wireless networks and modems
Moving into my parents house where my dad uses Verizon DSL and an Airport Extreme base that sits up high in his closet. All this works fine on his end of the house but it’s sketchy on my end. I get about one bar in the hallway and 0-1 bars in the computer room. When I do get a signal the speed is around 300kpbs. What’s the most technically nerdy way I can tell him to switch to cable, get rid of his 2002 macbook, replace it with something new and install a wireless card? My father and I also share German affinity for efficiency and thrift, so I just need to find a good technical way to tell him that making a big switch will create a more efficient computing experience and save him money in the long run. Crap…I probably just need to go create a spreadsheet to outline this crap.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:46 am
What speed is his DSL service? We run DSL (roughly 6Mbps) which I think is sufficient for our internet lifestyle (gaming, netflix streaming, etc). It sounds like the bottleneck is your wireless connection to the Airport. What speed are you getting when close to the Airport? What about when you ethernet directly into the Airport? You might consider a range extender (Airport Express?) or simply run an ethernet cable (attic?).
March 26th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I’m a fan of cable myself, but i think zenzer is right, sounds like the issue is the network range. Airport express can serve as a range extender or cat 5 cable is a cheap solution as well, run it up the wall and through the attic. His computer should be irrelevant to the network speed.