Netgear WGT624v3 and WG111T usb adapter

[D4\/!d]

Hello I wonder if you can help me please. :)

I have Netgear WGT624v3 and WG111T usb adapter set up and working on my XP Pro SP2 PCs, with all MS updates, and latest netgear firmware. I used netgear software, via the netgear wizard, to do the setup and settings.

The router is downstairs while the adapter is in the upstairs bedroom ~35-40 foot away.

Upstairs, I do get a connection and signal, and I can use the internet - just about.

Trouble is, the signal strength is Low or Very Low - between 2-5 Mbps. It sometimes gets as good as 11-12 Mbps. I am on channel 11, and so are four neighbours. I tried changing to Channel 6 but didn't see my groupname on the 111T scan upstairs. So put it back to 11.

Also, downstairs the netgear router keeps cutting out for no apparent reason. The green tick comes on, which is so misleading for us Brits. Green is go, and a tick means ok. But I understand this is a Check Mark, not a tick..!! When the PC is connected direct with the internet ethernet cable to the Motorola 4200 Modem - that is, missing out the router - the internet service (blueyonder cable) is consistent with no loss of connection.

I should be grateful if you would advise me how to improve this signal strength upstairs, coz my page refreshes are very slow and download speeds are poor.

And is there anything I can do about the router cutting off. This is a replacement router I have had direct from netgear, coz the first was faulty - cost a fortune in replacement postage costs. :(

Thanks,

[homecomputeraid]

David,

Changing channels sounds like a good idea. Do you feel like your neighbours are 'sharing' your connection, whether intentional or not? You should be able to log into your Router and see who's connected. It's also possible that you're connecting to one of their access points instead of your own. You'll have to change channels on both the Router and the Network Card(s) on the PC(s). It's not clear from your post that you changed it on both.

You may want to set up security on your Router and PC's, and have them only connect to secured connections to ensure that you're using your Router, and that no one else is. Wireless Security is covered in Chapter 4 of your Reference Manual. It looks like WEP is your most secure choice. You'll probably want to use 128 bit WEP, and bear in mind that WEP is crackable. MAC Address filtering can be configured too, but it's more easily hackable than WEP. Configuring both is ok, but I would do one step at a time. Get one working, then proceed to the next. It's much easier to troubleshoot one security setting at a time.

Also, do you know how to rule out ISP Problems? One of the easiest ways is to just connect directly to your DSL or Cable Modem when performance is slow, and make sure the performance problems go away. Alternatively, if you have a computer with a wired NIC, plug in the Cat 5 cable and make sure it performs better using wired than wireless (remember to temporarily disable the wireless connection on the PC you're testing with to ensure that it's actually using the wired NIC).

Hope all this helps.

[D4\/!d]

Hello homecomputeraid, I hoped you might step in here. Thanks :)

Changing channels sounds like a good idea.

I tried changing from 11 to 6 downstairs. It could not find it when I used the USB adapter 111T scan upstairs.

Do you feel like your neighbours are 'sharing' your connection, whether intentional or not?

No. We actually talk to each other, and the son who "does their family pc" came in to look at my setup. He id'd his connection, plus another who was his auntie a few doors down the road.

You should be able to log into your Router and see who's connected. It's also possible that you're connecting to one of their access points instead of your own.

I can log on - scan - with my 111T and see who's transmitting and on what channel. Four neighbours are on 11, one on 1, and one (auntie) on channel 6.

You may want to set up security on your Router and PC's, and have them only connect to secured connections to ensure that you're using your Router, and that no one else is.

Done that :) I am using the highest one, wassit called, WPA PSK.

Also, do you know how to rule out ISP Problems? One of the easiest ways is to just connect directly to your DSL or Cable Modem when performance is slow, and make sure the performance problems go away.

yep done that :) service is uninterupted and good.

Alternatively, if you have a computer with a wired NIC, plug in the Cat 5 cable and make sure it performs better using wired than wireless.

No can do. The Pc is upstairs.

Hope all this helps.

Yes Thank You :) It seems we've both thought of n' tried the same things.

I cannot understand why the signal strength fluctuates so much upstairs, is it coz I keep loosing the connection on the router downstairs? :huh:

[homecomputeraid]

Done that I am using the highest one, wassit called, WPA PSK.

Very good. I didn't see WPA in the owner's manual I was looking at. The highest I saw was WEP. WPA's much better.

