[lextek]

Any improvement in Airport reception on the latest Tibooks? I had the last revision for a weekend and could not believe how baad the reception was. I even tried the Airport antenna hack with the Lucent external. I ended up with a iBook 700 combo. Miss that Ti screen..

[RMXO]

Originally posted by lextek:
Any improvement in Airport reception on the latest Tibooks? I had the last revision for a weekend and could not believe how baad the reception was. I even tried the Airport antenna hack with the Lucent external. I ended up with a iBook 700 combo. Miss that Ti screen..

when you say last revision, are your talking about the DVIs?

My 800 DVI gets great reception anywhere in the house. I did the antenna trick by the battery bay though...

I think your router also has something to do with it also. I use the SMC Barricade & get full bar all over the house & even outside. I live in a big 2 story house...

plus, interferance of other devices used in the house might have something to do with bad reception...

My cousin has a Netgear router & I get full bar everywhere at his place. I notice i dont get good reception when at my friends place. he is using a Linksys...

[photoeditor]

I have a one bedroom apartment (four rooms, separate dining room). The base station (Netgear MR 814) is in the dining room. The Powerbook (1GHz) pulls down four bars consistently (and with better surfing than my PowerMac 466 tower that has a direct Ethernet connection to the base station) no matter where I go in the apartment. Perhaps not the greatest test, since the Netgear router has an external antenna rather than an internal one like on Airport.

[Tomster]

Compared to the first generation TiBooks, i.e., the 400 and 500 mhz, the new series had a much greater range. I too did the Lucent/base station hack because when I moved from my old Pismo to the Ti500, I lost reception in half of the house. With the external antennae and the Ti500, I got about 2 bars in the worst areas. At times, the signal would drop completely. With the new 1ghz Powerbook, I am at 4-5 bars of signal in the most distant areas.

As for the screen, if you liked the old TiBook screen, you will love the new one. It is BRIGHT. The old Powerbook at full brightness is equivalent to the new one at half brightness. It's a great computer aside from the noise.

[macwariorG4]

The new ti gig has a much improved range over the 400 mhz model. I am using a abs in my basement and get 4 bars on my second floor. My old 400 would only get 2 bars on my first floor. New screen is awsome btw

[one09jason]

I'd like to know if the reception is improved, too. This has kept me from buying Airport, which I would otherwise love to have. Interesting to note that an external entenna on the base station ( as in the Netgear unit) may help. Can anyone post a specific link to a fix for the PB itself that would improve reception?

[issa]

I haven't done any scientific testing, but the reception on my new 1GHz PBG4 is significantly improved over that of my 500MHz Rev. A model in my house. I now get a solid three "bars" in a room where the 500MHz couldn't manage more than one "bar" and would drop the connection. Sorry to talk only in vague "bar" terms...

(Note: The 500MHz unit I write about is one on which I had tried everything possible to squeeze out the best performance, including checking antenna alignment, ensuring that the antennae were firmly pressed up against the openings for them in the titanium case, etc.)

[iBorg]

My TiSD is my first Titanium powerbook, so I can't compare to previous Ti versions. However, my Ti's reception via Airport is significantly poorer than with my Pismo 500, previous Pismo 400, or with iBook 500 CD. In areas where those units get "4 full bars," my Ti typically gets 2, sometimes 3 bars. In areas where my Pismo got 2 bars, my Ti can't "see" any airport station.

This is my only disappointment in my TiSD so far - but one that I wasn't surprised by, since it was so widely reported. Fortunately, my DSL connection to my Airport base station is such that it's still workable in my home, which is a fairly large 3-story brick structure, with Airport on the middle level. Whereas I could take my Pismo out back on the deck, I think this might be beyond the range of my Ti (too cold to try since it arrived yesterday - 7 deg F. today!)

It sounds like others have better reception range with wifi units by other manufacturers, which also cost less. Could others with experience with these comment on their particular device/price?



iBorg

[superfoo]

I have a PB G4 867MHz, and while this is my first PowerBook (and my first Mac for that matter), I will say that the wireless reception that I get using the internal AirPort card is certainly comprable with that of the Orinoco Silver PCMCIA card that I had been using with the PC laptop which was replaced with my new PowerBook (a Dell Inspiron 8200), and is considerably better than the built-in wireless card in the PC laptop that I still have (a WinBook J4).

