Odd Wi-fi Question ...

[Hum]

I just got a wi-fi booster for when I'm on the run with my netbook.

Supposed to boost weak signals, and it seems to.

I detected 2 'Excellent' signals, so just for the heck of it, I apparently connected to the two, at the same time.

Is this possible ? Should you do it ?

The thing is, doing this seems to slow down the whole Net surfing.

Speedtest simply slowed to a crawl.

Web sites don't fully load.

I haven't played with wi-fi much, so this is all new to me.

Thanks for any info. :)

[remixedcat]

what booster is it? is it Amped wireless? or something else?

it's not a TP-Link is it??

[Hum]

^ Running Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit

WiFi X10 booster --> http://www.betterwifirange.com/

After tinkering a bit, the SpeedTest.net doesn't seem to like the other network, 'Belkin N Wirless'.

Works OK with the usual network I use.

[remixedcat]

my sis had a belkin that only lasted a day so I wouldn't put it past it... LMNASO

[+BudMan MVC]

Thats not a booster - thats just a wireless card with a better antenna.. Looks a lot like a typical alfa card with suction cup holder.

Your not suppose to use it at the same time you use your built in wireless. Disable your built in wireless and just use the new wireless card you bought ;)

That website btw reminded me of this http://j-walk.com/other/wifispray/

I would not in a million years buy something off a site like that..

I bought the Alfa AWUS051NH 500mW awhile back, works great with back track right out of the box. And yeah sitting on top desk it picks up like 25 wireless networks in my area, vs say the wifes wireless card seeing like 7.

[Hum]

^ Why does it say 'Booster' and 'up to 10 times stronger signal' then ?

Why does it use USB port power ?

No suction cup included :(

Also, it seems to be running fine, without disabling anything.

[+BudMan MVC]

Yeah you can plug in as many nics as you want -- does not mean you USE them all at the same time connected to the same network :rolleyes:

Maybe you just need some of that wifi spray to go along with your "booster" ;)

Why does it say booster and 10X -- because you can clearly see who they are catering too.. The typical clueless user! Would you have bought it if said 500mw, with 5dbi antenna? hehehe

Where are the specs of the card and the antenna? is it 2.4ghz or 5ghz for N? What is it transmit power? What is the gain on that antenna? Etc.. So you bought the card because it said 10X on it?? Strength score 5 out 5 -- that sure seems like a technical spec to me :rolleyes:

[Guest]

I've seen better website designed on Geocities in 1997.

*Edit*

That website btw reminded me of this http://j-walk.com/other/wifispray/

Only just saw this. That's awesome :D

[Hum]

I don't have Alfa AWUS051NH 500mW.

Mine is Wifix10, 1000 mW rated power.

It is picking up some more network signals, and boosting the strength on some.

One other wi-fi question:

What would cause a 'good' or 'excellent' signal not being connected to ?

Too many computers using it .... ?

[+BudMan MVC]

they didn't include the suction cup holder because they are selling it as an add on

Look at the card in the picture from their site - that sure looks like a alfa card too me.. Which are good cards.

But your not suppose to use it at the same time as your built in card, atleast not connected to the same wireless network, etc.

Disable your built in card, and just use the new wireless card you purchased -- again its not a BOOSTER, that is just their marketing nonsense.

What is the model number on the card? From the shape I would say its a alfa card.

As to not connecting to a network, not the correct WPA PSK, WEP KEY would be my guesses. What is the setting on the network? WPA, WPA2, WEP, is mac filtering enabled?

"boosting the strength on some."

Yeah that's called an antenna with gain :) Vs that not very good antenna in your laptop case, etc.

[Hum]

they didn't include the suction cup holder because they are selling it as an add on

NOT paying $7 for a piece of plastic

What is the model number on the card? From the shape I would say its a alfa card.

As to not connecting to a network, not the correct WPA PSK, WEP KEY would be my guesses.

You guessed wrong.

It is not an Alpha card.

Bottom label reads: WiFi x10, 802.11b/g High Power, Wireless USB Adapter, a serial number, wifix10.com, Made in China (I'm shocked :s ).

And I was refering to unsecured networks -- No 'keys' or passwords needed.

Sometimes the wi-fi connects -- sometimes not.

I thought it was usually because the signal was not quite strong enuff, or too many computers were sucking up the signal.

[hjf288]

Ever heard of rebranding?

It kinda matches: http://www.alfa.com....Category=105479

Right down to the 1mW and Realtek 8187L Chipset

But yeah using both your onboard wireless and the USB adapter is not the wisest thing to do..

