Wi-Fi noobie confusion.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Hey all, now that it's 2008 I'm thinking about finally stepping into the 21st century and getting a Wi-Fi router.

Currently using the LinkSys BEFSR41 http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=...=3307722279B02
It's been doing the job quite well for several years now. 1 port for each office PC, 1 for the 'jukebox' server in the basement, and 1 for a hub that the HTPC, PS3, and X-BOX are connected to (it's rare for more than any 1 of those to be needing a connection at the same time).

Some things have changed recently though - we got a Wii (Whee!) and the old lady just got a laptop.

I bought the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector http://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=95704&cur...encyPreference
Boy, is that thing a total (FRUSTRATING!) piece of shit... When GameStop pulls your product from their shelves, you KNOW it's crap! Hell, even Nintendo doesn't sell it anymore, "The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector has been discontinued until further notice.".
It won't work with Win2K, which is what the (always on) jukebox PC runs.
If I plug it into any of the 8 USB2.0 ports on the HTPC I can't connect... I bought a 6 foot USB2.0 extension cable and plug into that and then into the HTPC and then have to fight and fart around with it for 10 minutes to get a connection. It takes me back to 'good old days' of adjusting the rabbit ears on my p.o.s. B&W KMart TV! HTPC is approximately 10 feet away BTW, with only 1 standard 6" wall between it and the Wii...
Plugging it into either of the PCs upstairs in the office is a total waste of time.

When the old lady wants the internet on her laptop she has to crawl around on her desk (not a very coordinated lass...) and disconnect her PC and fiddle-fart around with running the cat5 to her laptop.

I'm looking at two Wi-Fi routers from LinkSys:
WRT54G http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=...=0034939789B08
WRT54GS http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=...=0947239789B16

They both have the same 4 wired ports on the back that our current BEFSR41 has, so that's a good thing.
I can't find jack on the LinkSys page about the range on them though.
A straight line from the Wii to the current wired router is 20 feet max, but there is one floor and one wall between -- would the Wii be able to connect? It's standard 1960's construction, nothing fancy about the house/floors/walls.
Regardless of interference issues, does a Wii need anything fancy to connect to a router?
What the hell is "SpeedBooster"??? I can't find a single "fact" about what it is or does on LinkSys' site.... Kinda makes me suspect smoke and mirrors. Is it worth an extra $15?

If any of you kind folks have any experience with these two products, drop a reply please.
Also, if there's anything I'm not thinking of that should be covered let me know.
Her laptop supports a, g, & n, and I believe the Wii supports b & g so that should all be OK.

TIA!!

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Oh yeah!
One other thing: Can more than one wireless device connect at the same time? Laptop and Wii both at once?

[Conquest10]

I have the WRT54G. From my experience its a great router. My house is also 1960s construction. I keep the router in the back room. The Wii is in the living room about 30 feet away. About 4 walls in between. No problems. I've even gone out on my front porch and been able to go online no problems.

Oh, and yes, you can connect more than one device at the same time.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Thanks dude.
I'ts only $45 at Target. The S model is $60, but that "SpeedBooster" sounds like bullshit so I'll probably pass on that one.

[AlanHK]

that "SpeedBooster" sounds like bullshit so I'll probably pass on that one.

From what I can see, it's a proprietary extension to 802.11g.
So it would only work if you had all LinkSys gear with that.

However, standard 802.11g is up to 54 Mb/sec. That's about 20 times faster than the ADSL broadband I have. (In fact, I have an old 802.11b WAP that "only" transmits at 11 Mb/s, which however is still 5 times faster than my Internet connection). If you had a need to stream high volumes of data locally, say HD video, maybe it would be an issue, But otherwise, it's capacity you'll never be able to use. And if you did have such a need, you'd be better to get something on an open standard, such as the next generation 802.11n, which goes up tp 300 Mbit/s.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

oic
no streaming per se - we just have the music files on the 'jukebox' in a folder that is shared to the network and then map that folder as a network drive on the other PCs and tell MediaPlayer that the library is that network drive. It works just fine now and since all the existing PCs will still be connected to the new router by cat5e it should continue to work as well.
I did get orb and try to get the PS3 to hit the music on the 'jukebox', but that didn't work out so well...

