Folks,

I have been setting up/upgrading my mom's PC and have come to the realization that her PC's poor wireless connection/reception is due to the distance and obstacles between the location of her PC and the wireless router. Her PC has a Zyxel G-220v2 wireless network adapter and it only gets 2, sometimes 3 bars (max). The connectiivty is spotty at best. I've been thinking of a few options and would like to hear your opinions on them:

1. Purchase a wireless network range extender, such as a Hawking Technology [HWREN1]. This would allow placement in a good sightline of both the router and the PC. This also appears to be fairly easy to set up, and would allow for future movement of the PC. Do any of you have experience with Hawking Technology units? If so what do you think of them? Do you recommend alternatives?

2. Install a dedicated ethernet cable between the router and the PC. This will be VERY difficult to do, based on the layout of the house. I could do this as I've done a reasonable amount of home renovation wiring work... but this install would be a pain... and it would fix the location of mom's PC in her house, instead of allow freedom of movement.

3. Purchase a new wireless router with much higher output. This would be simple to install, but it also might still require a more powerful wireless adapter on the PC. This, too, would be an easy fix (just more costly, and I want to minimize her cost expenditures). An recommendations?

I think that covers it. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Thanks in advance,

Elia

Well, this depends on what type of router she has currently. Going with a router that covers a larger area, like an N router instead of a standard G router would probably be the easiest solution. Doing this does not require updating the card in her computer. I would vote this the best option, unless you are already using an N router. This also allows her to get a good signal throughout the house, rather than just the area that the wireless has been "extended" to. A great option especially if she goes with a laptop and want to use it outdoors, or has a phone/PDA that uses wifi.

The next best would be to wire it, but due to the difficulty and the desire to maintain flexibility, I would say to go ahead with a range extender. I've not heard anything bad about Hawking's equipment. I have no personal experience with their stuff, but talking to some of my coworkers who do, they seem quite pleased with their purchases.

FadedMaster,

Thank you for your response. I've been looking into Hawking Range Extender and wonder if you might be able to clear something up for me. I have looked at the HWREN1 instruction manual for setup and while it appears to be fairly simple one thing isn't clear to me. After connecting the device to a network (with an Ethernet cable or a wireless adapter, I guess like the Zyxel G-220v2 units that my mom has), and seting it up, can it be disconnected and move to a preferred location, replugged in with power and set to run? Or does it need to always be connected via an ethernet cable to the router?

I have shyed away from the N type router because of (a) cost [thinking it costs more than the Hawking unit] and (b) being not a Verizon supplied unit it wouldn't have tech support via Verizon [be it what it is]. Maybe this concerns are unfounded. Your thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Elia

Ah, I just found an answer to my question regarding the Hawkings unit. It is set up while plugged into the router temporarily, then disconnected and placed where ever needed to fill out the wireless network.

There is also the option of balancing two of your options. You could go with a relatively powerful AP and have it wired to your router. This would mean you run some wire to where ever the AP is placed, and it would work much like the wireless extender, you could even opt to use the same SSID's and when any computer faded from one net to the other, you wouldn't even be able to notice the connection difference.

If I was doing something like this I'd place it somewhere where it would compliment the wireless router in a way that would cover the most area.

InfoJunkie4Life,

My folk’s house isn’t of a layout that permits a simple Ethernet cable routing, even if the extender is on the same floor. That sounds like a nice setup, though.

I am certain I am but a few short changes away from computing success (this is relative, as I consider myself an average computer user)…. But… I can’t seem to get my mom’s PC, the router, and the wireless range extender to play well together. I know I have clearly goofed somewhere between the PC and the router, and I think this at the root of most of my current problems. For reference, again, I have installed Windows 7 home edition on my mom’s rebuilt PC.

The first and biggest error is that while setting up the wireless extender, a Hawking Technology HWREN1, I had both mom’s PC and the Hawking unit Ethernet cabled into the router – so no wireless connection going on initially - when I try to connect to the internet I get an error message where it states that there is a conflict between the PC and the router, both having the same IP address. I’m not sure how I’ve done that….but apparently I have. The only place where I see the PC IP address (that I know of) is when I type use a browser, type in the IP address of the router and check the home network and all the devices on it. The PC IP address there is shown as a different number from the router’s IP address…so I’m not sure what is going on. What is also strange is that the PC shows up twice on the list of devices (? ).

The Hawking directions initially direct me to go to Local Area connection properties, select the “internet protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”, select “properties”, then select “Use the following IP address” and input both an IP address [192.168.1.2] and a subnet mask [255.255.255.0], and then select OK. That seems to go fine initially, but after errors I go back to this screen and the “Obtain an IP address automatically” is selected (thus negating my earlier aforementioned IP and subnet mask addresses. What gives?

