M
My father's son
I just installed a Buffalo Systems WLAR L-11 802.11b network and although
I had slight problems getting the Buffalo PC card to work (which I cured in
3 seconds by putting in an Orinoco Silver one) the connection worked
perfectly and immediately and without configuration in Windows 2000. The
signal strength is reported to be 'excellent'
So I bought a D-Link WLR-122 USB receiver and put in on a Windows XP Pro
computer about 20 feet and through two very thin walls (practically in line
of sight in fact) but the D-Link won't really pick up the signal at all.
Occasionally it does log on (usually with what it calls a weak signal) but
won't transfer information and even when the signal suddenly gets reported
as being ' GOOD', it won't transfer data: I can't access the internet or get
Outlook Express to access my e-mail. But usually it just won't log on to
the network.
Interestingly when I go into the configuration and scan for networks (I am
on a 17th floor so there can't be THAT many networks all that close to me)
the D-Link software sees a large number of networks, some even reporting
signal rates as high as 86% and the scan process does see my network even
when it wont log on to it but nothing I can do will make this network work.
I checked with Buffalo tech support and they ensured that all channels and
configuration settings were set correctly (and on a Windows 2000 system,
this shouldn't be easy although it was) and with D-Link technical support
who did the same thing and then blamed the properly-working Buffalo network.
They did admit however that 802.11b is a bit like radio in that you have to
constantly adjust antennas and placement of receivers etc and that ANYTHING
can interfere with it, making the whole 802.11b system inherently flaky and
sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Is this fair comment or are they kidding themselves/myself? My next door
neighbour installed a Linksys a few months ago (I think it is an 802.11g and
everything in her home is XP) and has absolutely no computer knowledge
whatsoever and her system worked perfectly instantly she installed it. I
did ask her to turn hers on last night (she doesn't have encryption on
either) just to see what the effect would be on my scan and whether my
AirStation would log on to her network which is probably about 150 feet (and
numerous walls) away from mine and I suspect it would see it but I couldn't
log on to or get that to work either.
MFS
I had slight problems getting the Buffalo PC card to work (which I cured in
3 seconds by putting in an Orinoco Silver one) the connection worked
perfectly and immediately and without configuration in Windows 2000. The
signal strength is reported to be 'excellent'
So I bought a D-Link WLR-122 USB receiver and put in on a Windows XP Pro
computer about 20 feet and through two very thin walls (practically in line
of sight in fact) but the D-Link won't really pick up the signal at all.
Occasionally it does log on (usually with what it calls a weak signal) but
won't transfer information and even when the signal suddenly gets reported
as being ' GOOD', it won't transfer data: I can't access the internet or get
Outlook Express to access my e-mail. But usually it just won't log on to
the network.
Interestingly when I go into the configuration and scan for networks (I am
on a 17th floor so there can't be THAT many networks all that close to me)
the D-Link software sees a large number of networks, some even reporting
signal rates as high as 86% and the scan process does see my network even
when it wont log on to it but nothing I can do will make this network work.
I checked with Buffalo tech support and they ensured that all channels and
configuration settings were set correctly (and on a Windows 2000 system,
this shouldn't be easy although it was) and with D-Link technical support
who did the same thing and then blamed the properly-working Buffalo network.
They did admit however that 802.11b is a bit like radio in that you have to
constantly adjust antennas and placement of receivers etc and that ANYTHING
can interfere with it, making the whole 802.11b system inherently flaky and
sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Is this fair comment or are they kidding themselves/myself? My next door
neighbour installed a Linksys a few months ago (I think it is an 802.11g and
everything in her home is XP) and has absolutely no computer knowledge
whatsoever and her system worked perfectly instantly she installed it. I
did ask her to turn hers on last night (she doesn't have encryption on
either) just to see what the effect would be on my scan and whether my
AirStation would log on to her network which is probably about 150 feet (and
numerous walls) away from mine and I suspect it would see it but I couldn't
log on to or get that to work either.
MFS