I hate wireless - or rather, it scares and annoys me. So I don’t have much to do with it. But now I need to set up my main home PC to use it. I bought a TP-Link TL-WN851ND. I’m with Plus.net and using one of their Technicolour routers. I’ve managed to get the wifi working, but it’s very slow. So I’m looking for ideas on how to speed it up. My config info is posted at http://paste.opensuse.org/92652598 The speed and link quality are very slow. I have a netbook on thedesk next to my keyboard and it is working well (54 Mbps). If I put it on the floor near the computer, it slows down a bit (11 Mbps). Does that mean I need to replace the antennae on my PCI card with some on a long lead, or something like that? Or might there be a software reason?
On 08/07/2012 07:36 AM, djh-novell wrote:
>
> I hate wireless - or rather, it scares and annoys me. So I don’t have
> much to do with it. But now I need to set up my main home PC to use it.
> I bought a TP-Link TL-WN851ND. I’m with Plus.net and using one of their
> Technicolour routers. I’ve managed to get the wifi working, but it’s
> very slow. So I’m looking for ideas on how to speed it up. My config
> info is posted at http://paste.opensuse.org/92652598 The speed and link
> quality are very slow. I have a netbook on thedesk next to my keyboard
> and it is working well (54 Mbps). If I put it on the floor near the
> computer, it slows down a bit (11 Mbps). Does that mean I need to
> replace the antennae on my PCI card with some on a long lead, or
> something like that? Or might there be a software reason?
With a signal level of -85 dBm, you are lucky to get a connection at any speed.
You need some way to improve the signal at the PC. There should be a +7 DBi
antenna for the card, which will help. Alternatively, you might consider moving
the Access Point as something is attenuating the signal a lot. How far from the
AP are you? A long extension cable might help. You could also try looking at the
many Google references to cantennas, which are ways to focus the antenna instead
of using the omnidirectionality of the current antenna setup.
Thanks, Larry. I moved the AP one room closer (with a telephone extension cable) and turned the PC sideways so it isn’t directly in the signal path and now see:
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"PlusnetWireless99903F"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 58:98:35:99:90:3F
Bit Rate=130 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=35/70 Signal level=-75 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
while the netbook sees signal -1 dBm, noise -95 dBm
but moving the AP has dropped the DSL rate from 7-8 Mbps down to 5 Mbps.
I think there are a few options:
(1) try to find a way to run an ethernet cable
or
(2) use a low-loss cable instead of the telephone cable AND
(3) get remote antennae for the PCI card or
(4) get a USB wireless dongle and maybe
(5) build a cantenna or wokfi
I hate wifi 
On 08/07/2012 12:56 PM, djh-novell wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2478819 Wrote:
>> On 08/07/2012 07:36 AM, djh-novell wrote:
>> With a signal level of -85 dBm, you are lucky to get a connection at
>> any speed.
>>
>> You need some way to improve the signal at the PC. There should be a +7
>> DBi
>> antenna for the card, which will help. Alternatively, you might
>> consider moving
>> the Access Point as something is attenuating the signal a lot.
>
> Thanks, Larry. I moved the AP one room closer (with a telephone
> extension cable) and turned the PC sideways so it isn’t directly in the
> signal path and now see:
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:“PlusnetWireless99903F”
> Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 58:98:35:99:90:3F
> Bit Rate=130 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
> Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
> Encryption key:off
> Power Management:off
> Link Quality=35/70 Signal level=-75 dBm
> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
> --------------------
A level of -75 is a whole lot better than -85. With that, the device has set the
speed quite a bit higher.
> while the netbook sees signal -1 dBm, noise -95 dBm
>
> but moving the AP has dropped the DSL rate from 7-8 Mbps down to 5
> Mbps.
>
> I think there are a few options:
> (1) try to find a way to run an ethernet cable
> or
> (2) use a low-loss cable instead of the telephone cable AND
If you are not using Cat5 cable, or better, you will get the slowdown you are
seeing.
> (3) get remote antennae for the PCI card or
> (4) get a USB wireless dongle and maybe
> (5) build a cantenna or wokfi
>
> I hate wifi 
Then run an ethernet cable.
Well, that would be my preference, but the wife hates cables everywhere 
I’ll keep experimenting. Thanks again.
On 08/07/2012 09:26 PM, djh-novell wrote:
> the wife hates cables everywhere
for her birthday, give her a blindfold.
–
dd (and, duck…and, maybe prepare to move out)