investigated in detail, but it appears Snow Leopard has changed the underlying mechanisms used to access this information, so the method iStumbler was using doesn't work any more. I don't know whether the new method is in a public or private framework. -- David Empson dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: John McWilliams on 7 Jan 2010 01:11
David Empson wrote: > nospam <nospam(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > >> In article <hi34cd$4ms$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, John McWilliams >> <jpmcw(a)comcast.net> wrote: >> >>> Is there software that'll tell you what channel your neighbors are using? >> yes, and some wifi routers can do it too. >> >>> Would have iStumbler? (hoping it'll be made SL compatible.) >> yes > > It is worth pointing out that Snow Leopard has a new built-in method of > displaying this information, at least for wireless networks that are > publishing their SSID. > > Hold down the option key and click on the Airport menu. Point the cursor > at one of the listed networks and after a short delay a tooltip appears > with lots of information, including the channel. You can then scan up > and down through visible networks quickly and note the various channels. > > I see that the ones near my office are all over the place - two on 11, > two on 7, one on 8. Plenty of overlaps. > > I haven't investigated in detail, but it appears Snow Leopard has > changed the underlying mechanisms used to access this information, so > the method iStumbler was using doesn't work any more. I don't know > whether the new method is in a public or private framework. Excellent; just the ticket. Thanks. -- john mcwilliams |