tom.bradbury@gmail.com hath wroth:
>I've just bought a Buffalo Air Station Ethernet Converter
>(WLI-TX4-G54HP) to use with my fairly new Slingbox.
I'm waiting for one to arrive in the mail for a similar application.
>I have tried everything,
Everything? That which is most obviously correct, beyond any need of
checking, is usually the problem. What have you overlooked or
ignored?
>but the connection between my router (Netgear WPN824) and
>the air station is flaky when near to each other, but non existent when
>more than 10 feet away from each other.
That's wrong. I've had problems with the WPN824 in not being able to
maintain a solid connection that was solved with a firmware update.
<http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/RangeMaxWirelessRoutersandGateways/WPN824.aspx>
This router uses beam steering to point the internal antenna in the
best possible direction. The problem is that the [deleted explitive]
at Netgear seem to find it cosmetically correct to show the router in
the vertical (tower) position. That's nice but the PCB antenna under
the (highly irritating) flashing blue light doesn't work vertically,
only horizontally. I don't think this will fix the 10ft maximum range
problem, but it might eliminate the problem where it's almost comatose
to clients located on the opposite side of the (highly irritating)
flashing blue light.
Also, you might want to turn off most of the wireless "enhancements"
such as Super-G, Turbot, or whatever they call it this week.
>I have been prancing around
>the sitting room with the Buffalo in one hend seeing if I can get any
>signal at all from the Netgear router which sits just above the lounge
>in the spare room/study.
It's a high power client. It should work farther than 10 ft. Methinks
something is broken with your new Buffalo client. Try it with a
different wireless router (neighbors, friends, hot spot, etc) and see
if it does the same thing. If yes, it goes back.
>I'm now considering a high gain aerial
>(WLE-HG-NDR), but before I throw even more good money down the drain,
>should I bother, and will I get a connection?
My crysal ball is getting its predictive troubleshooting circuit
upgraded so I can't predict the effects of adding a good antenna to
what might be a defective antenna. Incidentally, the connector is
just a common R-SMA connector. You should be able to borrow a
replacement antenna from any other wireless device with a similar
connector.
>I didn't think I would have any problem with signal strength, as I
>already use two laptops around the house without any problems, although
>the strength of the signal in the lounge goes from good to very low
>depending on where I'm sitting with the laptop.
Sigh. Lay the Netgear WPN-824 flat. Upgrade the firmware. Take two
aspirin. Don't bug me until tomorrow as I have some construction
scrap to turn into firewood first.
>I bought the Buffalo because of recommendations from loads of places on
>the web saying it is the best one. I have spent a day and a half
>trying to configure the bloody thing, trying to use WEP but then
>discovering that doesn't work so have had to change my network to
>WPA-PSK. Not a problem, because it is more secure, however, it now
>means my wireless IP camera doesn't work because it's only got WEP
>(more frustration!!).
If you used the Hex WEP key, instead of ASCII, it will work. Yeah, I
know that everyone hates typing in 26 cryptic characters...
--
Jeff Liebermann
jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
So bloody annoying!!! Argh! 
Linear Mode
