WiFi Help

Captain

Captain

Final Approach
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I have AT&T uverse. It comes with their router and that's what I'm using for wifi. I think I have to use their router. I'd like to extend the range though. I was thinking of getting an Apple Airport Express to boost the signal to the other side of the house.

Anybody have any experience with this. I 'could' route an Ethernet cable to the location of where I was going to put the apple AE but it'd be a pretty major hassle. I'm also thinking of going back to Comcast cable Internet as the Uverse is slower IMO. Can't even play COD BO as its too laggy.

Thanks in advance,
 
Last I checked, you could just bypass the crap AT&T uses (made by 2Wire) by...

Buy a good Wireless-N router.
Log into AT&T's 2Wire piece of dung.
Disable It's WiFi.
Plug your new router into the Ethernet jack on the 2Wire.
Put your Wireless-N router in the DMZ (directly on the Internet) in the 2Wire software.
Tell your router to get a DHCP address from its WAN side.

Then set up your spiffy new router to do whatever you like from there.

AT&T makes it a habit to tell you that this can't be done, and changing modem vendors regularly and jacking with the firmware loaded on them, so your mileage may vary.

Wireless will always have more lag for gaming than a wired connection, BTW. Impossible to avoid that little bit o' physics.

Just Google your specific 2Wire modem model and "bypass" and you'll find tons of folks either doing it, or shut down by the AT&T man. Haha.
 
denverpilot said:
Last I checked, you could just bypass the crap AT&T uses (made by 2Wire) by...

Buy a good Wireless-N router.
Log into AT&T's 2Wire piece of dung.
Disable It's WiFi.
Plug your new router into the Ethernet jack on the 2Wire.
Put your Wireless-N router in the DMZ (directly on the Internet) in the 2Wire software.
Tell your router to get a DHCP address from its WAN side.

Then set up your spiffy new router to do whatever you like from there.

AT&T makes it a habit to tell you that this can't be done, and changing modem vendors regularly and jacking with the firmware loaded on them, so your mileage may vary.

Wireless will always have more lag for gaming than a wired connection, BTW. Impossible to avoid that little bit o' physics.

Just Google your specific 2Wire modem model and "bypass" and you'll find tons of folks either doing it, or shut down by the AT&T man. Haha.
Click to expand...

I have AT&T and they let me install my own instead of theirs. They won't support it, of course, so be prepared to handle that side of it yourself, but you are not required to buy their router.
 
9 time out of 10 wifi issues are caused by frequency congestion. Make sure the channel you are using isn't next to any other channel used by any other wireless access point, like your neighbor. Most people use the default which is 6 for most implementations.
 
bdlarkin said:
Make sure the channel you are using isn't next to any other channel used by any other wireless access point, like your neighbor. Most people use the default which is 6 for most implementations.
Click to expand...

Remember there are only three non-overlapping channels in the 2.4GHz spectrum -- 1, 6, and 11. Like bdlarkin said, use anything other than 6, i.e., 1 or 11. For the love of God, do *not* select anything other than 1, 6, or 11 -- you would just be making things worse for everyone.

Better yet, do what denverpilot said, disable the built in wifi, and put in your own access-point, preferably a simultaneous dual-band access-point/router (2.4GHz and 5GHz, something like this (assuming your computer/tablet/device of choice can use 5GHz).

Personally, I would simplify the setup denverpilot recommended -- give the new router a static IP address, disable DHCP on the new router, connect only the *inside* of the new router to the AT&T ethernet. That way all IP addressing is served from the AT&T device, and you are using the new 802.11n device as an access-point only.

If you can, get two of them, put one on one side of the house, one on the other, both wired back to the AT&T router. Set one router to channel 1, the other to channel 11, and select 2 different channels for the 5GHz radio. I did this for my FiOS setup at home and it made a big difference.

One other tip -- do not select 40MHz channel-width for the 2.4GHz radio. Using it on the 5GHz is fine, but for 2.4GHz if you are have co-channel interference issues, this would just exacerbate them.
 
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I'm afraid I need to be spoken to like I'm in 8th grade...y'all going over my head.

So my AT&T Uverse router can have the WiFi disabled. I'm assuming I go to URL 192.168.0 to get to that settings page to do so?