[Xylob the Destroyer]

got it.
what a HUGE pain in the ass to set up...
2 hours the phone with tech support!

[Nelson37]

Most routers are about as Plug-and-Play as you could hope for, ignore the installation software is the main trick. Also upgrade the firmware if available.

Anything non-standard, like speedboost, as mentioned only works when both ends have this feature. However, it does NOT need to be present on all devices, just the router and whatever you want to speedboost. Other standard devices will still work, just not boosted. General rule is AVOID PROPRIETARY HARDWARE.

Posted range specs are fairly worthless, for instance - the fact you have four walls in between sender and receiver does not matter whatsoever. What the walls are made of, however, matters a great deal. Some types of construction use a metal mesh for holding stucco or somethng smilar. This is kinda rare, but on at least two occassions I have found rooms quite close to the router with absolutely no signal, while nearby rooms were fine.
Avoid metal as much as possible. Crossing a kitchen is usually a bad thing.

Types of reciever antenna are another big issue. USB recievers are usually poor in this -BUT - a HUGE BUT - by using a USB extension cable you can open up options for antenna placement within a 10-15 foot radius of the PC, whereas a technically better antenna on an internal card gives at most a 1 to 3 foot radius.

With some tinfoil and ductape, connections over 100 yards through multiple external walls are quite feasable.

Wi-fi can be extremely sensitive to antenna placement and orientation, especially when signal strength is already marginal. Changing the direction by 20 degrees or moving the antenna 2-3 inches to one side can make the difference between a stable, usable connection and one which is not.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

the Wi-Fi is working fine, but the wired connections are slow as hell now...

[Nelson37]

What router, did you upgrade firmware, and did you turn off all the encryption and booster crap on the router? The wired part is usually the most trouble-free. Bad ports are not unusual, more than one is less common.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Got the WRT54G.
Upgraded the firmware immediately.
Don't know about any encryption(?).
No booster crap on this model (why waste the extra $15)..

Is there a way to see who/what is connected to my Wi-Fi? Can't find it in the router itself...

[Nelson37]

Are you sure you got the right firmware, there is often an "A" and an "B" revision, and they are NOT interchangeable.

There's usually a connection monitor in the router firmware, I'm pretty sure that router has one.

Chattering card or bad cable can cause this, try removing all the wired connections and test them one by one, make sure each individual connection is affected the same.

Make sure and try multiple sites, I usually hit here, NFL, and CNN, and just check the speed by how the graphics load. How are you testing connection speed?

Also test network connections seperate from Internet. Test with Internet cable both connected and disconnected.

Gotta tell ya it did give me a good laugh, and I needed one.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

???????

Definitely got the right firmware.

Been through every tab, option, and menu in the router -- nothing to show traffic or connected devices/users.

Internet is s-l-o-w on all 4 wired PCs, regardless of how many are connected or which port their connected to.

Images and graphics are particularly slow to load.

Network connection seems OK.

[Conquest10]

Sounds like you got a problem there. Did you use the wizard to configure everything?

[AlanHK]

Is there a way to see who/what is connected to my Wi-Fi? Can't find it in the router itself...

Try http://www.wrtrouters.com/ which has some info and forums.

For instance, see: http://www.wrtrouters.com/guides/hiddenpages/
Wireless Active Table - Displays active wireless clients : http://192.168.1.1/WL_ActiveTable.asp

[Bjs]

The problem is with "auto" setup with Wii

Give all systems static ips
In router, give 2 wireless ips, and assign first to laptop
Surely, the Wii allows for manual setup of ip address for wireless connection

While all systems will have to fight for bandwidth, settings static ips for all dose speed things up slightly, and there should be limited issue's.

