I guess I need a new Wireless Router

[RonH]

As a keen (but ageing ) fan of cycling, I decided to take my pc out to our terrace under the sun umbrella to enjoy the racing in 'style'. Maybe a distance of 10M through wooden house walls and the wireless kept dying. Back indoors to watch ... but its summer here and we don't get much!

Looks like I need to invest in a more powerful router ... mine is an ageing Gigabyte and clearly lacks range.
Two pc's plus an internet radio is all I need to connect so I'm looking for a KISS one but with a bit of range.

Any recommendations ... I have read some router reviews but they usually do not say much about 'power' although it will be a regulated 'maximum' I guess. How can I choose?

[John Gray]

Over here the TP-Link ones seem well thought of, and surprisingly cheap. Personally I have a Billion BiPAC 7800N...

[DaveA]

Are you sure that it is just a wooden house?

I have a client, that there is NO signal outside of the room that the router was in. Found out that the walls were all "Stucco" and there is chicken wire on the walls to hold the stucco on to the wall. The chicken wire being on both sides of the wall acts as a great signal shield.

This works better than a aluminum foil hat to shield one from the signals from ET.

If I were you I would "borrow" a differet router to see if it was any better, before going out and spending good money, and find out that is not the problem.

[John Gray]

Good point!

Take the laptop just inside a wall where you can actually see the router, look at signal strength (say using InSSIDer), then take it just the other side of that wall, and check again. If there is a great different in signal strength, then Dave has found your problem!

[RonH]

'fraid it is the router. I have tried it at the 'nearest outside' ... through a glass window ... and it dies rather quickly as I move away. Hey, there's no metal in this glass ... its plain old glass.

So, what can I read 'on the box' that will tell me that 'whatever' new router has a bit of grunt? Is it based on the number of in built router antenna?
Or maybe I should buy a long length of Cat 5E cable to wire up the solution? Can you use 'long length' Cat5 or is it again 'lossy'.

(Still watching the Tour de France, indoors ... nearly finished )

[John Gray]

So, what can I read 'on the box' that will tell me that 'whatever' new router has a bit of grunt?

Nothing really, unless you go by the alleged maximum wireless data transfer rate for wireless N routers, which appears to be 600 Mbps (300Mbps is very common). Divide by about 8-10 to get a real-world transfer rate in Mbps (megabits), then by a further 8 to get MBps (megabytes). That assumes your laptop is wireless-N capable, of course.

The only other way is to read the reviews.

Cat-5 would be by far the more reliable solution, as it always is - assuming there were no physical Slip and Trip factors involved. Up to 30 metres is probably fine (dredging my memory, the absolute maximum is 100 metres).

[Bigaldoc]

This of course is Amazon USA, so I don't know what you would see if you look. But I bought this one six months ago and haven't had any problems taking my laptop out into the courtyard, or my grandson with his Nook when he visits. I think the distance to my courtyard is probably about 20 - 30 feet and don't know if that compares enough for you.

I suppose you could, as John suggests, read reviews to see what others are saying. I too watch a lot of streaming sports on the laptop and (depending on the ESPN feed) always am pleased with the results. The only thing I do "wired" with the laptop is backup to a shared USB drive because wireless is too slow.

Amazon.com: Belkin N600 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router (Latest Generation): Electronics

[RonH]

Looks like a Cat5 is the way to go though I rather like the posh look of the Belkin 600

Oh and I meant to add ... I can get help from someone who knows the 600 if I need it

[RonH]

Well, I am now the (poorer) owner of a Belkin Play N750DB wireless router which has made a distinct difference to my coverage outside ... I can now 'be there' when (if ever) we get some nice weather. Cat5 cabling proved not too smart ... I would be guaranteed to trip over the wire in the location needed. I am pleased with the purchase and set up for both pc's was very easy using the cd. Also easy to connect the printer wirelessly to both pc's via the router USB port.

Now able to use the latest WPA2 security but it means my ageing WPA internet radio will not function via this router ... hmm, another purchase or, can one directly connect two routers to the ADSL modem? I can then use the old one for the radio until my pocket recovers At present I swap the router cable/s to use the radio which is a bit of a pain. My ADSL modem is a stand alone device, not part of either wireless router and I would only use the old router for the radio.

I can't seem to work out how one can select the frequency band ... it is dual band. Is this an automatic selection eg they use a combination of both bands at the same time?

If there is Eileen knowledge out there I would love your inputs.

[BobH]

Howdy, Ron!

You might find some help on this page:Belkin FAQ.

Also, search around the Belkin pages for a contact form and send them your questions via that channel. I didn't see one doing a cursory look, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

Good luck.

[jonwallace]

I can't seem to work out how one can select the frequency band ... it is dual band. Is this an automatic selection eg they use a combination of both bands at the same time?

