# evidently, wireless/wifi doesn't work...



## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i had a long conversation with 'jason' at rogers yesterday.

he patiently, carefully and in complete detail explained that wireless...doesn't work.

oh, it works if you are on the same floor/level as the modem, and if you are not too far from it, and if you live in the boonies where other wireless customers are a significant distance away.

otherwise, it's a choice between connecting your various devices on the various levels of your home to your modem via a cable, or purchasing several repeaters/transmitters that plug into your electrical outlets.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

david henman said:


> ...i had a long conversation with 'jason' at rogers yesterday.
> 
> he patiently, carefully and in complete detail explained that wireless...doesn't work.
> 
> ...


I guess I'm not really typing this then, as my laptop in the kitchen is obviously too far from my router in the basement.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Sounds like bullshit. My wireless works on all floors, outside, everywhere............


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

umm.. what?

my modem and router is in my basement... my wireless works throughout my home... even on my 2nd level.... I'm pretty sure it even reaches my detached garage out back


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i'm experiencing a lot of dropouts. during peak hours, they come fast and furious.


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## J S Moore (Feb 18, 2006)

A good friend of mine in the industry told me that certain appliances will cause signal drops. Specifically microwaves. I use to hear mine through our portable phone. If you live in an apartment or an apartment style condo that might be a cause. As of this writing I'm on the third floor with the wireless modem and my wife is using her tablet on the porch, right through three floors of plaster, wood and brick.

Edit: A friend of mine, when he couldn't afford internet after his wife turfed him out, used to connect to the Starbucks wireless 5 blocks away from his apartment. He would get dropouts but he could connect and get things done.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Mine seems to have good range. I can use it in my back yard, basement, attic, front porch.

Yeah I know, I spend too much time on line.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...there is an error message on the laptop: evidently someone else has the same IP address.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...yes, you do, and i have reported you to my mom.



Milkman said:


> Mine seems to have good range. I can use it in my back yard, basement, attic, front porch.
> 
> Yeah I know, I spend too much time on line.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

sounds like jason was hired yesterday

I'm no expert on the matter, but to the best of my knowledge wireless routers have adjustable frequencies. At my last house I was getting 80mbps download speeds from my computer and about 2mbps from my laptop. I called rogers to complain and the tech was able to change the settings over the phone and it worked fine.

Not to mention that most people can pick up their neighbours wireless signal and tap into it if it's unlocked. When I drove across canada several years ago we would just stop in front of an apartment complex and steal someone's wireless internet for a few minutes to check emails and share pictures.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

david henman said:


> ...there is an error message on the laptop: evidently someone else has the same IP address.


Again, i'm no expert, but i'm 99% sure that means that another computer on YOUR network (i.e. another device connected to the internet through your router) has taken the address. Your router should automatically assign ip addresses so they're not conflicting, but if it's not there are several walkthroughs of how to manually assign a new ip address for your laptop. try a google search and include which version of windows you're using.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Wireless is the only way to go, and always make sure your router is locked or half the neighborhood will be using your internet. I am still shocked at how many open connections I can pick up.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Brain cancer he we come!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

It works, but in my context doesn't work quite as well as being within 10ft of the wireless router. I'm on the main floor on the other side of the house (and kitchen). We easily get 54mps rates upstairs in the den and my son's room, but I often only get 18-36mps rates. I use an "antenna", based on a tip I learned on another forum. I bought a mesh kitchen strainer/colander, poked a hole in the middle, and shoved the USB wireless receiver in the hole. Hot glued the handle of the strainer to a shelf to keep it out of the way. Works great.

But still, it would be nice to have more dependable throughput rates. It may well be time to find another router with a stronger transmission signal.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Wireless is the only way to go, and always make sure your router is locked or half the neighborhood will be using your internet. I am still shocked at how many open connections I can pick up.



...does this mean heading to home hardware for a padlock (LOL!) or...?


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

hardasmum said:


> Brain cancer he we come!


...i'm immune.

no brain...LOL!


