N type wireless? worth the change over?

[guydewdney]

Currently on G (ish) - but have stupidly thick walls (18" of stone).

will it really make that much difference?

Have:-
3 laptops
1 remote PC
2 local (to modem point) PCs

so thats 1 modem/router - 100 quid
3 pcmcia cards @ 60 quid
1 PCI card or usb at 60 quid

340 quid....

 

[HughJarse]

Im running both, one o stream video aorund house, the other is a general network.
For streaming video its crackin, general use theres not much difference though.

With your walls I would look at wired, by this I mean have you thought about using your electrical sockets as the network?

Theres plenty of these about
http://www.pixmania.com/si/uk/541898/art/netgear/xe103-cpl-adapter-powerli.html

this is the first example i came across

 

[WLeg]

Better to invest in some Cat5 and some more access points - your can get the 3com's & Linksys ones now for £40.00ish....

Best "wall penetration" access points I've come across are the Cisco Airnet 1200's... refurb 350's aren't too expensive...

 

[MikeL]

Currently on G (ish) - but have stupidly thick walls (18" of stone).

will it really make that much difference?

Have:-
3 laptops
1 remote PC
2 local (to modem point) PCs

so thats 1 modem/router - 100 quid
3 pcmcia cards @ 60 quid
1 PCI card or usb at 60 quid

340 quid....

Yes it will make a difference, I am using pre-n and it made the difference between a signal and no signal, one PC in the cellar, and the laptop that gets used in the bedroom one floor up - if you can get a friendly supplier to take the equipment back if it doesn't work that would be an advantage.

Also, regarding my cellar PC, moving it 6 inches away from the wall makes the difference between receiving an eratic signal and a stable signal, so position is critical.

Finally, I'm using PC cards with built in antenna, using a set-up with separate antenna should improve reception. My walls are about the same thickness and stone also, the cellar PC is an old clunker Pentium4 1.7 and it received a new lease of life with the wireless.

Mike

PS If you can set the wireless up and then borrow a PDA with wireless, use the PDA as a signal strength meter, walk away from the hub and see where the strongest signal is and where it starts to fade.

 

[fuzzer]

I had countless problems and it was all down to the positioning of the aerial.

What i ended up doing was cutting a hole large enough for the aerial to poke through the celing in the hall ( which is around 25ft high) and ever since i get perfect signal through the whole house with proper sandstone walls etc.

Height seems to be the trick from my own experence.

 

[Benzowner]

If you are using network cards in your laptop, try using the type that plug into USB. My laptop at home hardly picked up any signal through a 4" wall, changed the aerial over and suddenly picked up 3 networks. Worth a try first before you spend too much money.

 

[guydewdney]

Hmmm - maybe I should re locate the modem/router to the master socket, which is in the bedroom upstairs then...

Drilling holes in these walls isnt fun - the guy that installed some kit burnt out a Kango drill - the stone is very very hard. Where I can, I will put in cat5 - but thats not many places.

Some stuff to think about there.

Will - when are you coming down? Got any wireless kit that needs testing?

 

[miro]

This weeks N will be next weeks G. The less you spend on technology the better and then you can afford many more upgrades using the "less fashionable" technology.

If all else fails you may just want to seriously consider one or two lan cables.

In my experience, things like WiFi work perfectly if you are the only person in the street using it. Even when other people use different channels and speeds the amount of traffic still increases and it becomes exciting to use.

One of my friends has .B wifi and finds that with 10 or so routers in the street there are now blackspots in his house that never existed before.

"Spend as little as possible .... upgrade more often".

AS noted ... current celeron chips are last years Extreme processor.

EDIT: On second thought, what about running several WiFi hotspots (bridges) and linking those by LAN cable. All you would want in that even is the higher gain antenna pod sold as an accessory or the high gain antenna for the workstations.

Usually the antenna based improvements are poorly explained and almost never sold in the same location as the WiFi hardware.

This would also work with AppleTV type technology and MP4-over-lan using a movie server.

Just watch out for any ferral hardware with EMF spikes (some domestic appliances).

 

[guydewdney]

I have a belkin repaeater that seems to help a bit. I bought a better aerial for one of the PCs and that got it working....


I think Ill try the relocation thing, and maybe another repeater first. and upgrade to G on anything that isnt yet (like the lapyy in on now)