I live in an upper-level apartment that is approx. 1500sq. ft., and get 5 "bars" of signal strength when sitting on my patio, which is diagonally opposite of where I have my WAP (a Linksys WAP11 v1 which is mounted on a wall, near the ceiling). More accurately, the signal bar from the "Airport" window of Internet Connect steadily indicates a signal strength of about 80% @11mbps. The PC laptop with the Orinoco card would get about the same when connected from this location, while the PC laptop w/ the built-in wireless gets about a 10% signal @11mbps (ouch!).

Even still, with my Orinoco card on the Dell, I was able to walk outside and downstairs to one of the "community" BBQ grills in my complex, while still managing to stay linked up with about a 5% signal @2mbps... with the PowerBook, I get about 50ft. short of that spot and loose my signal completely... this may or may not be due to the AirPort's internal antenna, though I don't know if the AirPort card will scale down to lower speeds depending upon the signal strength, as with the wireless cards on the PCs... Although I would assume it does.

All things considered, I would say that the AirPort card on the newest series of PowerBooks does a very decent job for one that is reliant on an internal antenna.

"superfoo"

[RMXO]

Originally posted by iBorg:
My TiSD is my first Titanium powerbook, so I can't compare to previous Ti versions. However, my Ti's reception via Airport is significantly poorer than with my Pismo 500, previous Pismo 400, or with iBook 500 CD. In areas where those units get "4 full bars," my Ti typically gets 2, sometimes 3 bars. In areas where my Pismo got 2 bars, my Ti can't "see" any airport station.

This is my only disappointment in my TiSD so far - but one that I wasn't surprised by, since it was so widely reported. Fortunately, my DSL connection to my Airport base station is such that it's still workable in my home, which is a fairly large 3-story brick structure, with Airport on the middle level. Whereas I could take my Pismo out back on the deck, I think this might be beyond the range of my Ti (too cold to try since it arrived yesterday - 7 deg F. today!)

It sounds like others have better reception range with wifi units by other manufacturers, which also cost less. Could others with experience with these comment on their particular device/price?



iBorg

i recently did some testing at my friends house & my house.

SMC Barricade wireless router (2 antennas): got full bar reception all over my house.

Netgear wireless router (1 antenna): got full bar all over the apartment.

Linksys wireless router (1 antenna): 4 bars in same room but 1-3 bars when moving around his house.

Apple Station: full bar near the station but as i got further, reception was getting less.

thats my finding. so YMMV....

[iBorg]

Originally posted by RMXO:


i recently did some testing at my friends house & my house.

SMC Barricade wireless router (2 antennas): got full bar reception all over my house.

Netgear wireless router (1 antenna): got full bar all over the apartment.

Linksys wireless router (1 antenna): 4 bars in same room but 1-3 bars when moving around his house.

Apple Station: full bar near the station but as i got further, reception was getting less.

thats my finding. so YMMV....

Thanks RMXO! That's the kind of comparable reception I'm looking for - since my TiSD comes with the Airport card installed, I'm trying to see if some competitor for Apple's "Airport Base Station" will give me better wireless range while compatible with the Airport card.

I've heard repeated "rumors" of Apple coming out with an "improved" Airport base station, but if something is available now, especially at a lower price than Apple's $299, I'd probably buy it now, given the decreased reception I'm seeing now compared to my Pismo 500.



iBorg

[morlium]

i got a d-link 4-port Air-Plus wireless router, and, with the router upstairs, I can sit in front of my house and surf (reception is a little shaky with the door closed.)

It cost $50 at Best Buy. I don't know how Apple can justify charging so much for a base station that can't even compete with the best.

Aesthetics? Fu@k that.

[riverfreak]

I have had no problems with airport reception in my 1Ghz Ti using a linksys router in a two story house. The router is located on the second floor.

I am, however, having a different problem with airport. Quite frequently, the Ti just drops off the network.

My network is set to use manual addressing, but the same problem occurs using DHCP. I don't believe that it is a problem with the router, as a Dual USB iBook does not display the problem. And it doesn't seem to be due to difficulties in reception, since I'm pegging a solid four bars (from all of about 15 feet away).

I notice this particularly when surfing. I'll be cruising along happily, when all of a sudden, clicking on a link sits on "Looking up host...". At that time, if I check the airport status indicator in the menu bar (sometimes, but not always), my wireless network will have disappeared, showing no airport networks in range. A few seconds, or minutes later, the network comes back up. All the while, the iBook is perfectly happy.

Any ideas?

edit: spelling. still my nemesis after all these years.

[iBorg]

Over at MacFixIt forums several people posted success stories in using PCMCIA Type II WiFi cards, costing around $85, and having "higher power" (200mW vs. 30MW, stated by "Surf and Sip WiFi Card's website), and giving much greater wireless range, even using Apple's standard Base Station.