So just stick with your USB Wifi.. :)

[Hum]

^ Yeah, someone could have just repackaged an old design.

Right at the moment, I'm connected to 2 signals ! :woot: Feeling mad with Power

I'll try using my new gadget, without the built-in.

Maybe I'll even read the manual ...

Thanks. :)

[+BudMan MVC]

mad with power -- ok sure lets run 2 transmitters in the same freq band right next to each other.. That should allow for great reception on both of them ;)

Like using your laptop on top of your microwave next to your cordless phone -- that sure helps your wireless signal as well ;)

Your routing table is only going to use one of those to access the internet anyway by the way. One with better listed connection speed unless you have changed the metric, etc. Now you might want to do that if say you wanted to connected to devices on wireless network 1 on network 192.168.1.0/24 and same time connect to other devices on wireless network 2 that was on 192.168.2.0/24

connecting to 2 wireless networks with 2 different wireless cards is just asking for crappy connection on both of them. And if they happen to be on the same network - could cause you issues connecting to the devices on the one you want to connect to.

Turn off you built in and you should be good to go.

[Hum]

I have discovered there is no need to turn off the built-in wi-fi detection.

The list simply displays the normal and the boosted signals separately.

All you have to do, is not connect to the weaker 1st list.

I had 2 connections at the library today -- computer was on steroids -- got 6 meg download speeds -- amazing.

I still wonder why some good/excellent, Unsecured signals sometimes will not Connect.

[manroweb]

You are really not listening to what you are being told here.

Do not connect using your built in wireless adaptor, and the external X10 wireless adaptor at the same time.

Forget about the internal one, and just use the external X10 adaptor.

[+BudMan MVC]

And again -- you may have been connected to 2 at the same time at the library -- YOU CAN NOT USE THEM TOGETHER FOR ANY EXTRA SPEED!!!

TURN OFF THE INTERNAL CARD!!! Right click the built in card in your network connections and disable, or in your bios disable.

Why do you need to see 2 listings of the same freaking networks??? :rolleyes:

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

If you had 2 APs using 2 different channels, and a computer with 2 NICs connected to each AP, would bonding work well?

It doesn't apply in this situation (Since they're connecting to the same AP), but it could be useful if you have a system that can only do b/g.

[Hum]

^ Sorry Decrypter -- wi-fi is fairly new territory for me, so I don't completely understand what you are saying.

You are really not listening to what you are being told here.

Do not connect using your built in wireless adaptor, and the external X10 wireless adaptor at the same time.

Forget about the internal one, and just use the external X10 adaptor.

I did experiment with turning off the internal wi-fi. (The poorly written Chinese/English user manual does not say to.)

Does not appear to make any difference.

There are still some Unsecured, good/excellent signals that won't work, even tho it connects.

My guess is now, that a router is running, but not the DSL/Cable modem.

The interesting thing with having the 2 lists is, you can compare the normal signals to the ones strengthened by the ext. wi-fi.

The ext. wifi module sure gets warm, if it isn't amping up the signal.

One thing I have learned, is just how alive the air is around here. :laugh:

[+BudMan MVC]

"If you had 2 APs using 2 different channels, and a computer with 2 NICs connected to each AP, would bonding work well?"

What are you using to bound your wireless nics? Do you have some special software from the maker?

I thought I had gone over this already.. Just because you have multiple connections to the same network, does not mean that both connections are used in conjunction with each other. Your routing table will determine which interface is used to talk to that network -- its not going to round robin or use use them both for any sort of communication on that network.

Based upon the metric of the route -- this will determine which interface is used to talk to that network. If you have more than one interface, be it wired or wireless -- the OS will use the best metric to talk to that network.

"is just how alive the air is around here." "The ext. wifi module sure gets warm, if it isn't amping up the signal."

Sure -- you have a better antenna, so sure its going to see more wireless networks. Yes its going to get warm -- I would have to assume its transmitting at a higher power level than your built in card. Didn't you say it was a 1000mw? And the built in card is buried inside your laptop - so not as easy to determine the heat its giving off.. While your add on card is in a tiny little case, with no sort of extra cooling like the fan in your laptop, etc.

Sure if you want to play with how many more signals your better antenna gets you, and the strength of the same one network.. That is a reason have them both on. But after that novelty wears off. The running of 2 cards is just going to cause interference for no reason - and just suck power off you laptop batter for again no good reason. Shut down built in card to save power and lower interference.. Or just use it when you don't have need for the add on.

