Interesting solution to an interesting problem

[transfusion]

I'm a newbie here, so forgive me if this has been mentioned before. But it's so interesting, I'm doubting it has been.

I've been struggling with my wireless network for the last two weeks, and today it finally came to a head.

I have a D-Link DI-524 Wireless G router and a Belkin Wireless G PCI network card. Since I installed it two weeks ago, reception has been spotty. I'm only 20 feet down the hall from the router, but the signal strength is usually poor, and usually only transmits at <24 Mbps.

There's a baseboard heater in the room, so I thought maybe the metal from that was interfering with the signal. I moved the computer towards the middle of the room, which seemed to improve things a little ... but not much.

Today was the worst. The Belkin wireless utility was telling me I was connected at 54 Mbps with a Very Good signal. I could connect to IM, and I could FTP ... but I couldn't get a website to load. Yahoo took 5 minutes and counting, and it was still only 18% loaded. There was SOME connection, but it was like it was trying to squeeze bandwidth through a pinhole.

To make things more frustrating, the other computers on the network were working fine. And occassionally, this one would suddenly become blazing fast -- then screech to a halt again.

After at least 50 restarts, two dozen times power-cycling the modem/router/computer, and installing and uninstalling drivers & software, and swapping PCI slots, I was ready to boot my computer out the window.

That's when my wife walked in and said, "Hey, why are all the clocks messed up? Is that because of your computer?"

I was about to growl in frustration, "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Then it hit me. The clocks are all wrong.

Atomic clocks.

That receive the time from satellites.

Via RADIO signals.

I pulled the batteries from the clocks, and sure enough, my wireless network jumped up to top speed and has been there ever since.

I've run into a lot of weird things in my computer life, but this is without a doubt the strangest thing I've ever encountered.

So, when your network dies and all else fails ... check the clocks. :-)

[JackMDS]

Wow, nice Job.

Part of the problem has to do with:

Quote: The Belkin wireless utility was telling me I was connected at 54 Mbps with a Very Good signal.

This is the core of a lot of unsolved Wireless problem.

The manufacturer Signal indication is more of a Gimmick rather then a Technical tool.

It shows the actual 802.11x signal + 2.4GHz Phones + Microwaves + Brain emissions (j/k), (and now) + Wireless Atomic Clocks.

In other words they the Signal Indication give a visual representation of all the 2.4GHz in the atmosphere around the Wireless Network.

The real measure of Wireless signal capacity is Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), a measure that takes into consideration the relevant Signal adjusted to the Noise Level. To measure SNR you need better Hardware it is not a matter of software utility.

50% strength of pure signal is better then 100% that is comprise 70% pure signal +30% noise.

:cool:

[transfusion]

Interesting. I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.

[Greenstead]

Radio controlled clocks (receiving the time from an atomic source) don't use the same freq range as 802.11.
802.11 uses ~2.4GHz and ~5GHz.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, located in Fort Collins, Colorado. NIST operates radio station WWVB, which is the station that transmits the time codes at 60KHz.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question461.htm


So it seems more likely you have some local radio interference.

[transfusion]

Hmmm. Strange.

All I know is that when the battery is in the clock, my connectivity falls off by about 80-90%. When I take it out it jumps back up. I've tried it several times, and it seems to be a direct correlation. I just assumed it was the radio signal.

Is there anything else about the clock aside from the radio frequency that could be affecting the network? Other than the "atomic" factor, it seems to be just a plain digital LCD clock.