Then I need two apple airport expresses? One to be placed next to the AT&T Uverse and another placed on the other side of the house. I'll have the cable into the back of the Uverse and Ethernet out to the in port of the apple AE. Then three Ethernets out of the first AAE (Apple Airport Express) going to my two computers and one to the second AAE.

As far as channels go I can pick automatic. Is that better or should I force channel 1 and 11 as suggested above. SSID names should be the same across both AAEs as well as passwords.

Am I missing anything? Sorry I'm sorta dumb at all this..
 
I don't think you could use an Airport Express to wirelessly extend your network from the Uverse router. I think that only works if your base station is another Apple Airport router. Would have to go double-check on that.

You don't really want to extend wirelessly anyway, since that halves your available bandwidth. It is always better to run an Ethernet drop from your main router to the access points that will give you the additional coverage.

The easiest experiment is just to move the router around. I recently moved mine (the 2009 model Airport Extreme) and got significantly better coverage and performance.

Next step up would be to get a good dual band router as suggested above. The latest version of the Airport Extreme is an improvement over the previous model, and Apple just introduced a new version of the Airport Express as well. It looks like a white Apple TV!

The 2wire DSL one I have is 2.4 GHz only and they suck. Depending on where you are, there can be a ton of congestion on the 2.4G band. 5G should be much cleaner. Take a look at this article:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...6-it-takes-a-neighborhood-to-fix-bad-wireless
 
I'm not familiar with the Airport Express so I don't know its capabilities...

But I used to live behind my church, and the church wifi was too weak to get to me. So I bought two Buffalo High Powered N Routers. I put one in the back of the church, and one in my house. I set them up as repeaters. The one in the church would repeat the wifi from ATT's router. The one in the house would repeat the wifi from the one in the back of the church. My computers would all connect to the one in the house. With this configuration I was not able to get nearly the 19Mbps that I could get if I went over to the church, but it was plenty fast enough to stream Netflix (before I fired them) and Hulu.

Now that I have my own house, I have one connected to my cable modem, and the other is connected to the first via ethernet. I discovered that with just the one router downstairs, I had trouble in the dining room getting/dropping the signal. I think I have decided that it must be the tile on the floor, because if I'm not over the tile, it worked fine. So since I already had a second router, I just went ahead and stuck it on the wall above the washer (in the middle of the house), run an ethernet cable between routers, and now all is good.

If you went with one of these routers, you may find that since it is high-powered, you don't need a second router. You may also investigate whether there is something between where you use your computer, and the router, and be able to solve the problem simply by moving the router.

Basically, there's a lot more to the equation than just whether a router is weak or not.
 
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I just added my own router. I see both the 2-wire and mine. I connect to mine.
 
SCCutler said:
My uVerse router is a blowtorch, strong signal all over the house. Guess they vary widely.
Click to expand...

Nah, they probably have a good signal, it's just 802.11g, on the overcrowded 2.4 GHz band.

802.11n dual-band gives a lot more bandwidth.

Honestly though, the small pipe is still from the router out to the Internet. You're just lowering latency and contention for the wireless channel between multiple devices by adding 802.11n, and the client machines have to support it, etc. The gaming latency and speed issue may still just be AT&T. It's worth testing to see if hard wired Ethernet fixes that problem. If it doesn't, nothing you do to the wireless will fix it.

I've split my network here. 802.11n with two SSIDs, one for the 2.4GHz network, one for 5.8GHz. Reason is, I have an 802.11g bridge to the upstairs bedroom where the LiveATC stream comes from. The 2.4GHz is slowed down by the constant 802.11g traffic. The 5.8GHz side is nice and fast. Any machines capable of 5.8, go there. Everything else goes on 2.4.
 
JOhnH said:
I just added my own router. I see both the 2-wire and mine. I connect to mine.
Click to expand...

If you are adding a secondary router, you don't want to put it inline with the existing router. Then you will be double NATing. Simply give it an internal static address and connect it to one of the internal switch ports (not the WAN port). There are WIFI range extenders. I have never used one, but that may be your simplest option.
 
So, here's an update:

I saw online that Amazon will sell me 200' of Ethernet cable for $20 or so. So I'm thinking a wired solution would be best as it'll be faster and allow roaming (where you can walk around with your iPad and the device will just switch to whatever is strongest).

