can someone explain to me how an in-home wireless router works?

[TorchTheWitch]

Last edited Mon Mar 14, 2016, 06:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Since the landlord (who I live with in his house) had to switch from Verizon internet service to Xfinity I'm the only one in the house that is barely able to get internet - to the point where it's almost useless. The router is in the room of one of the other tenants because that's where the guy that came to hook it up said we got the best signal. He has the router right next to his window with the aerial pointed out the window which happens to be the opposite direction of where my room on the first floor is located (my room is at the back of the house).

Other than dial-up internet, I've only ever used Verizon FIOS before both when I had it for just myself and had the router directly connected to my computer and here when that router used to be in the landlord's room, and never had any connection issues at either place. I have no idea how the router for Xfinity even works since it isn't fiber optic.

What is the aerial on the router for? Is it to pick up the Xfinity signal floating through the air or is it to pick up the other computers in the house? Since no one else but me has any problem with their internet connection, the landlord doesn't seem to be doing anything about my internet being next to useless for me even though I need it to get work, enter my time so I can get paid for the temp jobs I've been doing, find directions to temp jobs, etc.... I can't function without internet that works as it's supposed to.

What's also weird is that the signal that I'm getting doesn't seem to have fuck-all to do with whether or not I can get to any site or when it completely craps out. Sometimes it's worked generally ok even when it says the signal is "low" and doesn't work at all when the signal is "good" or even "very good".

The tenant who is the resident tech geek (whose room the router is in) has tried to find out the problem with my internet and can't figure it out.

Also, the guy that came to hook up Xfinity in the house didn't seem to really know what the hell he was doing. He should only have been here for about an hour, and he was here the entire DAY and checked no one's connection except for the tenant's computer where the router is now located. It seems to me that Xfinity needs to correct whatever the hell is the problem, but it isn't my house or my account, so there's not a thing I can do about having Xfinity come out and deal with it.

I've lost THREE good paying jobs since we first lost the Verizon internet because the landlord didn't have the money to pay the bill which was the reason for the switch to Xfinity. My last temp job just ended last week, and right now I have no work and it's all because of not having decent internet connection!

At this point, the resident tech geek thinks there must be something wrong with my computer, but there's nothing wrong with my computer - I only got this problem with the switch to Xfinity.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I'm completely at my wit's end!

TIA

[JayhawkSD]

1. best computer help site I know of.

Go to Virtual Dr to get help with computer problems. They have the most knowlegable people I know of on all aspects of computer technology. Your issue would probably be best posted in "Internet Related Issues" forum.

[TorchTheWitch]

2. thank you!

[saturnsring]

3. How does Wi-Fi wireless Internet work?

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=how+does+an+in-home+wireless+router+works%3F

If you have wireless Internet access at home, you probably have a little box called a router that plugs into your telephone socket. This kind of router is a bit like a sophisticated modem: it's a standalone computer whose job is to relay connections to and from the Internet. At home, you might use a router to connect several computers to the Internet at once (saving on the need for several separate modems). In other words, the router does two jobs: it creates a wireless computer network, linking all your computers together, and it also gives all your machines a shared gateway to the Internet.

Pie charts showing the vast growth in mobile phone and Internet access between 2000 and 2010

You can connect a router to all your different computers using ordinary network-connecting cables (for the technically minded, these are called RJ-45, Cat 5, or Ethernet cables). This creates what's called a LAN (local area network) linking the machines together. A computer network is a very orderly affair, more like an organized committee meeting, with carefully agreed rules of behavior, than a free-for-all cocktail party. The machines on the network have to be hooked up in a standard way and they communicate in a very orderly fashion. The rules that govern the network setup and the communication are based on an international standard called Ethernet (also known as IEEE 802.3).


they are not all the same and the signal can be affected by not only what's in the wall but also the paint on the walls

you can run a speed test on your computer. if the speed is ok then the problem is most likely in your computer somewhere

clear temp internet files when that gets full it can slow you down

[TorchTheWitch]

4. how do you run a speed test on the computer?

Is this a computer speed test or an internet speed test for this particular computer or is that the same thing?

Thanks for the advice about getting rid of temp internet files. That seems to help a little bit, and I haven't cleared them out in ages and ages.

