Hi All,

I've been having fairly consistent dropout problems with my wireless network at home. I'm using a netgear Rangemax router which is a few rooms away from my bedroom, where I'm streaming the media to.

A friend at work is selling her D-link DI524 wireless router. I'm just wondering if I buy it, am I able to set it so that it acts as a "booster" for the wireless strength (Bridge mode or something?), so that the strength is much better in the bedroom?

I have no idea about these things so yeah, if this doesn't make sense I'm sorry. Ta.

Might help: http://www.ausgamers.com/forums/general/thread.php/2765637

^ pretty much what is said above

Usually you can use a feature called WDS to couple two wireless routers, if the routers support them. Results vary if you mix and match router brands/models. Plus WDS isn't too great to begin with.

If you grab a wireless router that can take DD-WRT, you can put it in Repeater Bridge mode which is much better than WDS and should work on all/most router combinations. Basically the router will act as a normal wireless client to the other router, but then bridge the traffic over its own LAN/wireless again.

In both situations you'll end up with about half the original speed since there's double the amount of traffic on the air.

It makes sense, I had to do something like it in my house however i chose a different route.

Instead of putting another router in to increase signal , I bought some Ethernet over Power adapters put one at each house and put a wireless router at either end. signal is everywhere and I can plug in ethernet for a faster more stable connection for copying data or something.

Cheers guys.

The difference is, I can pick up this router for $15, so it's much much cheaper than buying PoE stuff, or even a different router.

Tried getting a better antenna? I had very similar issues (and so did matchfixer). Bought those moveable atennas with a magnetic base. You have to fiddle around with it to find the right spot and then just leave it there. I get ~100% strength/speed most of the time.

I play tf2 and get pings of 30~.

Sorry, I should have clarified:

Basically, between my Netgear Rangemax router, and the Dlink DI-524, will I be able to:

a) connect to the internet (duh)
b) have stronger wireless network strength in my bedroom so I can stream without it dropping out every 5 mins (note: when the dropout occurs, it doesn't lose network connection - just drops back to the folder and I can immediately re-start the movie.

?

Edit: Greazy, I'm streaming to my modded xbox - I can't actually check the signal strength at any given moment unfortunately. It just kinda seems like the movies "hiccup" and then I'm able to immediately re-start it and fast-forward to the point I was at prior to it. Problem is, it happens 6-7 times per movie. Annoying.

last edited by Pharcyde at 14:35:02 22/Oct/09

A dude with an angle grinder or someone with a flaky microwave can DOS your wireless from well over 100meters away. Anything that generates a spark will usually spam radio waves through all frequencies including those 802.11abgn use. Microwaves and other devices like cordless phones that emit waves also can cause interferance and 'noise' which will DOS your wireless too.

The majority of times though, its a spark somewhere or a powerful transmitter (like a microwave) that is causing your very intermittant drop outs. There is no robust way around this unless your shield your house etc, which would cost a bit and be a real pain in the arse to do.

Temp band aid solutions might include installing dd-wrt and boosting the signel strength and also reloating your devices etc, which are all very temp fixes if your receiving drop outs due to noise imo.

You really need to connect a computer that can read signel/noise strengths next to the device your having problems with (xbox) and get some good indication if wireless in your home is going to work. It might be less painfull to get a sparky to install a cable in your roof, which is usually <$100

last edited by gamer at 14:54:54 22/Oct/09

A dude with an angle grinder or someone with a flaky microwave can DOS your wireless from well over 100meters away. Anything that generates a spark will usually spam radio waves through all frequencies including those 802.11abgn use. Microwaves and other devices like cordless phones that emit waves also can cause interferance and 'noise' which will DOS your wireless too.

Care to sure some factual evidence that hasn't been cooked up in facemans supermeagaultra secret bat-cave bunker

In my old house we had three of these set up on each level with poe injection from cheap poe switch, I have left them installed at the request of the landlord, but when I was there they would wonderfully

http://uk.level1.com/product_d.php?id=558

http://uk-download.level1.com/datasheet/WAP-3101_SPEC_V1.0.pdf

I bought a brand new belkin access point off someone on here and never used. You can have it for $10


***edit*** offer recinded as it may be worth more than I thought. Model is F5D7130au

last edited by RockitMan at 16:58:11 22/Oct/09

Do you have a model number at all man?

Care to sure some factual evidence that hasn't been cooked up in facemans supermeagaultra secret bat-cave bunker

Nup. But if you really care, 30minutes of googlig will confirm all the basic info you need to understand about radio communication to confirm it all yourself.

tldr v = signel > noise = good. noise > signel = bad. if cause of noise is outside your control wireless isnt viable in your home.

Looks like dd wrt firmware can be loaded onto the rangemax router if that's the model your using

http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/13923/Installing-and-Getting-Started-with-DD-WRT-on-NETGEAR-WNR3500L/

Once the firmware is up and running on the netgear then get some cheap ap's that support wds add the mac address's of each of the ap's into the netgear under the wds section and then try turning the juice up and down till you get a more constant coverage.

Keep the following in mind if your moving the client between ap's then in some cases the client gets a bit mixed up as to which ap its connected to and things turn to s***. Mostly roaming between ap's or sitting on the edge of the coverage arch where to ap's are intersecting can cause some issue. But most of the newer ap's that I have been deploying lately seem to hand over the client easily without the need for a layer 2 wireless switch

I don't get the whole microwave/cordless phone thing. We have 3 cordless phones and a microwave, my wireless (when in G mode) is solid as a rock, N mode doesn't drop out and streams movies awesomely but has some weirdness when trying to copy files which I'm quite sure is more to do with my cheapass router.