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Why my home network stinks

August 10, 2008 on 12:27 pm | In technology | No Comments

Every time I start on a tech home-improvement project, I get “the look” in my eyes. My whole family knows my short-tempered frustration will persist until I have things working the way I think they should. Right now, they are not.

I’ve had a wireless network at home for several years, using a very decent Belkin Pre-N router (Model F5D8230-4). “Pre-N” means it came out before the official ratification of the 802.11n wireless standard, but it’s backward-compatible with older, more established standads like “g” and “b.” But recently new devices have entered our family’s networked world: Saloni’s first-generation iPhone, a Sony Vaio laptop cast off by Claire, and my new BlackBerry 8320 phone from work. All have Wi-Fi of some sort, and all have had trouble connecting reliably to the home network.

So I set out to fix it.

First I bought an “N” adapter for Claire’s old Vaio. I put the laptop in the kitchen, on our little work table there, in hopes of having a handy terminal for looking up directions or paying bills. I bought an Airlink Wireless 300N USB adapter for $60-$70 from Fry’s. Expensive for a USB device, sure, but it supported “N” — I had dreams of a really fast connection in the kitchen, which sits just 10 feet directly below my office with the “Pre-N” router! Lots of luck. The Airlink USB adapter stinks. Barely registered the existence of a wireless network, and failed to connect half the time when it did. Management software was unresponsive, not verified by Microsoft, and didn’t offer any features over the built-in functions of the OS. I quietly started making plans to return it to Fry’s (not a welcoming prospect, I assure you).

Then I was issued the BlackBerry by CBS. A cool, new phone with Wi-Fi support! Except that it failed to connect to my wireless network most of the time. (It also had no T-Mobile cell service in my home half the time. So my company issued me a phone that would not receive calls or data when I was at home. I’m thinking, “This probably isn’t what they had in mind.”)

I start to suspect that my old router isn’t very compatible with newer devices. So I buy a new router.

At Staples, the Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N Router is a few dollars cheaper than the non-RangeMax version. This confused me and the sales associate, but what the heck. I buy the shiny white router, swap it in for the old Belkin by following a set of terrific on-screen step-by-step instructions. The result? The kitchen computer still won’t connect. The BlackBerry did for an afternoon, but refused to authenticate or connect the next morning. And now Gopal’s computer in his bedroom — the rock-steady PC with a Belkin Pre-N PCI card in it — won’t connect either.

So I’m heading back to Staples to return the router. At least I know they’ll handle it better than Fry’s.

UPDATE: Back from Staples with a shiny black Belkin router and new laptop card in-hand. The router is the updated version of what I started with: a Pre-N MIMO. (”MIMO” means, in essence, multiple antennae and better coverage.) The new router has better management software but only two antennae. Hmmm… And I guess the 802.11n standard still isn’t ratified, since the latest router is still Pre-N. What, exactly, did I just buy that’s new?

Set up the Belkin N Wireless Router (ver.4000) and try the BlackBerry. No dice. Holding the phone three feet from the router, the phone can’t “see” the network. On a whim, I downgrade my security option (from WPA-PSK to 64-bit WEP), and that does the trick! The BlackBerry connects. Next step: Gopal’s computer, which is down a floor and probably 30 feet away. No dice — even though his computer has the old Belkin Pre-N PCI card. His PC sees the computer three-quarters of the time, but whenever I try to connect it fails with an error that it lost touch. Unbelievable. The whole point of this MIMO stuff is to give greater range and signal strength.

So I lose it. I march back upstairs, pull out the wires for the new router, restart the cable modem and everything. Going back to Square One. And it works.

With my old router (which has three antennae), Gopal’s computer reconnects just fine. The damnable BlackBerry decides that now it can see the Wi-Fi network, for now anyway. And the kitchen computer, equipped with a brand-new Belkin N Wireless Notebook Card is on the network lickety-split. Except that it’s only 54Mbps, instead of the N-standard 108Mbps.

I can live with that.