So I head up into the attic to see how easy / hard it'll be to string the Ethernet cable from where my computer is now to the desired location for my future AAR.

Wouldn't you know, while walking around up in the attic I miss stepped and put too much weight on the drywall ceiling and fell through to my knees. Now I have a nice 2 foot diameter hole in the family room ceiling.

>: (



photo.JPG
 
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Ouch.... I'll bet you've got something to show for it yourself as well. :(

Well, at least drywall will fix, and obviously you aren't hurt bad enough to keep you from informing us. Sorry for your pain.
 
Watched a guy fall out of a drop ceiling once onto a desk, when we were pulling cable for our employer.

The third guy, who was under a different desk, punching down the ends, in his southern drawl just said...

"Is he dead?"

"Naw, he'll start cussing here in a sec..."
 
denverpilot said:
Last I checked, you could just bypass the crap AT&T uses (made by 2Wire) by...

Buy a good Wireless-N router.
Log into AT&T's 2Wire piece of dung.
Disable It's WiFi.
Plug your new router into the Ethernet jack on the 2Wire.
Put your Wireless-N router in the DMZ (directly on the Internet) in the 2Wire software.
Tell your router to get a DHCP address from its WAN side.

Then set up your spiffy new router to do whatever you like from there.

AT&T makes it a habit to tell you that this can't be done, and changing modem vendors regularly and jacking with the firmware loaded on them, so your mileage may vary.

Wireless will always have more lag for gaming than a wired connection, BTW. Impossible to avoid that little bit o' physics.

Just Google your specific 2Wire modem model and "bypass" and you'll find tons of folks either doing it, or shut down by the AT&T man. Haha.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't even have to disable the built in WiFi, just connect an external access point to an Ethernet connection on the AT&T unit. As long as the external router is on a different channel (preferably a few channels distant) there won't be any interference. And the external WAP should recognize the AT&T WAP and choose a different/vacant channel if it's in range.

I don't know how big your house is but my latest router (Belkin N dual band) gives me plenty of coverage inside the house including the lower level where my previous wireless router didn't penetrate well.
 
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gismo said:
You shouldn't even have to disable the built in WiFi, just connect an external access point to an Ethernet connection on the AT&T unit. As long as the external router is on a different channel (preferably a few channels distant) there won't be any interference. And the external WAP should recognize the AT&T WAP and choose a different/vacant channel if it's in range.

I don't know how big your house is but my latest router (Belkin N dual band) gives me plenty of coverage inside the house including the lower level where my previous wireless router didn't penetrate well.
Click to expand...

Bad idea.

802.11g uses a big swath of the old 802.11b bandwidth. Turning on another 802.11g or 802.11n router, even on a different channel number, is just jamming yourself in the 2.4 GHz spectrum.

Obviously the system is designed to back off and share... neighbors have routers and cordless phones and leaky microwave ovens, all in that same 2.4 GHz spectrum, and most folks can "see" multiple SSIDs in most urban neighborhoods. Everyone is ever so slightly slower when there's multiple 802.11g networks active in range of one another. There are some pretty good reports with solid testing and documentation on this.

5.8 GHz is better. Not necessarily because it's got less transmitters, but because it attenuates away quicker when passing thought walls and floors and what-not. (They also play some games with power levels... Less so with the 2.4 gear.) It both works I your favor that you're less likely to be bothered by your neighbor, and also against your own range limitations. (I have solid 802.11n 5.8 coverage in the house from the basement where the AP lives, but I can't connect from the detached garage in the back yard. Only 802.11n on 2.4 reaches the garage workbench...)

Disabling the AT&T router's wireless was to get rid of an interference source for the new router. A big, close, one.

Getting the new router into the DMZ and bypassing the AT&T router was to avoid having a double-NAT problem. One NAT from a private LAN to a single public IP is workable, two NATs from Internet address, to first private LAN IP range then to another private IP LAN range behind a second router will cause various problems.

Port forwarding can fix this, but I knew Captain wasn't going for an advanced home routing seminar here...

My LiveATC machine is behind a double-NAT. The world sees it living on a public address, but it's really two whole networks between it and that static public address. Certain network port numbers are forwarded into it from the outside.
 
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