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

mike_oxbig said:


> Again, i'm no expert, but i'm 99% sure that means that another computer on YOUR network (i.e. another device connected to the internet through your router) has taken the address. Your router should automatically assign ip addresses so they're not conflicting, but if it's not there are several walkthroughs of how to manually assign a new ip address for your laptop. try a google search and include which version of windows you're using.


You are correct. All home networks use the private IP address range of 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. Most home wireless routers are set to assign IP addresses automatically from within this range. David, if you are getting an IP address conflict, then you or someone else has set the router to use static IP addresses and another computer in your house already has the address you are trying to use. Get out your router manual (if you have one) and reset it to assign addresses automatically. Also, if you are geting dropouts, it could very well be that your cordless phone base station is too close to your router. Is your modem a combination wireless router/modem? If so, I suggest springing for a separate wireless router (like a Netgear or Linksys), disabling the router portion of your modem. These all-in-one devices sometimes are crap.

Also, try shutting down the modem, router and your computer and re-start them in the exact same order...modem first, wait a minute, then router, wait a minute and then, finally, your computer. This will often solve connectivity issues. Hope this helps.

BTW, as I sit here, my laptop can see 6 different wireless networks in my neighborhood, all up to 200 feet away. Jason is talking out of his arse.

BD


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

david henman said:


> ...does this mean heading to home hardware for a padlock (LOL!) or...?


That too. But when setting up your router always make sure you have WEP turned on. It will create a code for you or you can create one yourself. There are other security measures you can take but WEP is the basic one. This requires anyone trying to connect to your service have the password


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

mhammer said:


> It works, but in my context doesn't work quite as well as being within 10ft of the wireless router. I'm on the main floor on the other side of the house (and kitchen). We easily get 54mps rates upstairs in the den and my son's room, but I often only get 18-36mps rates. I use an "antenna", based on a tip I learned on another forum. I bought a mesh kitchen strainer/colander, poked a hole in the middle, and shoved the USB wireless receiver in the hole. Hot glued the handle of the strainer to a shelf to keep it out of the way. Works great.
> 
> But still, it would be nice to have more dependable throughput rates. It may well be time to find another router with a stronger transmission signal.


I have ours located in the basement all plaster house, no drywall and I can sit out in the backyard and get almost full strength


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

david henman said:


> hardasmum said:
> 
> 
> > Brain cancer he we come!
> ...


Hahaha. Perfect!


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

I live in a smallish city and some days can see up to two dozen wireless signals at a time from my laptop. It's probably that we live near to a university and every kid has his own system or something. But still, two dozen! If I'm picking those up from who-knows-where, I'd expect that you can pick up your own signal from within your house. I can get my house wireless signal on my cell phone from in my car out on the street. 

As for the brain cancer thing, I unplug my system when I go to bed. *shrug*


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...what i have in the basement appears to be a combination modem/router. i can unplug it, and plug it back in. that's it.

the consensus seems to be to connect the 3rd floor smart tv to the basement modem via a cable.


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## kw_guitarguy (Apr 29, 2008)

I guess I can provide some "expert advice"...

3 floors, depending on what side of the house the router is on compared to your room can affect it....steel studs in the basement can affect it, if it sits next to your electrical panel it can affect it.

There are some very inexpensive options for you. Move the modem/router to the main floow (if you can extend your coax cable easily). You can purchaser what's called a wireless access point. Put this on the main floor, it will pick up the signal from the basement and rebroadcast it.

Also, most ISP provided modem/router combos aren't great at either job...buying a secondary wireless router and turning wireless off on the mode/router would probably help as well.

As for the security discussion, WEP can now be cracked in minutes if someone so chose to. WPA2 is the ideal security option for home routers.

~A


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

brain cancer.....

Not much to lose, but I sleep with earbuds in.

Am I Skrewed?


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I could agree that it doesn't always work WELL. If you are in an area with a lot of other signals, you can spend a lot of time having to tweak modem/router settings. I just had to change mine to a different channel because I was getting drops constantly. I just keep the work machines hardwired for reliability. The phones, tablets etc use the wireless.


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2012)

david henman said:


> ...i had a long conversation with 'jason' at rogers yesterday.
> 
> he patiently, carefully and in complete detail explained that wireless...doesn't work.
> 
> ...