How have the experiences of this forum's users been with this? If it works, does it work better than doing the reverse, i.e. buying a new wireless router, and using the Ti's built-in Apple Airport card?



iBorg

[iBorg]

Originally posted by riverfreak:
I have had no problems with airport reception in my 1Ghz Ti using a linksys router in a two story house. The router is located on the second floor.

I am, however, having a different problem with airport. Quite frequently, the Ti just drops of the network.

My network is set to use manual addressing, but the same problem occurs using DHCP. I don't believe that it is a problem with the router, as a Dual USB iBook does not display the problem. And it doesn't seem to be due to difficulties in reception, since I'm pegging a solid four bars (from all off about 15 feet away).

I notice this particularly when surfing. I'll be cruising along happily, when all of a sudden, clicking on a link sits on "Looking up host...". At that time, if I check the airport status indicator in the menu bar (sometimes, but not always), my wireless network will have disappeared, showing no airport networks in range. A few seconds, or minutes later, the network comes back up. All the while, the iBook is perfectly happy.

Any ideas?

I've had this happen a few times myself - meanwhile, my Pismo 500, sitting right next to my Ti, continues to show 3 bars in the menu indicator, with no fluctuations in strength! I haven't had time to disassemble the Ti enough to check the Airport card's connection yet - guess I'll have to ...... What else could cause this type of fluctuation without movement of the base station or the Ti???



iBorg

[photoeditor]

superfoo's post kind of reminds me how we as Mac users often get spoiled. That's quite a telling remark, that for all the limitations, a Powerbook with internal Airport antenna performs equally to the PC-based solution superfoo used with an external PCMCIA card. Lord knows how much the iBook would blow away the PC.

With Apple having at least somewhat addressed the reception problems in the first two versions of the TiBook, I maintain that a bigger problem in the whole Airport conundrum is the design of the Airport Base Station, and that people who are having problems ought to try a third party product with an external antenna or two. As I said in another post somewhere else on this forum, the ABS is oriented towards large groups in a small space (or better yet large groups in a big space using iBooks!!); for domestic or office use in situations where there are walls and distances to cover, other solutions can be better and cheaper.

That said, I admit I still have to really put my Netgear router through its paces. The more I think about it, the more a trip to the office for the router is going to be necessary.

[vsurfer]

Ti SD 1 ghz
Original silver Airport Base Station

Out at end of garden 45 ft away (separated by only a window) reception is OK but close to maxxed out.

Upstairs, in b-room on other side of house 25 ft away separated by walls and a floor, reception comes and goes, mostly goes.

[riverfreak]

Originally posted by iBorg:


I've had this happen a few times myself - meanwhile, my Pismo 500, sitting right next to my Ti, continues to show 3 bars in the menu indicator, with no fluctuations in strength! I haven't had time to disassemble the Ti enough to check the Airport card's connection yet - guess I'll have to ...... What else could cause this type of fluctuation without movement of the base station or the Ti???



iBorg

I think I've found at least a culprit for this problem of network loss. WEP. I disabled WEP on my linksys (and enabled MAC address filtering) and everything works fine. I've seen this before on another linksys router and an iBook as well.

You might try disabling WEP for a while and see how it affects the stability of your connection.

[RMXO]

Originally posted by riverfreak:


I think I've found at least a culprit for this problem of network loss. WEP. I disabled WEP on my linksys (and enabled MAC address filtering) and everything works fine. I've seen this before on another linksys router and an iBook as well.

You might try disabling WEP for a while and see how it affects the stability of your connection.

unless u have some other form of protecting your network, i wouldnt turn off WEP

[iBorg]

Originally posted by riverfreak:


I think I've found at least a culprit for this problem of network loss. WEP. I disabled WEP on my linksys (and enabled MAC address filtering) and everything works fine. I've seen this before on another linksys router and an iBook as well.

You might try disabling WEP for a while and see how it affects the stability of your connection.

Hmmmmm .... never thought of trying that, so I'l give it a whirl! Actually, my home is in the country, so there's essentially no chance of anyone else getting close enough to intercept my Airport base station's signal, anyway!

Thanks for the idea!



iBorg

[RMXO]

Originally posted by iBorg:


Hmmmmm .... never thought of trying that, so I'l give it a whirl! Actually, my home is in the country, so there's essentially no chance of anyone else getting close enough to intercept my Airport base station's signal, anyway!