If you don't see a screen similar to the attached (for a Belkin DB600) when you go to the wireless setting screen (Note the new improved Belkin logo in the top left corner...), then check for a firmware update (warn the rest of the people using your internet connection before you update the firmware, the wife doesn't like being separated from her free book a day for her kindle ). Anyway there are two sets of wireless settings, and clicking on "More Info" brings up the help.

...my ageing WPA internet radio will not function via this router ...

Consider enabling "guest access" which supports WPA and connect your radio to that. It's also useful for visitors who want to connect their smartphones to the 'net, it doesn't let them into your network. Again the help explains it better than I can.

[RonH]

Thanks Bob & John for advice.
1. FAQ's didn't help in this instance. I will make up an account to see if I can get some answers. So far its not been 'co-operative' and is saying that my email address is already logged but then 'they don't recognise it ... I will have another go at it, may have done something wrong in the initial 'Acct request'.
2. I have the same screen as you show but I can't find anything that enables one to choose to transmit at 2.4 or 5Ghz ... so are they both 'in use' automatically for extra bandwidth? Help didn't 'help' unless I'm missing something.
3. I'll take a look at 'Guest Access' tomorrow ... could be a good solution if the router will allow different security settings.

[jonwallace]

Sorry, didn't read your original post closely enough.

If you look in the Wireless Mode dropdowns, one of the setting is "off", which probably does what it says on the tin, although I'm not going to try it (see my earlier bit about other users).

[RonH]

Good morning John.
I'm up early so no other users just now to worry about

1. Had a look at the Guest method for using my internet radio but as far as I can judge, the security levels have to all be the same but you can choose no security for Guest. Ain't willing to go down that track! So I'm going to stay 'as is' until the piggy bank is full again ... though my use of the radio currently does mean no pc working Bit like 'living dangerously!

2. I see what you mean about band/channel selection. Interestingly, both bands in the default setting are shown as 'working' with Auto channel selections so the router must make smart decisions. Clearly its a lot smarter than me so just for now 'it ain't broke'.

I must say that the more I learn the more I like it ... my 'old router' was a real pain and really for propeller heads set up.

Thanks again
Ron

[jonwallace]

1. Had a look at the Guest method for using my internet radio but as far as I can judge, the security levels have to all be the same but you can choose no security for Guest. Ain't willing to go down that track! So I'm going to stay 'as is' until the piggy bank is full again ... though my use of the radio currently does mean no pc working Bit like 'living dangerously!

Bear in mind that you still need a password to use the Guest account, which can be as secure as you want. Also, mines is set to WPA/WPA2 PSK, so I assume your radio would cope with this.

From the settings page:

Guest Access allows access to the Internet through the WAN port, but limits guests from accessing the internal network, LAN and WLAN. The feature is supported on 2.4GHz only to simplify use.

[RonH]

Good morning John.
You raise an interesting point about the Guest option ... will have a closer look.
My radio uses WPA/TKIP and cannot be set to the more secure WPA2. I would assume that TKIP is still needed even though I set the Guest to no security but with a strong password? Perhaps I should just try and see what happens ... I hesitate because the internet radio is a 'pain' to set up!

[StuartR]

... I hesitate because the internet radio is a 'pain' to set up!

You could use a laptop to check everything out with the security setting you have to use from the radio, and only modify the radio settings when you are sure it all works correctly.

[RonH]

Well gentlemen, with your ideas I have finally worked out how to connect my WPA/TKIP radio without compromising the pc net security using WPA2/AES

Where I came unstuck was that in the 2.4Ghz I had to set the wireless mode to only 802.11g because the 'n' will not support TKIP and 'n' is clearly auto selected by the router if it is available. Does not affect the 5Ghz band since the Guest facility only selects the lower band.

So a happy chappie today and saving dosh!

Thanks all
Ron

[RonH]

I thought I would post this update ... it may be of assistance to others.
Setting my router for 802.11g only (to acheive WPA/TKIP for my internet radio as a 'Guest') destroyed some of my coverage. After some discussion with Belkin (they offered me top service by the way) I followed their suggestion to change the Guest to WEP security and then I could restore 802.11n for my pc network. This improved my signal strength and gets it outside where I want it. BUT ... the weather is 'uff' so its back indoors to watch the T de F

WEP, although being a rather insecure security setting from what I have read, is not a problem? since access to the Guest feature will not permit any invaders to gain access to my home net which still uses WPA2/AES. I guess the only 'risk' is that my ADSL could be accessed but I will keep a watch on this (using the router monitor log) and if it is a problem then its back to the drawing board!
Are there any other 'risks?'

[StuartR]

It is probably not a big problem to provide guest access using WEP security only.