[saturnsring]

8. well you can use any search engine and lookup speedtest there are alot of them but you can use

http://www.att.com/speedtest/

[TorchTheWitch]

10. well, I've been trying, but I keep getting an error

Damn internet is probably so barking slow it's not even registering.

Why would the weather have anything to do with my connection problems? Because it's always at its worst when we have wind/rain/cloud cover... especially wind. And it's been really windy today.

Btw... when I mouse over the internet icon in the tray it gives me my signal (which has been "low" since this wind started up last night and what it tends to usually be for me anyway) and the speed is usually about 14.5 mbps though I have no idea what that means. Does that number give my internet speed that this speed test is supposed to do?

[saturnsring]

12. well if the service comes thru cable or thru the phone line or even satelite it's going thru the

weather so if there is anything wrong with the line supplying your service the weather will aggravate it

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

13. Try this website to test your connection speed:

http://www.speedtest.net/

[TorchTheWitch]

14. I have no clue in the world what these numbers mean

The first test I did used a server in Horsham which is not really anywhere close to me at all and the Ping was 138 ms, the download speed was 0.10, and the upload speed was 0.16.

The second test I did used a server in Philly, and the ping was 28 ms, the download speed was 0.24 mbps, and the upload speed was 0.13.

And like usual, when I put my pointer on the internet connection icon in the tray it's still saying my "speed" is 14.5 (which it almost always says), and my signal is "low".

And I have no idea what any of this means. LOL!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

15. WiFi Numbers

Torch --

"ping" is the amount of time it takes for a signal to "bounce back" from another server ("server" = internet provider). Think of ping from old WWII submarine movies -- the shorter the ping the closer the sub. In this case, you are generally looking for the smallest number ping.

"download speed" is what determines the rate you receive data. If your computer was a bucket, it indicates how quickly it would fill up. In this case, the larger the number the better. For reference, I pay about $50/mo. and get 2.50 Mbps (Megabytes per second) service. That's not very fast for the price, but it's all that's available that fits my budget. We live in the desert, so we can't get cable and the best we can get over land line is 256 kb/sec, which isn't fast enough to watch YouTube, etc.

If my internet service could be viewed as a garden hose, cable internet is a fire hose, with speeds exceeding 40 Mbps.

If your download speed is 0.24 Mbps, that's really slow. You're probably finding it taking a long time for pages to load, and playing YouTube videos play with lots if pauses. What I used to do when I was on dial up was to add to my Firefox browser an addon called "Video Download Helper" and then save the video to my hard drive for playing without interruption.

My understanding of wi-fi is pretty limited, however, it makes sense that you want to be as close as possible to the router (electronic device that converts signals from wire to radio waves), and you want as few walls between your computer as possible.

There are devices that can boost the power of a router. They're called "range extenders" and can cost between $35-$100 at Walmart or Amazon. I don't know how effective they are -- my computer is right next to my router.

What I would suggest doing first, though, is run speedtest.net on the computer closest to the router to see what it's getting. It's possible the signal is poor at the source. If you have a laptop, take it to a place closer to the router and see what result you get.

Let me know if any of this helps.

[TorchTheWitch]

16. I've used video download helper on firefox for years, but

for months it hasn't been working. I think using Internet Download Manager which refuses to remove itself from my computer has screwed up my video download helper or any other video downloader I've tried to use. I actually really like IDM, but can't afford to buy it even though it's only about $25 and don't have a way to buy it off the internet as I don't have a creditcard, and it won't accept a VISA gift card as payment.

Any video I can't get at ALL, which is even worse than my old dialup that I paid $30 a month for years ago. Photos often don't finish loading either, particularly maps which I REALLY need because of temping for work and going on job interviews, etc. I just HAVE to be able to use Mapquest, and I can't even get the driving directions to load. I've lost THREE jobs because of this internet problem that's been going on for over a month now, and my last temp job just ended last week with my only having worked half the week, and I've got NOTHING in the pipeline until possibly the beginning of April because of this, and with the low pay I get I can't survive without some work starting early next week.

The tenant whose room the router is in works every hour God made, and we very rarely run into each other. I likely won't see him until the weekend, and maybe not even then. We all lock our rooms, so there's no way for anyone to get to the router that's in his room. I also don't have a laptop (if I did, I could use it somewhere else in the house where I could get a better signal).