Thanks for the idea!



iBorg

i use to live in a house like that in Indiana when i was younger. too bad Indianapolis grew too big & made me have neighbors...

so how do u like it living in the boonies? sometimes I miss it & sometimes i dont. but one thing is for sure, i dont miss the long endless rows of corn fields when driving...

[riverfreak]

Originally posted by RMXO:


unless u have some other form of protecting your network, i wouldnt turn off WEP

Thanks for the heads up. Believe me, I do enough stumbling for networks myself that I'm aware of the potential problems. The linksys also supports MAC address filtering in addition to WEP which is nice. But now I'm having "wake from sleep, where's the network" airport issues. Grrr.

[jjs357]

I wonder if the following rings a bell with some of you. I am a new Ti/1Gig/Superdrive owner (love it except for the fan noise) and while airport reception is a bit worse than with the Pismo I am replacing, I am having a different problem that might be router configuration based.

I use wireless at home (old Apple platinum basestation) and at work (Linksys with 2 antennas, WEP 11 model). At home WEP is on as well as a password. At work we have MAC address filtering on and the network admin wants to turn off network ID broadcasting as well.

When the admin disabled the ID broadcast, my Ti book could no longer connect to the network -- couldn't see it and even typing in the Network ID in the Internet Connect app couldn't allow the Ti book to make the connection.

I even tried re-booting the Ti book and without a wired connection, the Ti book was very unresponsive while it apparently was trying to make a connection. After I turned off the airport card, responsiveness returned. After the ID broadcast by the Linksys was re-enabled, I could only get my Ti book to see the wireless connection after a re-boot.

But with a re-boot, connectivity was re-established and things were as before.

I would like to make the admin happy and let him disable network ID broadcast from the Linksys, but he wants me to have connectivity .

Anyone use a Linksys with their machine where MAC filtering is enabled AND network ID broadcast is turned off?

Jim

[Eug]

Townhouse owner here.

Well, one floor down I get full reception. I haven't tested it outside or in the garage yet (which would work with my iBook) but I never surf there anyway. The roof patio I'm sure would work since it's only one floor up and directly above the access point.

Interestingly, I for the first time noticed a weak signal from a completely separate wireless network. (I haven't tried my iBook with it.) I don't think it's because the TiBook has better reception than the iBook. It's probably just because somebody has gotten a new wireless router. 2 bars of reception.

By the way, it showed up as "linksys" and didn't require password. I couldn't access the net with it, but by the time I checked the signal again the link was gone.

Hmmm... I guess it's a good illustration that it's always a bad idea to surf unencrypted.

By the way, what is the battery bay antenna hack? I don't need it since I already full signal where I use the laptop, but I'm just wondering.

[RMXO]

Originally posted by jjs357:
I wonder if the following rings a bell with some of you. I am a new Ti/1Gig/Superdrive owner (love it except for the fan noise) and while airport reception is a bit worse than with the Pismo I am replacing, I am having a different problem that might be router configuration based.

I use wireless at home (old Apple platinum basestation) and at work (Linksys with 2 antennas, WEP 11 model). At home WEP is on as well as a password. At work we have MAC address filtering on and the network admin wants to turn off network ID broadcasting as well.

When the admin disabled the ID broadcast, my Ti book could no longer connect to the network -- couldn't see it and even typing in the Network ID in the Internet Connect app couldn't allow the Ti book to make the connection.

I even tried re-booting the Ti book and without a wired connection, the Ti book was very unresponsive while it apparently was trying to make a connection. After I turned off the airport card, responsiveness returned. After the ID broadcast by the Linksys was re-enabled, I could only get my Ti book to see the wireless connection after a re-boot.

But with a re-boot, connectivity was re-established and things were as before.

I would like to make the admin happy and let him disable network ID broadcast from the Linksys, but he wants me to have connectivity .

Anyone use a Linksys with their machine where MAC filtering is enabled AND network ID broadcast is turned off?

Jim

if the router doesnt broadcast I dont think you will be able to receive a signal or see the network.

[RMXO]

Originally posted by Eug:

By the way, it showed up as "linksys" and didn't require password. I couldn't access the net with it, but by the time I checked the signal again the link was gone.

Hmmm... I guess it's a good illustration that it's always a bad idea to surf unencrypted.

By the way, what is the battery bay antenna hack? I don't need it since I already full signal where I use the laptop, but I'm just wondering.

funny you said that. i know alot of ppl with linksys routers & they dont change the network ID. my neighbors hasnt changed theres. i think its time for me to test if they have WEP enabled. ehehhe.

battery bay antenna isnt really a hack. all you do is press on the antenna so it sticks better. press where the serial # or label is....