It seems like after 3pm when the kids get home the reception goes down. When I lived over by Tom I hsd to change my wireless phones to the dect 6.0 and got better reception. I think my airport cards are only capable of "G" and not "N", so I do not think a new router would do me much good and besides the one we have now is furnished by AT&T. It does seem like since I talked to a tech the other day my G5 is doing better until 3pm. I have been reeading about internet or reception boosters. Do they work? Would I be better off getting a WiFi usb and then getting an "N" Router? In the garage I am probably 50-75 feet away from the router.
Steve ________________________________ From: Lee Larson <leelar...@me.com> To: jbl...@win.net; Topics related to Apple and Macintosh computers <macgroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu> Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2012 10:01 AM Subject: Re: [MacGroup] Insight On Sep 16, 2012, at 1:34 AM, J. Blake complained: From a back bedroom I can get online easily during the day, but at night it's just a nightmare trying to get and stay connected. > >It occurred to me that Insight must be dialing back its Internet connection >during the evening. So I conducted a speed test; and sure enough, I'm getting >just half the Internet speed I'm paying for in the evening. > >Please tell me if I'm wrong. Otherwise, they will hear from me on Monday!!! I doubt it's an Insight problem. You don’t say, but I suspect it's a wireless connection. There's probably a lot more neighborhood WiFi traffic in the evening than during the day. Interference from the other routers can seriously degrade your connection. You can check on your signal strength by clicking on the WiFi icon in the menu bar while holding down the option key. This will show you your channel and other information about the connection. In particular, take a look at the RSSI and transmit rate. If the RSSI is -70 or less, then you have a poor connection. A low or fluctuating transmit rate can also happen from interference. Under 802.11g the maximum transmit rate is 54. 802.11n can go double that, in 5 GHz. (If you have any other g devices in use and you're using the older frequencies for your n connection, it won't go any faster than a g connection.) If your devices are compatible, make sure you're at 802.11n and 5 GHz. There are a few things you can try. Change the channel on your router and you might hit one that's less congested. If your devices are new enough, make sure you are using 802.11n instead of 802.11b or 802.11g and you're set for the 5GHz band. The higher frequencies of the n+5GHz connection aren't used by as many devices like cordless phones and baby monitors, so they tend to be quieter and faster. Those frequencies don’t go through walls as well, however. Move your router closer to the computer, or vice versa. This will increase the signal strength. You could also get a signal booster and put it halfway between. If your router is old, then get a new one. The newer routers are much more robust than those of even four or five years ago. There are a few programs on the App Store that claim to be useful for diagnosing WiFi problems. I've used one called WiFi Scanner, but I don’t claim to know it's the best. (It's only $0.99, so you really don’t have much to lose.) _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
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