With some NIC's, there's a mode where you can walk around and see your signal strength on a kind of meter scale. Are either of the computers laptops? Do you know if any of your NIC's come with such a utility? I've never used the program myself, but NetStumbler might have such a utility and might be able to shed some light on what's going on.

Have you tried moving your Router around a little? Perhaps a longer Ethernet cable between it and your Cable Modem would allow you to move it around a little. There can be 'shadows' in your coverage area made by objects or structures in your house or apt. Moving the Router might shift that shadow area.

I'm not saying you should run out and buy a PC Card or PCI Wireless NIC, but I'm not a big fan of USB NIC's. USB Devices are loaded much later in the boot process than PC Card (laptop) or PCI (desktop slot) devices, and I believe Windows kind of treats USB devices a little differently. If you have access to a PC Card or PCI NIC, even if just for testing, it might be worth while to try. Is there any way you could temporarily use your neighbour's Router with the PC that's having problems? (A bit of a pain if you're not using a laptop). Also, does your neighbour have a laptop he could use to test his signal strength to your Router from the area where you're having problems?

You seem to have excellent troubleshooting skills. :D Hope we can help you figure it out!

I'm hoping Scuzzman will take a look at this too. I think he might have a little more experience with wireless than I do.

[D4\/!d]

I didn't see WPA in the owner's manual I was looking at. The highest I saw was WEP. WPA's much better.

I've gotta WGT624v3 (your example was v2 manual. Nevermind)

With some NIC's, there's a mode where you can walk around and see your signal strength on a kind of meter scale.

Is a NIC a card? In which case I have an ext router and USB adapter

Are either of the computers laptops?

No, two desktops.

Do you know if any of your NIC's come with such a utility? I've never used the program myself, but NetStumbler might have such a utility and might be able to shed some light on what's going on.

Yep done that :) Netstumbler upstairs can find only my signal, no others are displayed.

Have you tried moving your Router around a little? Perhaps a longer Ethernet cable between it and your Cable Modem would allow you to move it around a little. There can be 'shadows' in your coverage area made by objects or structures in your house or apt. Moving the Router might shift that shadow area.

Yep done that :) Although it's very tricky, coz there is nowhere much in a family house to perch such apparatus. Upstairs the USB adapter is on an ext lead and is pinned horizontally to the curtain..!!

I'm not saying you should run out and buy a PC Card or PCI Wireless NIC, but I'm not a big fan of USB NIC's. USB Devices are loaded much later in the boot process than PC Card (laptop) or PCI (desktop slot) devices, and I believe Windows kind of treats USB devices a little differently.

I hear what you say, however I am not planning more expenditure at the moment. I shall certainly bear it in mind though, if it makes that much difference.

If you have access to a PC Card or PCI NIC, even if just for testing, it might be worth while to try.

None that I know of, but I shall ask around, although I'm not hopeful.

Is there any way you could temporarily use your neighbour's Router with the PC that's having problems?

No. I'm on cable with my 624v3, he is not using cable, so needs a ADSL type.

Also, does your neighbour have a laptop

No

he could...test his signal strength to your Router from the area where you're having problems?

erh, don't get the idea here :( Are you saying, find a laptop and use it upstairs to test signal strength.

You seem to have excellent troubleshooting skills.

yeah, perhaps. However, I cannot think logically, and reason things out. It either is or it isn't; it either works or it don't.

Thanks for trying homecomputeraid :)

(quotes are not displaying correctly - makes it difficult to read, sorry :( )

[homecomputeraid]

NIC stands for Network Interface Card.

I PM'ed Scuzzman, so when he has a chance, maybe he can offer some help. Sorry we don't have it resolved yet!

[scuzzman]

I often find if I cannot get channels 6 or 11 to work, 2 is a good option. Do you have any cordless phones running at the same frequency? If so, check their channels. If you can, see if you can manually set the channel on your upstairs PC to the channel and see if it can pick up the signal then...

[D4\/!d]

Hello scuzzman, thanks for stopping by :)

I know what you suggest is probably a straightforward operation - to you..!! However, I need a bit of time and space to deal with such things. It's all new to me you know ;)

Last time I tried changing the channel from 11 to 6, I couldn't see anything when I ran the upstairs scan. Whereas the channel 11 was there immediately. I'll give channel 2 a go, and see what I see. B)

btw, yes we have a wireless land phone (a BT XC100) in the hall under the upstairs adapter. How can I tell what frequency it's on? There are no mobiles in the path.

