Main > Everything Else
Wireless Networking...
MonMotha:
Classic example of a failing consumer wireless access point. They all seem to do the same thing: slows to a crawl, reassociating temporarily fixes the problem, and problems associating. The culprit is usually overheating. To save a few cents per unit, there's no heatsink in the darned things (they barely need one, anyway, but for reliability they should have one).
Replace it, and keep the new one reasonably cool.
Commercial grade gear won't usually do this, but then the AP will cost you several times what a cheap Linksys does and will probably be harder to set up as it will lack the "instaconfig" handholding modes that the consumer ones have, but then again it'll also do a lot more if you want it to.
That said, how many other networks are in your area? What channels are they on? There are actually only 3 independent 2.4GHz 802.11 channels: 1, 6, and 11 (and 12, if your devices can pull it off within the FCC's limits, which most can't).
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I use wired networks whenever possible. They're faster, too :)
HaRuMaN:
What about adding heatsinks / fan to the router?
Wired is currently not an option...
MonMotha:
That won't fix it now that it's dead, but such mods might prevent your new one from dying. Or you can spend a few extra bucks and get a good one. The "prosumer" aka SOHO category (~$100-150) tends to be pretty reliable. These will also usually be better (higher power, better antennas, more configurable, and you can even go dual-band 802.11n in that price range).
HaRuMaN:
What's a good brand name?
MonMotha:
Most of my SOHO LAN is Netgear, at this point, though my WAP is an old 802.11g Netopia built into my DSL router (with a Linux box doing most network management functions). I'm looking to replace it possibly with a Netgear WNDAP350. A friend of mine who admins a small office network has had good luck with Cisco WAP2000s, but they're only 802.11g; they do not support 802.11n or dual band operation. Be aware that you can get "Cisco" branded products ranging from $40 crap to $40000 "OMFG amazing but you don't need this" level, at this point, now that they've acquired and fully integrated Linksys. I've had good luck in the past with 3Com (15 year old switch still going strong after replacing the clogged up cooling fans ~8 years ago), but it's been a long time since I bought anything new from them.
Unfortunately, very few names outside of the truly "enterprise" space can be guaranteed to have quality stuff. They all have a range of products. You do generally get what you pay for, though, at least to some degree.
Both of the devices I identified by model number above are access points ONLY. They will not to any IP level routing, so if you're replacing a "home router", you'll need either a different product or another box to act as your router.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version