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Improving internet connection


podgie_bear

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I seem to be having a bit of a problem at the moment with my internet conection, it has become very unreliable. Can anyone help me with advice on how I should go about fixing it, or at least finding out what is wrong?

 

The story so far.......

 

My wife and I are connected to our router by wifi, she has a netbook with built in wifi connection, I have a desktop which came without such a connection, so I bought a 'dongle' (Belkin) which plugs into a usb port to provide my wifi connection. Everything has worked well for the last 18 months, but recently I have started to lose my connection at random times, while hers has remained remained consistantly reliable. My problem started just after our service provider upgraded us to a better service, but I don't know if that is relevant since it has not affected her netbook. I don't know if my 'dongle' is slowly dying and don't know how to test it. My connection is generally good enough to browse web pages, but not to play Sacred 2 online. Which is vastly annoying as I have only just upgraded to Ice and Blood, I get 2 weeks of good online play then this problem starts.

 

When the problem occours, checking my Win7 Network & Sharing Centre usually tells me; COMPUTER---->-----NETWORK-------X--------INTERNET

 

Clicking on 'Connect to Network' tells me that I am still connected, strength 4/5

 

If I disconnect and then reconnect, I then get; COMPUTER---->-----NETWORK------->--------INTERNET

 

And I am OK again for a while, which can be anything from a couple of minutes, to a couple of days, but it always goes again.

 

Questions;

1) How can I test my 'dongle' to see if it is at fault?

 

2) If it is dying, would I be better getting another dongle, or a network card(?) for my desktop?

 

3) If a network card is more reliable, how easy is it for a total klutz to install?

 

Any help and advice would be appreciated (unless it involves throwing the computer through a window)

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Hey Podgie!

 

I am not an IT expert but have dabbled a little in networking.

 

I have had mixed results with WiFi and USB WiFi adapters. it seems, like a lot of things, you get what you pay for.

 

1. USB WiFi adapters draw power from the USB port. Some PCs do a great job at this, some don't.

 

2. WiFi is a bit of a rascal when in comes to RF interference. I found in apts and crowded areas that there are lots of dead spots and hot spots. I have a spot in my house where the WiFi signal for my router is poor but I get the neighbor's across and down the street 100 meters away wih signal great. It's wierd

 

3. For Web Browsing a short/Temporary outage of the signal can happen and you may never notice. For Gaming the data transfer is constant, so those temporary disconnects are obvious (you get dumped from the server)

 

4. every brand of adapter has it's own software and drivers, some are better than others I have found. My preference is Cisco/Linksys but that doesn't mean they're any better for your site and set-up

 

If I was setting up a PC for gaming, I would rather use a hardwire connection to the Router. I has much less lag and gets more consistent performance . Furian and I discovered this even when trying to play on LAN. We have awful lag until I wired us to the router then we had no more problems.

 

If you decide to stick with USB, you should investigate your USB power. How old is the PC you are using?

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My wireless modem also has an ethernet plug, so I run my desktop wired and laptops wireless. Perhaps you could locate yours similarly . . .

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since your machine can run Sacred 2, it's a safe assumption that you already have an on-board nic on the mobo. (excluding some very weird mobo config or it being fried)

the router on the other hand may not have an ethernet port. if it does then all you would need is a cable from the pc to the router and possibly doing some config work on the router.

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Damn, I used to use an ethernet cable until I moved house. Unfortunately where we now live, the only viable telephone socket for the router is 43 feet away from the computer, at ceiling level in the kitchen. So unless I get a 50 foot ethernet cable and run it across the kitchen, down the hall, around the corner, across the living room to my computer station, I guess I am stuffed! We tried using a telephone extension cable and it degraded the telephone signal enough that although the telephone worked, the router could not get a clear enough signal to provide a consistant internet connection.

 

How would 50ft (17m) of ethernet cable affect the quality of signal?

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Damn, I used to use an ethernet cable until I moved house. Unfortunately where we now live, the only viable telephone socket for the router is 43 feet away from the computer, at ceiling level in the kitchen. So unless I get a 50 foot ethernet cable and run it across the kitchen, down the hall, around the corner, across the living room to my computer station, I guess I am stuffed! We tried using a telephone extension cable and it degraded the telephone signal enough that although the telephone worked, the router could not get a clear enough signal to provide a consistant internet connection.

 

How would 50ft (17m) of ethernet cable affect the quality of signal?

 

An UTP cable, which is the one that connects the modem to the computer or the modem to the router, can be up to 100m long without problems.

So what you need is one from 20m or 25m. Be sure that it is crosslink. Ýou also might set the router next to the modem, then you only need one of 5m.

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Buy one with priorities. Buy a good insurance for court cases, like divorces.

Cable should have priority and when your sacred playing allows some bandwith left for your wife she can use it, but only if sacred wouldn't suffer from having your wife using wlan.

Your wife will get angry. You counter this with a good insurance or inviting her for candlelight dinners at a 5 star restaurant.

 

We have to use a radio link to next village and the link suffers a lot at bad weather. So the computer of my wife has top priority. If she has to download medical data, all other stuff stands behind. It is automated in the router.

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Being totally non-technical (make that probably negative-technical) I am not sure what sort of cable I need, is this the right sort?

 

SKU: N20M

High Quality 20 Meter CAT5E Ethernet Network RJ45 Patch Cable

 

Features:

High quality Ethernet Network Cable with two RJ45 Connectors

Suite for 10Mbps/100Mbps/1000Mbps network

Work with you devices which have Ethernet Port such as: computer, laptop, network caddy & switch, Router, ADSL modem and so on

Compliance Standards: EIA/TIA-568B Category 5e

Wire Construction: CCA - Copper Clad Aluminum (0.4mm in diameter, runs up to 150ft)

Cables in side = 8 cable

AWG = 26

Type: Patch cable

Connector(s): 1 x RJ-45 - male

Connector(s) (Other Side): 1 x RJ-45 – male

Color: Grey

Features: Gold plated connectors

Length: 20 Meter

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That's perfect, but don't be fooled by a lot of, what might be, sales pitch.

Gold plated connectors are an overkill. There is a place for them in ultra high quality audio/video equipment but they are not needed in a home network. :)

Expect to pay about 6 pounds for 20M of network cable with 2 male connectors.

 

I have my whole home network connected with stock standard copper cable and connectors.

I have a cable ISP and use a router and a 8 socket ethernet switch with a couple of the sockets supplying up to 30M of cable each.

It has been that way for years.

No loss at all with data transfers or internet speeds. :P

Edited by stubbie
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