Your help is appreciated :)

[homecomputeraid]

David,

There should be documentation with the phone that tells you what frequencies it uses. Here's a site that gives a rough overview of some frequencies and what they're used for:

http://www.mobilecloak.com/shield/frequency.html

As a test, you could start an extended ping (Start, Run, type cmd then hit Enter. In the DOS Window that opens, type ping www.nortel.com -t) then make a phone call and see whether it delay's your ping traffic, or degrades network performance. You stop the extended ping by hitting Ctrl-C.

[D4\/!d]

Hello homecomputeraid, thanks for coming back. :)

I tried changing the channel and got it to work on channel 2. Hooray..!! :D

Trouble is the reception is no different. Nevermind.

I looked on the cloak site and it tells me "Standard cordless telephones (40MHz–50MHz)". Don't say what channel. Nor does the phone manual - I got the wife to study that. They are good at that sort of thing.

When we next make a call I'll try the extended ping command.

Other than that I dunno. :unsure:

[scuzzman]

Only other thing I can think of is, have you tried replacing the equipment?

[D4\/!d]

This is a replacement router I have had direct from netgear

;)

Nevermind scuzzman, thanks for thinking :flowers:

[Topband]

D4\/!d,

That cordless phone you are using is a DECT phone, the frequencies they use are in the range 1876-1880 MHz in the UK, whereas 2400 MHz is used for wifi etc, so the shouldn't have an effect on each other.

[D4\/!d]

@Topband, that's very good of you to tell me. Thanks :flowers:

[homecomputeraid]

Thanks for the research TopBand!

David, the only other thing I can think of is to get the Access Point closer to the computer, or in a different location. It would probably mean having a longer Ethernet cable run somehow.

[D4\/!d]

yeah I considered that myself. Everyone tells me don't have the router near the (wired) PC. Hey that ain't easy to achieve in a family house. Nevertheless, I had a go this morning. Got a long blue cable - forget what it's called (MC5?), moved the power cable to a different socket and repositioned the modem. Phew, fair wore me out it did, scrambling all over the floor. Didn't do a blind bit of good. Still the same reception. Nevermind. :|

[Crackedwood]

Well as for cut out, I had exactly the same equipement and the same problem. Keep in mind that the WGT624V3 has already two firewalls built in. If you use Windows SP SP2 it has one too. Over that if you use Norton internet security, it has one too !

If that's the case you have a total of 4 firewalls......Too much is like not enough.

Disable Windows XP and Norton's Firewalls and voilà, no more cut offs.

This solution has worked very well for me.

Hope this helps.

[D4\/!d]

Hello Crackedwood, thanks for your post and Welcome to WF :)

Yeah, you're right about all the firewall nonsense. However, I killed off the XP SP2 firewall when I first installed it, and Norton I wouldn't touch with a bargepole. Which means that my setup is similar to yours ;)

The connection is still unreliable and continues to cut out. However, I have bought a small desk fan and that blows onto the PC case -I have draped the usb extension cable with the adapter, over the fan to keep it cool(er). That seems to help a bit

[Crackedwood]

Yeah, you're right about all the firewall nonsense. However, I killed off the XP SP2 firewall when I first installed it, and Norton I wouldn't touch with a bargepole. Which means that my setup is similar to yours ;)

The WGT624 ahs a built in feature that connects automatically with Micro trend security services. Have you tried disabling it within the router config?

Since traffic is monitored by these services, maybe it explain the cut-offs

[D4\/!d]

The WGT624 has a built in feature that connects automatically with Micro trend security services. Have you tried disabling it within the router config?

Erh..?? Um, no.

Don't know nuffin 'bout it. I've never seen any ref to Micro Trend in the router admin. Where do I look?

[LATE EDIT] Yeah I found it - where you said: in security services Doh!

Mind you, I'm not keen on killing that. After all it's the adapter on the upstairs PC that cuts out, not the router wired onto the main PC. Thanks all the same ;)

[D4\/!d]

OK folks, another year has gone by, and whilst I am still using the same router setup, I continue to suffer from - what's it called - *drop-out*. :(

I've seen these advertised:

NETGEAR WPN824 RangeMax Broadband Wireless MIMO-G Router

NETGEAR WPN111 RangeMax Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter

Anybody used 'em yet. Are they any good. Is it worth laying out £104

WPN824

WPN111

Any thoughts...