When it comes to wireless, you wouldn't want the hassle's of the laptop and Wii swapping ip's, if laptop is running p2p apps where port forwarding is essential.

The router should log all events and connections, thou seeing who is currently connected isn't there thing
Instead you should ping ip address range in command prompt box and get a list of currently in use ips

A quick tool to see who's connected > http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/IP-Tools/Multi-Ping.shtml
Thou this dose not determine if the connection is being used, only that it is active

[Xylob the Destroyer]

did use the wizard.
didn't work.
4 times...

'router can see modem but can't connect to the internet'

tech support told me to uninstall the wizard and download a different one from their site.
then that one didn't work.
3 times...
'router can see modem but can't connect to the internet'

3 different technicians later I can finally connect to the internet.


Some of that stuff on the wrtrouters page is good, but they only have info on versions 1-6, mine is v8. Most of those "hidden" pages come up blank on mine...

Not sure about any "auto" set up for the Wii. I configured everything on it manually.
Laptop will (almost) never be downloading anything, P2P or otherwise.

Assigning static IPs sounds like a pita that is probably way over my head...
I've got 4 PCs, XBOX, PS3, Wii, laptop, and DS.

Turned on Logging in the router but all the logs remain blank.

Downloaded MultiPing, but... I don't get it. I know jack-shit about networking. Seems you must know the IP address of every connected user to get that proggie to work.
I want to see if other people are using my wireless, so I wouldn't know their IP to ping it.

[Nelson37]

The situation you are describing is very unusual. Possible problems with existing hardware largely eliminated by isolation tests.

It simply should not have taken that long to set up, particularly with tech support on the phone. I would return it for an exchange.

Static IP is real easy to do, and eliminates a possible failure point, I almost always use this on commercial networks. But you most definitely should not have to do this to make it work, and at this point no real evidence that it would help.

If they ask, it looks like your internet connection is OK, wireless connection is OK, wired network switch is OK, routing to the wireless is OK, BUT, routing to the network switch is not working correctly. The possibility of a chattering card or defective cable has been eliminated by demonstrating the failure on multiple individual units with all other units disconnected.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I really appreciate all your help and input on this guys!
Unfortunately, a fair bit of what you're talking about is almost like another language to me.

The "old" router was pretty much plug & play. I didn't really have to play around with much or set anthing up. As this new one is basically the same model with wireless added I assumed it would be a quick & easy swap.
I went into http://192.168.1.1 on the old one and took a screen-shot of every single page/tab/menu and then shut everything down.
Replaced the old with the new and fired it all back up.

Nothing...
Went back into http://192.168.1.1 and configured everything to match my screen-shots.
Nothing...

When all else fails, read the instructions!
Put the old router back, ran the wizard (replacing the router when instructed to do so), wizard says 'i can see your modem, but can't get to the internet, wanna try again?'. Try again. and again, and again...

Nothing...
Call tech support. 2 hours of almost indecipherable accent = HUGE headache.
"I can't understand you." does NOT mean I need you to talk louder...

They tell me the installation proggie on the disc is worthless -- hook your PC directly to the modem & download different software.
This stuff is quicker, seems to be easier to use, and is WAY more specific to my router.
Almost done and............ wizard says 'i can see your modem, but can't get to the internet, wanna try again?'. Try again. and again, and again...

Something that should have taken no more than 20 minutes becomes a 2 hour horror.

This is my curse. This is par for the course for me. I like cool tech gadgets. They do NOT like me!

After reaching a '2nd tier technician' and then a '3rd tier technician' I finally get it to hit the internet (no, I don't have any recollection of what she had me do different than the wizards or other techs).

It all seems to be working fine now. When I got up this morning I had fairly quick internet access that seemed about the same as what I usually have.
Got some email, downoaded some pr0n, checked some forums, came to work.

As usual, I thow my hands in the air and say "**** it -- it's working now...".

Thanks again guys!