I understand the fundamentals here (or so I think) of how this setup is supposed to work – the wireless range extender can be set to act as a repeater for the network. Thus the PC talks to Hawking, which talks to router…back and forth. Apparently it can be “Station” and “AP” at the same time. I’m not sure what those functions are, nor if they are germane to my problems. As I understand it, in repeater mode it acts as if it where a connected to the router. Is this correct or incorrect?

The wireless extender can also act as a server on the network, such that it would appear as a different “network” to which the PC could connect wirelessly. Does this matter? I am trying to set up a simple network.

Another one of my questions is: does the wireless repeater need a WEP (the encryption the router is set to) in order to connect to the router? And does it require a WEP saved on it which the PC will require in order to connect to it? Thus – two different WEPs?

My last question – do I need to enable the extender as a DHCP server? If so I believe I need to find or create more IP (like) addresses.

Any help you guys or gals can provide would again be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Elia

The very first ting I want you to do is download Netstumber from NetStumbler.com.

Then I want you to find a place in the house that offers an OK signal, not a great one. Next go through each of the channels to find one with the highest s/n ratio and use that one.

Next, the location of the wireless should be in the center of the space. If there are two antenna's put them in different random directions. If you can move the wireless router, then try to do so.

Now walk around the house looking the s/n ratio at various locations that the laptop will be used and evaluate obstacles.

I have a repeater D-link and it sits about 5' where I usually sit in a chair. I get very poor performance without it, yet the distance is about 5 feet.

Configuring a repeater.

Assuming the default address of the repeater is 192.168.1.1.

Go to your current router and I'll bet the address is 192.168.1.1. Conflict. Make sure the DHCP addresses don't include 192.168.1.100 through 1.255 (arbitrary). Reboot the router. Record the MAC address of the router. Make sure you know the WEP key.

1. Do a hard reset of the repeater.
2. Set the IP address of the hardwired computer connection to 192.168.1.200. Sm: 255.255.255.0. Disable DHCP
3. Connect via the ethernet cable to the repeater with the browser set to 192.168.1.1

You should be able to communicate to the repeater at this point.

Change the physical address to 192.168.1.200 for the repeater. The repeater will reboot or reboot it. Now go to 192.168.1.200 to configure the repeater.

1. Set the mode to repeater
2. Set the MAC address of the router as the repeated address.
3. Set the WEP key
4. DHCP and NAT etc should not be available options in repeat mode.

Remove the wired cable. Reconfigure the laptop to use DHCP and the wireless connection.

Netstumber will See two interfaces. The router and the repeater. Only one you will be connected too.

Now, you should also be able to go to 192.168.1.200 and access the repeaters configuration. Note this info on the bottom of the repeater. At the very least, the IP address.

PS: Repeaters can be configured as repeaters, access points, wireless links etc. The ports on the repeater can be used as though they are on the network. Network printers should be assigned fixed IP addresses.

InfoJunkie4Life,

Thank you for the responses. One thing to note is that I don't have a laptop (one of the three people left in the US that doesn't!). This is a rebuilt PC that I'm trying to connect via the Hawking unit. Thus - moving the PC around is a bit of a pain. I have already moved it up to where my sister's PC is at, physically next to the router, so that I can ethernet cable it to the router and install/set the Hawking unit.

When I had set up the Hawking unit initially, with the PC at it's intended location (across the house, down one floor) I found the repeater unit showed up with 4 solid bars, whereas the router showed up with 2 bars of connection strength. I think the "final resting spot" for the repeater will be OK. Part of my initial problem was that the WEP access key was incorrectly typed (duh). That has been resolved.

I think it is the whole messed up IP addresses that is causing me heartburn. I'll follow your advice with the set/reboots of the modem, and then the repeater. What's odd is that the repeater wasn't what had a conflict with the router in terms of IP addresses, it was the PC and the router.

Is there some way to also reset the IP address of the PC? This is one thing that is puzzling me.

Thanks in advance!

Elia

For XP, there is the network control panel for each connection and the TCP/IP properties tab. You can disable connections as well.

From the cmd prompt a few cmds are useful:

ipconfig /all lists the TCP/IP configuations of all adapters

ipconfig /release Releases an IP address assigned by DHCP


ipconfig /renew Renews an IP address assigned by DHCP

Just a quick follow-up to let you know that things worked out fine with the Hawking unit. Mom's little wireless network, with it's repeater, provides a far better wireless link than with just her router. It's definitely slower than a wired setup, but suites mom and dad's house well.

Thanks again for all the help.

Elia