I know that J, the tenant who has the router in his room right next to his computer is getting great internet. Last weekend we watched a funny movie on the net in his room and it worked great. I don't know if his computer is directly connected to the router or not.

Living here is the first time that I ever had to use a home wifi network where many other devices in the home all used the same router, so I'm clueless as a bag of rocks about all this stuff.

Someone else had mentioned the range extender, but that's something that the landlord is going to have to deal with - it's his house, and I'm sure as hell not using my own exceedingly meager funds for it. I pay rent to cover this service just like everyone else here, and I'm not getting it.

I'm irritated, too, that every damn thing about working and looking for work, even getting paid, or calling out sick, etc. ALL goes through internet. Everyone expects me to have a laptop, a desktop, a smartphone... one agency even wanted me to do a job interview through skype! Like I'm going to invite some stranger for a job interview into my BEDROOM??? Ugh. I don't even have a webcam on my computer, and I sure as hell don't want one that's probably just spying on ME.

Thank you so much and too everyone else, too, for all the help. I'm about ready to bash my head into a wall with this madness.

Thank the gods that the one place I can usually get to and use is DU!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

18. If you Skype, be sure to clean off your shelves

[TorchTheWitch]

19. OMG!

[Fumesucker]

5. If you are using the wifi built into a laptop you can almost certainly do better

The built in wifi particularly in older laptops just isn't that good usually, a USB wireless adapter could possibly boost your connection strength a lot.

My internet comes over a weak wifi signal from a considerable distance away through trees and I've found the antenna and the wifi adapter make the most difference.

All wifi hardware is definitely not created alike...

[TorchTheWitch]

6. I don't have a laptop

All I have is my desktop which is what I really need. I don't even have a smartphone (can't afford it).

Now my current problem is running into either my landlord or the tenant that has the router in his room. None of us ever seem to run into each other except sometimes over the weekend.

[Fumesucker]

7. Desktops don't commonly come with wifi

Somewhere there should be an antenna, a little short one about length and diameter of a normal pen is common. There will either be a wifi card in the PC which means the antenna will be on the back of the computer or there will be a USB wifi adapter which could be plugged into any USB port.

Orientation and position are critical for wifi pickup with older gear, a few inches move one way or the other can make the difference between signal and no signal.. It's like adjusting your TV antenna back in the days of rabbit ears, play around with the antenna and you may get a better signal.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. I don't have an antenna on my computer

I have a little widget that plugs into a USB port on my computer (I think it's called a dongle) that also uses software that came with it to hook up to the home wifi. I used it with the old Verizon we used to have and it worked great.

When you're talking about orientation and position do you mean the router or my computer? I can't do anything with the router because it's in another tenant's room because apparently that's the room that got the best signal, but for some reason he's got the aerial on the router pointed out his window which is directly opposite where my room is.

I also can't put my computer anywhere else but under the desk where it is because my room is the size of a breadbox... I have to sleep on the floor because there's no room in here for a BED.

[Fumesucker]

20. The little widget has an antenna, it's just small and not very sensitive

They really aren't much better than a laptop built-in. If you can find a USB extension cable so you can move the widget around a bit that can be helpful sometimes. Also be aware that microwave ovens will interfere with wifi sometimes, mine isn't reliable when my microwave is on.

If there is more than two or at most three walls between you and the signal source then you are likely to have problems without a good antenna/widget on your end. None of this stuff is created equal and if the company gives you a worse router than what you had before then your adapter has to be better to make up the difference. It might cost them a dollar more to buy a good router but if they sell a million of them hey, that's a million dollars.

[TorchTheWitch]

11. I think Xfinity gave us a piece of crap router

I'm not getting why he's paying them for this service that isn't bloody working all over the house. The landlord has a laptop though he usually just uses his smartphone and the few times he's used it he's said that even though he's in the room right next door to the room where the router is he can't get streaming video very well. The tenant who has the router in his room though is getting internet just as good as when we had Verizon.

I've also noticed that the one and only site that I haven't had much problem with is DU. Even my yahoo email often hasn't been able to load today. Mapquest and a lot of other sites I can't manage to get to load at all.

[Egnever]

17. it sounds like the service is not working correctly

Above someone suggested running a speed test from a computer closer to the router. I would highly suggest doing this as well as it will give you a good idea if it is working correctly at all. The result you posted above is pathetic and would not be good for anything other than basic web pages.