Correction: that lousy SMC router/modem that Roger's pawns off on its customers doesn't work.

I've got great signal from my second floor right now. Router is all the way in the basement. And there's a good 20 networks visible to my machine from the neighbours too.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

iaresee said:


> Correction: that lousy SMC router/modem that Roger's pawns off on its customers doesn't work.
> 
> I've got great signal from my second floor right now. Router is all the way in the basement. And there's a good 20 networks visible to my machine from the neighbours too.


I hate that router, but from what people have told me you can't disable the wireless mode to use another router? Is this correct? And you have to use it for the Extreme plans?


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

I had the extreme plan with rogers, and yeah they give you the smc modem/router. it's kinda crappy...i was in a 3 story house with the modem in my basement, and I would get 1 bar upstairs, and nothing outside. When i hooked up my 40$ dlink router, i would get full signal upstairs and outside but it was only half the speed.

I only got the extreme plan because call of duty made me think I had a horrible internet connection they gave it to me 20% off. Turns out call of duty lag happens to everyone regardless of their internet connection.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Living close to a hospital is always a good source of 'free' wireless internet.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

mike_oxbig said:


> I had the extreme plan with rogers, and yeah they give you the smc modem/router. it's kinda crappy...i was in a 3 story house with the modem in my basement, and I would get 1 bar upstairs, and nothing outside. When i hooked up my 40$ dlink router, i would get full signal upstairs and outside but it was only half the speed.
> 
> I only got the extreme plan because call of duty made me think I had a horrible internet connection they gave it to me 20% off. Turns out call of duty lag happens to everyone regardless of their internet connection.


Well they were sued over that and have to stop throttling the speed. According to Rogers they will discontinue all throttling by the end of this year.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/01/23/tech-crtc-rogers-throttling.html


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2012)

torndownunit said:


> I hate that router, but from what people have told me you can't disable the wireless mode to use another router? Is this correct? And you have to use it for the Extreme plans?


When I had Rogers Extreme and that lousy SMC modem I had wireless on it turned off. I had it operating in "modem only" mode -- no firewall, no routing, only pass through to the first port on the box from the modem. I use a DIR-655 here and it's been good enough.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Well they were sued over that and have to stop throttling the speed. According to Rogers they will discontinue all throttling by the end of this year.
> 
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/01/23/tech-crtc-rogers-throttling.html


does that include upload speed throttling? It always pissed me off how they capped their upload speeds at 2mbps on the highest plan.

I've heard rumours of shaw cable offering something like 250mbps download and 50mbps upload (not sure if those are the exact numbers) for the same price rogers is offering 50/2. can anyone from out west verify that?


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

mike_oxbig said:


> does that include upload speed throttling? It always pissed me off how they capped their upload speeds at 2mbps on the highest plan.
> 
> I've heard rumours of shaw cable offering something like 250mbps download and 50mbps upload (not sure if those are the exact numbers) for the same price rogers is offering 50/2. can anyone from out west verify that?


Not sure about the upload side, Mike. That never seems to be mentioned in any of the articles. But you would figure the two are connected somehow


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2012)

mike_oxbig said:


> does that include upload speed throttling? It always pissed me off how they capped their upload speeds at 2mbps on the highest plan.


Slow upload speeds are a limitation of the technology and not because of any provider-imposed throttling. In designing the transmission protocols (especially the physical layer protocol) emphasis was placed on ingress speeds because that's what people generally cared most about. DOCSIS was a good step forward and it allows for complete symmetrical connections over cable, but there are limited number of channels on any carrier's lines and to get higher speeds, you need to use more and more channels. So they have to trade it off: use more channels to give you "Extreme" download speeds at the cost of having fewer channels available for extreme upload speeds.



> I've heard rumours of shaw cable offering something like 250mbps download and 50mbps upload (not sure if those are the exact numbers) for the same price rogers is offering 50/2. can anyone from out west verify that?


