Re: Intermittent connection problem while traveling

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 12:22:47 -0500, trippclark
<trippclark.349oce@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> wrote in
<trippclark.349oce@no-mx.wirelessforums.org>:

>Last week while traveling and staying in a rented room, I and one of the
>folks with me both had laptops with Wifi capabilities. The person from
>whom we were renting had wireless internet and said we could use her
>connection. There was no security on their router. It was an always-on
>satellite connection. I do not know the brand or model of the router.
>We would always receive a GOOD or VERY GOOD signal, but often, and
>sometimes for hours on-end, we would both receive an "UNABLE TO CONNECT"
>message when trying to connect to this wireless connection, even though
>it showed a GOOD or VERY GOOD signal. What might explain this?

Signal strength isn't necessarily meaningful. You may well have been
defeated by wireless (radio) interference. See cause and cures of
interference in the wiki below. Since you can't control the
environment, your best bet is probably a directional antenna, which not
only boosts signal to/from the wireless access point, but may also
decrease interference from sources not along the connection path.

>The
>only thing that I could speculate was that her internet connection was
>"down." so YES, we could communicate with the router, but could not get
>to the Internet because she was not connected to the internet. Is this
>plausible? Is there a better explanation?

Easily tested by pinging the wireless router (default gateway in the
connection settings).

--
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