low signal% and rate ... would switching to 'N' help?

[Dapper Dan]

hi guys. right now i'm running a D-Link DIR-655 wireless n router. i have a linksys internal wireless n/g/b NIC. and here is the confusing part on the box it does nothing but compare wireless n/g but if you look closer at the specs it says it only supports g/b (found this out after i bought it). i said w.e. no other computers have wireless n so i won't be able to use it, didn't think signal strength would be a problem (im about 25-30 feet from my router, through multiple walls tho) so i go about 2 months with no problems until now. my connection keeps getting reset mid game. so i go into my router tab to look at my connection log, turns out its only my computer. signal strength is at 33% and rate is as low as 13. then i look at the mode it is running in. every other computer is running on 11g and next to my computer it says 11gn. is this causing the problem? or would i get a better signal/rate if i switched to just 11n? Also, if it would help how would i go about doing so?

help appreciated. in return you shall receive 1000 Internets.

[JackNSally]

I would try out this reflector maybe? It should increase your signal significantly and therefore your throughput. Would be a cheap way of fixing the strength to see if that would help.
Here is a site to make one for cheap. http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html

[Dapper Dan]

i'd like to keep my router looking nice and clean as it is in the open. plus my wireless nic is supposed to be able to use N ... as of right now it only looks like its using g. i'd like to set up my router to use wireless N as its only using g right now. i have another computer in my house now that uses wireless N so it makes sense to use it now

[JackNSally]

i'd like to keep my router looking nice and clean as it is in the open. plus my wireless nic is supposed to be able to use N ... as of right now it only looks like its using g. i'd like to set up my router to use wireless N as its only using g right now. i have another computer in my house now that uses wireless N so it makes sense to use it now

You will have better luck if you put it on your wireless card, not the router.

[Dapper Dan]

Linksys WMP 110 Rangeplus wireless PCI adapter.

the confusing part is that on teh box it says wireless n everywhere. ie: with rangeplus wireless n you get "this much" more range and so on but when you look closer it says wireless g/b supported and when it is in my router it says its mode is 11gn then i switched my router to only accept wireless n adapters. still worked only i could go on the network but still was running in gn mode with same rate/signal strength

[JackNSally]

Yeah, just make that reflector and put it on the antenna for your "Linksys WMP 110 Rangeplus wireless PCI adapter".

[Dapper Dan]

where do i put the tin foil?

[Dapper Dan]

holy crap .... went from 33 % strength and 13 rate to 93 % and 52 rate. 9 had to put it on my router because it was too large for the wiremess i have in the back of my pc.) still not finished tweakting either

[JackNSally]

holy crap .... went from 33 % strength and 13 rate to 93 % and 52 rate. 9 had to put it on my router because it was too large for the wiremess i have in the back of my pc.) still not finished tweakting either

So you tried it out at it increased your signal strength and rate?

[Niku-Sama]

i made something like this today for my router (couldnt put it on my laptop) and it helped,i went from 2 bars at 5 megs a seccond to 4 bars and 24-36 megs a seccond.

i used coke cans, cut the tops and bottoms off, one vertical slice down the side so i can flaten them out and then i used card board in the middle to hold the shape and attach it to the antennas and hot glued them down.

i used this one acually but its the same thing:
http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template/
i printed out the lay out and.

another thing to try is to go into device manager and and find the wireless card and go into its properties and under there might be an advanced tab with a list of things and drop downs that change depending on whats selected and some times theres transmit power, channels you can change and see what works better and some other settings, if its something you dont know i wouldnt mess with it but i thought i would point it out, it helped on my laptop

i have been messing arround with it all day and it seems for some reason having my router on channel 11 and my laptop on channel 7 gives me the best speed and signal stregenth....which is odd but what ever i guess

[UglyChild]

Install the latest Beta firmware for your DIR655. Its still Beta, but its the best Firmware so far. I have seen great results with my DIR655.

Be sure to back up your settings first.

ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Gateway/dir655/Firmware/dir655_firmware_122b05_beta.zip

Be sure to use Channel Width : 20/40Mhz mix mode. If you are using WAP-WAP2, set it to AES only. Dont use TKIP.

[ppe1700]

i'd like to keep my router looking nice and clean as it is in the open. plus my wireless nic is supposed to be able to use N ... as of right now it only looks like its using g. i'd like to set up my router to use wireless N as its only using g right now. i have another computer in my house now that uses wireless N so it makes sense to use it now

because N is pretty much proprietary, do you know if the D-link and Linksys are compatible??

since there are a number of things this could be, i will list some below:

if all has been fine until now, i would look to the router, make sure that there is no way 802.11b could be enabled. this will force everyone to use the faster 802.11g, because if a single host connects and establishes a 802.11b connection, this will also force everyone else to use 802.11b.

if your nic's are compatible with the access point for 802.11n then what you should be able to do, is go into device manager on the PC, and go into the advance options for that nic. you will see stuff listed (or should) about speed, vlan tagging and one option might say which preference to use for 802.11b/g / 802.11n.
with this, you can prioritise 802.11n and click ok. then use a wireless program like (i use vista sidebar for this) xirrus wifi monitor. this tells you what you have connected to under "network mode" in your case it should say 802.11n.
this will also tell you your data rate (which would vary over time)

also, using xirrus, see what other wireless networks are in your area.for 802.11b/g you should pick a channel that is 6 channels away from everyone elses in your area. remember that with 802.11bg there are only 3 non overlapping channels 1, 6 ,11. 802.11a does not suffer from this. apparently 802.11n may / can use the 5ghz bandwidth

you should let the access point determine your speed of wireless. this way, your laptop can dynamically adjust depending on environment variables.

good luck. i admire you for sticking with wireless, especially for gaming. true soldier. :attn:

[ppe1700]

Install the latest Beta firmware for your DIR655. Its still Beta, but its the best Firmware so far. I have seen great results with my DIR655.

Be sure to back up your settings first.

ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Gateway/dir655/Firmware/dir655_firmware_122b05_beta.zip

Be sure to use Channel Width : 20/40Mhz mix mode. If you are using WAP-WAP2, set it to AES only. Dont use TKIP.

the reason for this is that AES uses PSK key caching, therefore if you do drop the wireless signal, the re-connect time is way shorter. well in theory. this also helps roaming between accesspoints with the same SSID

psst its WPA2