mightyyid

Chaps

Had my Linksys wireless WAG54G system (wireless router and ADSL modem) for a while now, with a Linksys wireless PCI card in the back of my machine. Distance between the two is about 20 foot, and although no walls, there is a cupboard, sofa etc in the way, although the router stands about 2 foot off the floor on a cupboard.

Having now had numerous issues, it seems to be time to change, as its getting frustrating to use. At times it just drops out - no internet connection and when searching (Win XP Pro) for wirless networks it cannot find one, the router had all 4 lights on (ADSL line, power, Session and WLAN). The only recourse, as it will not find the router again, is to unplug and then plug (in say 1 sec) the power to the router which then boots up, and the PC sees it again and of we go.

I've just ordered an extension antenna to help the signal, but it seems like Linksys system is pants. If I do change, what's the best to go for that seems to be able to resolve this. I bloody hate it and think it's lucky I'm not going through a wall or something...

Any thoughts or opinions? Many thanks
Andy

Muffleman

Hi Andy,

I've got the same system, not great is it ! Although the wireless network doesn't go down very often, it seems to lose the ADSL link - and the internet wont open.

Have you tried updating the firmware at all ? I had a look through the forums at www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk, and there's plenty on there about the WAG54G.

All the best



Matt

ChrisB

Another WAG54G owner here. It's a right old bag of pants.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19944.

RB5-Black

Glad I bought Dlink kit now. No problems on my Modem/WAP think its a 610+

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

I was under the impression the Linksys gear was thee setup to have. Got the WAG54 router + a wireless PCI card for my PC (router in next room). Signal was terrible, completely unusable and there's only a cupboard/wall and 25 feet between them. I'm hardwired atm...

To be fair the router does work well with my WiFi laptop over a slightly greater range (and through a ceiling) but still not as good as my old Draytek.

Anyway, yeah what alternatives other than Draytek is there because i'm not buying Linksys again!

Muffleman

Yeah I thought Linksys was supposed to be good stuff, bought the router, 2 pci cards and xbox adapter too. It's simply unstable

gregh

My Netgear DG834G works right around my house, upstairs and down, just one room it won't reach thru 2 outside walls and probably 75 ft away!

I added a cAntenna from here http://www.etherdesigns.com/pages/1/index.htm

Iain Young

I've had the same linksys kit for a while and have had no problems with it at all. I even get a good signal in the garden (through two walls, and about 30-40ft away), and I can't recall it ever dropping out....

planky

I got the same linksys and its has run faultlessly for 10 months and have had more problems with pc's and wireless card playing up,than the actual linkys unit.
Funny that i replaced my old netgear with the linksy cos the netgear kept on dropping its signal all the time.

Bob Rawle

I'm using KCorp hardware, their KLS5810 adsl router plus the KLG575 wireless gateway and the turbo pmcia and pci slot cards, in turbo mode range is huge, in excess of 75 feet, also means I can run two wireless networks at once both on separate DHCP control so my old 11b cards are sat on the second network and don't have any slowdown affect on the main ring. ( I get eight wired ports to boot, well seven as one is occupied by the wireless gateway router)

hardware from Scan.

Not the cheapest way to do it but really solid.

bob

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

lI got my self 5 linksys usb adaptors thinks well they are cisco so they will be good, couldn't be further from the truth, I have a a net gear card in my laptop which isnt bad I have a netgear adsl router which is ok not a patch on the draytek stuff http://www.draytek.com/

guy on scoobynet told me about them and they are head and shoulders above the rest


have you upgraded the firmware of the router and have you checked the linksys website for updated drivers, these usb adaptors wouldn't even work with out the updated driver ( the new drivers don't use windows wireless settings )

NickAdams

iTrader: (5)

Got the same kit at home - WAG54G router and WPC54G card for my laptop. In fairness,it's worked fine for quite a while now but the router AND pcmcia card have both been swapped out in the past under warranty.I have the Xbox gaming adapter (WGA54G) but cannot get the thing to connect to my wlan even when using a fixed ip address.Works fine when connected through the four port switch as it obviously would!!
Anyone else managed to get one of these things to work with a Linksys router? (I have 128bit wep plus mac address filtering enabled on the router)
Have to say the Linksys tech support is absolutely sh1te!!!

mightyyid

Thanks fellas - answers were good but if nothing else, seems to say that everyone is different. I think it needs to be sold and replavced, but first thing I have done is order an extension antenna for the PCI card so that can be sited high up. What bugs me is that the actual router (all fuly firmware upgraded etc) doesn't lose the ADSL line at all - all 4 lights are on. It's just the strength of the signal seems to vary, to the extent when it becomes weak enough, the PC loses the connection. Doing a 'repair' on it does nothing and when you check for wireless networks, it cannot find any. Unplug the power for 1 second, reconnect and 30 secs later when she's booted up, the signal is back again. P*sses me off...

