Yet another ADSL wifi thread

[Maljonic]

I'm trying to set up my mum's network so she can use her laptop wirelessly with a BT Voyager router. I can connect to the intyernet with it with the ethernet cable and usb cable but the wireless bit is a total pain in the arse to set up. Why can't it just work?!

Sometimes the laptop detects the wireless network and sometimes it doesn't, this is like 2 feet away from the router, and my PSP can never seem to detect a wireless network. I think the router may actually be a bit knackered, it seems unusually hot even for a router. There's some kind of advanced setup thing that asks for a username and password that I can't get into using her broadband U and P, so I don't know what it's asking for.

I'm wondering if these BT Voyager things have a bad rep or am I doing something wrong and, if it's the former, what is a better model router to buy that sets itself up easier?

 

[nath]

The username and password will be for the router configuration - it's almost certainly admin/admin.

What you want to do is check the wireless channel under advanced settings - try setting it to as high as possible (usually 11, possibly 13 though the laptop may have problems accessing 13). The router should be fine for wireless, and if there's problems accessing it 2 feet away it's either a duff router or you've got some serious interference going on.

I had a client with an almost identical situation - turns out she had some extractor fans fitted and when switched off, the wireless problems disappeared - dodgy wiring it seemed. If it does seem really hot, it could be a duff router though. See if you can get BT to swap it out.

Oh, also - ensure that there's some security on the device, that often helps with the signal for some reason. BT ones usually have a 64bit wep key with the key printed on the base, it should suffice. If there's no security, put some on. If the laptop is relatively recent, go for WPA.

 

[Maljonic]

Thanks for the advice and help, I'll give it a try next time I see her.

 

[nath]

Np. If you decided to get a new unit - go for this:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=904351&category_oid=

Reliable and very easy to set up. Plus, if you have problems, I could give you advice from here as I install about 5 of those a week*.













*My job is gr8! :\

 

[PLightstar]

Would recommend Netgear Wifi Routers installed an older one at work as soon as we got Broadband and aside from a teething problems its been great, I even chucked out the BT voyager at home and replaced it with a 3com wifi router and never looked back the BT equipment has to many problems for me to care about, even my mate who used to work for BT techhelp told me to get rid of it, thats the main reason why he got sacked he kept telling people to replace there router as soon as BT gives it to them.

 

[Maljonic]

Okay I still can't get the wireless part to connect, the laptop detects the wireless network easily enough it seems but it will never connect when I click connect. Just get the error message saying windows was unable to connect to the network...

 

[Maljonic]

Never mind, got it working now. It didn't seem to like my mum's old PC and/or Windows ME with USB connection. I installed it all from the new laptop instead via the ethernet connection.