[Bruck]

Well, I am trying to get better signal from my Dlink 614+. I'm having trouble with reception once i walk out of the room with the router. While testing signal strength throughout the house, i figured i'd get a "base" reading. Meaning the powerbook is sitting above, next to , and touching the wireless router. You would assume that in this case even the internet conect bar (many more notches) would show 100% airport signal. But it doesnt!

I am 2 bars less than full when touching the lid of my powerbook to my wireless router. I'm not sure what this means but I have to now test signal strenth in my neighbors house on his linksys router. I'll take my powerbook over there and if i get FULL signal (like i think I should) when having my powerbook almost directly touching the antenna on his wireless router, then I will go out and purchase a new router.

I do have a few reasons for doing this.
1) I think my router is dying, it drops my cable modem's connection once a day but the cable modem is still fine and runs if i plug it directly into my pc, but it must be turned off for the router to renew a new ip, but thats rediculous cause the problem doesnt occur when the cable modem is plugged into my pc. (and didnt used to happen with this router)

2) Like i said, it's wireless signal is not strong enough for my small (800 sq feet) house, and I think something can be done

Does anyone have any router suggestions based on quality and signal distance (based on comparison of 2 or more routers in the same exact envirnment)?

[mintcake]

Yeesh. How long have you had the router? I was just about to buy one of these myself. Let us know what happens. :|

[CobraNT]

You need a new router. I have a Linksys in the basement of my house and get 5 solid bars sitting upstairs. My router has to go through the floor and 2 walls to get to me.

[Bruck]

The bars I am referring to are the ones in the Airport Internet Connect Panel. But it definately sounds like I have crappy signal from this router. I think i am going to buy a netgear or linksys today.

[mintcake]

Have people experienced wider problems with DLink? Or is this a one-off? Is Netgear generally more reliable?

[Ohenri]

Never came across signal drops, Odd. I use NetGear routers and have never had an issue ever (2 wifis and one 4 port). Signal in the house could vary on how/where the router is situated. Do you have 1 or 2 antennaes? As well, for signal boosting, you can buy a omni directional signal booster - but most get that for greater range (much greater [read hundreds of feet]). How old is the router?

I've never had a full signal (bar) either (just stuck my Pismo to my router) - and I'm sure there must be reasons for that but never inquired (just as 56K downloads were never quite possible on a 56k modem).

H!

[Bruck]

my router is a year and a half old and it has 2 antenna. I think I am going to buy a netgear router today and see if i get better signal.
and f the connection drop goes away.


Lou

[schk]

Originally posted by Bruck:
my router is a year and a half old and it has 2 antenna. I think I am going to buy a netgear router today and see if i get better signal.
and f the connection drop goes away.


Lou

I had the 614+, just recently replaced it with the G version 624. It worked perfectly with my PB. I was only able to get maybe 75-80% maximum through internet connect right next to the router as well, but I had 3-4 bars (menubar reading) reception throughout the house. I would personally think it's due to OS X reception readings and still subpar reception with the Albooks. In the same exact room, my PC would read 100% signal strength whereas I'd be getting 70-75% on my PB. Also a quick way to see if you can boost your signals is by using this template to build a parabolic reflector out of cardboard and foil:

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects...te2/index.html

[amazing]

Originally posted by Bruck:
my router is a year and a half old and it has 2 antenna. I think I am going to buy a netgear router today and see if i get better signal.
and f the connection drop goes away.


Lou

Any chance that someone nearby has bought a new 2.4 ghz cordless phone recently? Also, have you tried changing the channel and upgrading the firmware (if it needs it)? If you do get a new WAP, take some readings of the signal strength on the old and the new router using MacStumbler. Please post the results!

[mlrtime]

I have the 614+ and a 12" pb with airport extreme. I'm currently about 20 feet away from the router now and I'm reading 100% on the tray icon, and missing two bars on the signal strength meter in the admin panel.

I haven't had any problems yet with it, try downloading mac stumbler and see if you are picking up anything else.

mlr

[Buck_W]

I have the DI614+ with an original AirPort card in my 15" TiBook and I get excellent reception all over the house, including my basement (the router is on the first floor).

[Ohenri]

Originally posted by amazing:
Any chance that someone nearby has bought a new 2.4 ghz cordless phone recently?

This is key as well, in case most did not know. Connection will be dead with every phone conversation - thus my old school non cordless phone - Though I have been looking for a 900 Mhz. The connection would not drop - but not work until the call was done.

H!

[Thorin]

Originally posted by Ohenri:
I've never had a full signal (bar) either (just stuck my Pismo to my router) - and I'm sure there must be reasons for that but never inquired (just as 56K downloads were never quite possible on a 56k modem).

H!

When talking about 56k modems, the 56k refers to 56 Kilobits per second, which equates to about 7 kilobytes per second. Download speeds tend to be measured in kilobytes, which tends to lead to confusion! I'm pretty sure I managed to get over 6 kilobytes per second when I used to be on a 56k modem, so that's not far off once you take packet overheads etc into account.

I use a Linksys WRT54G, and have no trouble with it at all. It comes highly recommended. Linksys seem to update the firmware very regularly as well, sometimes adding new features, which is nice.