Unless that new card is N and your built in is only G and you have access to N - if your wireless network is close, I see no reason to use the external card. In a normal setup your more than likely not going to see any difference in speeds. It just going to make for a clunky setup and extra power consumption when not required.

What is your built in card G/N 2.4/5ghz -- what network do you use (150Mbit, 300Mbit, 450Mbit for N?) If the capabilities of the cards match up in this aspect your not going any real performance difference between the cards. Now sure if the network is farther away -- then sure you should be able to get more speed out of your new card. But if say in your house and good signal from your AP -- your not going to see any real difference in speed.

So for example

Here is my built in card -- has NO antenna on it at all - its inside my desktop, under my desk. I disabled my wired nic.

[156] local 192.168.1.219 port 4662 connected with 192.168.1.8 port 5001

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth

[156] 0.0-10.1 sec 26.7 MBytes 22.2 Mbits/sec

Now here is my alfa card.. Now it is maybe 3 feet from the AP.. Disable built in wireless, wired nic still disabled

[156] local 192.168.1.64 port 4693 connected with 192.168.1.8 port 5001

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth

[156] 0.0-10.0 sec 28.8 MBytes 24.1 Mbits/sec

less than 2Mbits difference on this simple test.. If did lots of tests and averaged out the results - and put an antenna on my built in card ;) Your not going to seem much difference.. It sure an the hell not going to be 10x different ;)

Where it makes sense to use that external card is sure the AP is distance away and having trouble with signal strength, etc. Or if that card has more capabilities than your built in card say N, 300Mbit vs 150Mbit - I would have to assume it clearly has more xmit power -- so your EIRP is going to be your xmit power plus gain of your antenna,etc. Now the xmit powers are regulated by what country your in, etc..

So for example US b/g is limited to 20dBm while N is like 27.. 1000mw = 30dBm.. This is not allowed for b/g/n in wireless networks in the US.. But depending on what your using to control the card, this is simple enough to change.. In linux you can load up a different country from the built in database, and get more channels and more power.. Depending on what country you are in, or load. Not sure you can do this in windows - if so, not sure how?

Your card is not going to be putting out 1000mw out of the box -- I highly doubt that for sure!!!

But sure depending on the built in cards feature, the wireless network your connecting too features.. Interference in the area, distance to the AP, etc. etc. lots of variables for sure -- the card will give you better results. But then again as you see from my above example -- it could also be pretty pointless to use -- depending on all the variables..

If you want to maximize the performance you get over wireless then I suggest you understand the basics of what is involved in making the connection. So you can best utilize the hardware/software/protocols.. Buying something because it states 10X stronger is not something I would suggest.

But I hope it works out for you -- if its a rebranded alfa card, then your prob going to get good results with it. But you would of prob gotten a better price, manual in English ;) The suction cup holder, etc.. For a cheaper price buying from a actual reseller of the actual alfa card.

If you want to troubleshoot connecting to a unsecured network - happy to help. Just have to go through what exactly is happening, the settings, the AP being used... etc.. Start up a new thread and we can work through that issue.

[Hum]

^ I'm simply trying to learn something about wireless networks.

Both the internal & external wifi detectors are G -- the ext. claims to be N compatible, up to 54 Mbps.

Combining 2 signals did seem to work better at the library -- normal was 3 meg, combined went over 5 meg.

Maybe it was a fluke.

I was also trying to figure out why some Unsecured signals either won't Connect, or if they do, they still don't provide Internet.

Some networks need a log-in, some want a Name to log-on.

Some signals work at times, while other times they won't connect.

I'm not really having any major wifi problem.

I am glad I got the booster/antenna thing.

Provides better, more signals.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

"If you had 2 APs using 2 different channels, and a computer with 2 NICs connected to each AP, would bonding work well?"

What are you using to bound your wireless nics? Do you have some special software from the maker?

I thought I had gone over this already.. Just because you have multiple connections to the same network, does not mean that both connections are used in conjunction with each other. Your routing table will determine which interface is used to talk to that network -- its not going to round robin or use use them both for any sort of communication on that network.

Based upon the metric of the route -- this will determine which interface is used to talk to that network. If you have more than one interface, be it wired or wireless -- the OS will use the best metric to talk to that network.

...

I'm not actually running this setup (All my gear is N) and really don't have any interest in doing so, I was just wondering how well it'd work (after reading up on link aggregation)

I don't think normal aggregation would work well as it needs support from the switch side as well (In this case, a wireless AP, so doubtful), but there's methods like "balance-alb" in Linux that work on a software level in the host, but that introduces the question of how well a WiFi network would work, when the host changes it's reported MAC address for nearly every packet.