Yes, Exo is available but it's limited. It's a fiber-based, optical service. Not copper based. There's Bell Fibe in ON which is similar, though it hasn't hit Ottawa yet I'm afraid.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

I haven't used bell internet in nearly 5 years. I used to be a gamer, and playing online games was impossible with bell internet. it would be laggy, and would often drop my connection in the middle of the game, disconnecting me completely. on a game like call of duty where your performance is dependent on seeing the enemy as soon as he's on your screen, slow internet can ruin the experience.

I haven't cared much about that kinda stuff since my daughter was born, but it would be nice to see canadian companies stepping up their game. Bell told me that high speed internet wasn't available in my region. I live in kanata, one of the most suburban parts of the nations capital city. You would think they would make us a priority.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

British report on a man who was using wireless...

[video=youtube;IIlKiRPSNGA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIlKiRPSNGA[/video]


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

When the CBC decided they would not be carrying Monty Python the following season, back in 1974 or whenever it was, a huge contingent marched over from Concordia UNiversity to the CBC building, which was over on Dorchester a few blocks away at that time, dressed up like Gumby, with the kerchiefs on their heads.


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2012)

mike_oxbig said:


> I live in kanata, one of the most suburban parts of the nations capital city. You would think they would make us a priority.


I also live in K-town, North end. Part of the problem is DSL (which is all that Bell offers outside of the Fibe service) has some pretty serious limits on speed. And if there's any aging infrastructure in the in way it can hurt the speeds. Kanata is in a weird spot: we're not old, but we're not new. The core telephony network in the town is circa the 80's -- around the time that it really started to grow. That's not new, but it's also not old enough to be ripped out and replaced either. And that can hurt DSL offerings in the town. It's worse if you live in the older center of the town.

FWIW you can get very good speeds on TekSavvy here. I have 25 mbps service with them. No caps. And it's $66/month all in.

I'd be all over fiber-to-the-house service if I could get it. Even at a few hundred a month. I work from home so it's all a business expense for me.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

I lived in glen cairn and recently moved to bridlewood, so i'm probably only a stone throw away from you. Both are fairly old neighbourhoods compared to their surroundings. I wonder if the new development areas down on march road are getting upgraded lines.


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2012)

mike_oxbig said:


> I lived in glen cairn and recently moved to bridlewood, so i'm probably only a stone throw away from you. Both are fairly old neighbourhoods compared to their surroundings. I wonder if the new development areas down on march road are getting upgraded lines.


I'm in Morgan's Grant, very new house, and I only know how the cable speeds are here: very good. I've never used DSL here.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

david henman said:


> ...i had a long conversation with 'jason' at rogers yesterday.
> 
> he patiently, carefully and in complete detail explained that wireless...doesn't work.
> 
> ...


I have Rogers Rocket hub and the WiFi works everywhere. Portable modem prior to that and again no probs.


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## Samsquantch (Mar 5, 2009)

Sounds like complete BS. My parents' router is in the attic and they have really fast wi-fi everywhere in the house. They also live in the boonies.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Samsquantch said:


> Sounds like complete BS. My parents' router is in the attic and they have really fast wi-fi everywhere in the house. They also live in the boonies.


As long as you have a signal, you are actually better in the boonies with WiFi. The main reason people run into issues is interference. EG when I lived on the main street of my town, I could literally see 30 wireless networks within range. That's when you have to get into tweaking router settings etc to get the best performance. In the boonies, that is generally not an issue.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

I have one of the Belkin aftermarket ones and I used it for a computer that I had in another room a couple of rooms away and also for a computer in the basement for Youtube drum lessons back when I had a drum kit in the basement. It worked quite well.


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## hummingway (Aug 4, 2011)

As a previous poster mentioned interference can be a problem. Microwaves, wireless phones and bluetooth can cause drop out with modems that use 2.4 gHZ. I looked and Rogers seems to use 802.11g which uses that band. With the phone and microwave it will be obvious when they are in use. 

As for it not working, I have a Wi-Fi amplifier on my sailboat that easily picks up signals a couple of kilometers away. These days most folks have there modems protected with WEP, WPA and WPA2 though (and well they should).


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## mechanic (Apr 1, 2010)

edit just 'cause


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