I'm going to try the Belkin extended antenna and see if that helps the signal. My laptop sees the wireless really strong so me thinks either a dodgy PCI card or just that I'm fated where they are sited and thus need to improve signal strength. Will see how it goes...

Andy

Muffleman

Mightyyid ? COYS ?

At the moment, I have the PC in just two feet from the router - and I still have occasional problems (Before any smartar*es ask why on earth I have a wireless setup when the router is 2 feet from the pc - I'm currently decorating and have router\pc in the same cupboard )

Anyhoo, yeah the WAG54G does seem to be a bit 'random'

Let us know how you get on with the Belkin extension though.

All the best


Matt

mightyyid

Matt - will do...

Just seen Linksys have a new firmware on their system - must have been uploaded in the last week or so, so will try that now...

mightyyid

Actually - i take that back. It's a .bin file so no idea what to do with it - anyone with a Linksys been able to upgrade to 1.02.7?

Andy

Muffleman

Aren't all firmware upgrades .bin files ? Can't be 100% helpful as it's only from memory (router at home - me at work :rolleyes) , but there's an upgrade firmware option in the routers utilities, just point this at the .bin file ?

Matt

mightyyid

Matt

Yep - thanks, I just twigged I was being a muppet - so used to ZIp at the moment just didn;t think. Upgrade done so lets see what happens now... thanks

Muffleman

I'm running 1.02.5 I think, but I've read that 1.02.7 is worse ! However, it seems to be that some bios's seem better for some and worse for others.

Let us know how you get on with 1.02.7, but make sure you have the older .bin files just in case

Matt

ChrisB

I'm runing 1.02.1 and have the wireless DHCP issues the Inquirer link I posted above talks about. Cabled PCs are fine, single port forwarding for my FTP server works too. Oh, I also suffer from random wireless drop-outs (assuming you can get a DHCP lease in the first place).

I've also read that firmware 1.02.7 is pants.

Just about to order up a Corega COR-BAR-AWLA to see if that's any better. It will be on field trials for work *cough*. The Corega UK Product Manager rang me the other day to tell me about these, so I'll give him ear-ache if it's as bad as the WAG54G (is that possible?)

ChrisB

Hmm, I'm just reading the manual for the Corega and it bears a heck of a lot of similarities to the WAG54G

mightyyid

Chaps

Just purchased a Belkin wireless antenna - bought from Dabs.com for £25, and it arrived today. It seems to help the signal strength in that it can be placed on your desk while the machine is underneath, and looks OK. We'll have to see if ti makes a difference. Likewise the new firmware!!!

Interestingly, I have now reset everything and set up a new network (new name anyway) with WEP enabled, and my system now sees two wireless networks - one is the one I have created, the other is the 'default' one entitled linksys. It could be I used this some time ago before renaming one for myself, but how do I delete this one or is it just the default you cannot get rid off? Basically, I have no need for it, yet all my searching does not show it, and in my 'preferred networks' list, it does not show it at all - why is it there? Any thoughts?

Thanks
Andy

Scooby-Doo

D-Link is very good kit. I can use my laptop in my opposite neighbours house across the road down a hill in their back room and my router is in my under stairs cupboard If you can change the channel from the default 6 to another 11 or 12. Most people don't change this and you may get interference from other routers and wireless phones on 6.

Foot_Tapper

Some things I found affected the connectivity and signal strength.
Running any P2P software - firewall on router brings browsing net to a halt quite rapidly.
Signal strength problems can be helped by looking at beacon interval, Frag threshold and RTS threshold in "advanced wireless".
Here is some info on RTS etc http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/...080207e32.html

Dr Hu

OH ****!!!!:MAD:

Only yesterday I ordered one of these LinkSys kits for my bro in law.....

**** **** **** **** ****

shuffles off crying.....

DazV

I've got a mate with a wag54g and his is always dropping its internet connection - causing him to reboot to re-establish it.

looks like netgear or dlink are the boys to go for

ChrisB

I've stopped using the DHCP server on my WAG54G and swapped it to a W2000 box.

Last night, with my laptop about five inches from the damn thing, the wireless dropped out

Graz

Useful info, I'm about to purchase some wireless kit, was thinking about Linksys but having read this I think I'll go for something else, probably Netgear. It's a right minefield this wireless networking lark, seems like every router has some sort of issue.