Fed up with my wireless signal

Monsieur

Monsieur

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Fed up with equipment from virgin that clearly is not up to the job.

I've got a virgin super hub which is meant to provide a high quality wireless signall for my house. I use it for my desktop PC, my wife and 3 kids use it for their laptops and my son uses it for his xbox 360.

The signal is weak upstairs and frequently cuts out.

Got a friend who uses BT and his works perfectly.


So, my question is ... until virgin can provide a good, constant wirelss signal that can reach all rooms of my house what can I do to boost the signal?


Is there something that I can buy that can provide a wireless signal throughout my house?


Any ideas?
 
Wireless signals - the devil's own work!

First things first (and cheapest) - check the filters.

There should be a filter attached to each phone socket in the house - if you have a spare one - change one a time (starting with the one where the hub is attached to) to see if it improves - that might catch out a dodgy one.
 
how does the (ADSL) filter affect the wireless signal?

the OP appears to be with virgin, so is presumably cable anyway, and won't have any.

i would be looking at a better router, or something to extend the signal of the existing unit. you could try switching wireless channels in the meantime. that might make a difference.
 
Yes - sorry if I wasn't clear...
This is the virgin media wireless internet signal (cable). I have the virgin media super hub which provides a wireless sgnal to the house but my son finds it difficult to use his xbox and laptop upstairs as the signal is so poor.
What I'm after (if there is such a thing) is something I can use which will 'amplify' the wireless signal from the super hub.
 
Linksys E3000 will sort it for you :thumb
4 lan connectors plus 2 wifi bands and damn quick...
Sons laptop works in the garden shed, 20 meters from the house...
Also brilliant for online games...
 
Proff said:
Linksys E3000 will sort it for you :thumb
4 lan connectors plus 2 wifi bands and damn quick...
Sons laptop works in the garden shed, 20 meters from the house...
Also brilliant for online games...
Click to expand...

Looks good - how does it work?
Do I throw my super hub out and just use this?
Or does it connect in tandem with the hub?
 
There's nothing you can buy to alter the singnal quality of the superhub, best bet is to purchase another router / repurpose your old router and use it as an acess point on the network, it'll have to go in tandem with the super hub, quite simple really as i have done it recently with my superhub. My wireless signal seems ok at the moment but i've used the old wireless router as an additional aceess point further down the garden and the main pc runs on the wired network.

Method is this


Get another wireless router, connect it direct to your pc via wired connection and set it's dhcp settings to off and its lan adress to something other than the superhub ip adress ( 192.168.0.1 is the superhub default) you must only be connected to the new router at this point.

While your there configure the wireless system, If you set the wireless settings on the new router to be the same as on the superhub this should mean all the existing computers using wireless do not need password changes, they should find and use the new network without any issues. It worked this way for me :thumb2

For now keep the wireless on the new router off.

Next is to connect the new router to the superhub, you'll need a standard rj45 lead, go from one of the lan ports on the superhub to one of the lan ports on the new router. Once that's done plug a computer into a lan port on the new router and check you can connect to the internet, if so your almost home.

Next bit is swapping wireless networks, first switch off the wireless on the superhub then switch on wireless on the new router. If you want you can leave the wireless on the superhub switched on, as the settings on the router and the hub are the same the networks operate as one, that's how mine is configured. Tis great to wander down the garden with a laptop and not have to switch networks or loose signal :thumb2

It's that simple :D

If you need a hand i may be about this weekend, lincoln isn't too far away and the road there isn't bad either :D
 
Thanks RC :thumb2

80% of that went way over my head but if it works for you then it may just be what I need :D
I've got the old router and modem in the super hub box.
I'm away this weekend but then, being the sad man I am, I'm in after that until summer :rolleyes:
If you're passing this way...not far off the A15 :thumb2
 
Monsieur said:
Thanks RC :thumb2

80% of that went way over my head but if it works for you then it may just be what I need :D
I've got the old router and modem in the super hub box.
I'm away this weekend but then, being the sad man I am, I'm in after that until summer :rolleyes:
If you're passing this way...not far off the A15 :thumb2
Click to expand...

After this weekend i'm in australia for an as yet to be determined ammount of time, things people have to do for work :D

If you want it sorting i can pop over one evening this week, should not take more than an hour i'd guess.
 
tommorow seems best weather wise, don't want to turn up at your place looking like a drowned rat :D

I leave work at 4.30 so can be at yours for around 5.30, faster if i'm on the sv :D

Drop us a pm with your addy. :thumb2

Will be coming via gainsbrough, much better road than the a15
 
What do i need to have ready?
I've got the super hub, old modem and old router...
Do i need to get anything else?
 
You're a star!
What else do i need?
I've got the desktop wired to the superhub , the old modem and the old router?
 
No problem :D

That should be all you need, you'll also need another ethernet cable to go from the old router to the new hub, but i've got one of those kicking about anyway if you haven't got one. You won't need the old modem at all.
 
Worth checking that the router is on a different channel to your neighbours (do a wireless scan). If the channels are the same or close by it will affect the range of any device.

Network over mains can work well, they even do a wireless repeater that uses the mains to connect to your router then provides a local wireless connection.
 
the superhub automatically picks the best wireless channels for the network, plus there have been 'issues' with the wireless that virgin are looking into, for example on my recently upgraded connection i can get downloads of 30mb as advertised if i'm connected via a wired connection, if i connect via the superhub wireless that drops off to anywhere between 10 and 20mb.

There's no external antenna on the superhubs so it's all but impossible to upgrade the antenna, completly daft in my book.
 
Cooperman said:
Have a BT hub but son was not happy with gaming connection upstairs in his room.

He got a Netgear Powerline which uses the electrical house wiring to connect - hardwired to the router.

http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/powerline-and-coax/high-performance/XAVB5001.aspx

Had no complaints from him since so it must work :nenau
Click to expand...

:thumb Tried all sorts of wireless options (aerials, booster, changed router) but this is all that really worked. As a bonus, I connected an old (i.e. zero cost to me) WRT54G wireless router to it and run a second wireless network upstairs. The whole house gets very good-excellent wireless reception now. Wish I had done it ages ago.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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