USB dongles

G

gazzer

New Member
I run a pub and live above it. Because of this I use a business account ISP with the router in the bar for the customers use, mainly.

I'm using the supplied dongle and it is intermittent. Tonight I have "cannot connect to the internet" after a couple of unpluggings/repluggings so I assume that there's someone in the bar using a laptop or smart phone.

My laptop will slow down in these circumstances but still maintains a connection (99% of the time).

Are there any settings I can use that prioritizes the Humax?

Actually Ive just discovered the dongle isnt detecting the network at all tonight.
 
gazzer said:
I'm using the supplied dongle and it is intermittent. Tonight I have "cannot connect to the internet" after a couple of unpluggings/repluggings so I assume that there's someone in the bar using a laptop or smart phone.
Click to expand...
Any router ought to be able to support at least a handful of connections.
Are there any settings I can use that prioritizes the Humax?
Click to expand...
Sorry no.
Actually Ive just discovered the dongle isnt detecting the network at all tonight.
Click to expand...
the HDR-2000T has USB ports on front and rear. Have you tried both?
 
argg! lost my reply. Thanks for yours.

Ok I moved the dongle and a couple of restarts which worked the other night.

Detecting 48mbps (should be plenty)....attempt to connect to TV portal..."cannot connect"...now detecting "0bps".

It seems that in trying to connect to the tv portal throws me off the network.

On another point, When running the sound through my stereo amp using RCA, the output is very left channel heavy. not so noticeable on TV but annoying on decent speakers. I could rebalanced on the amp but that would defeat the object of the pure direct channel.
 
just confirming this again this morning

Detecting 54mbps (should be plenty)....attempt to connect to TV portal..."cannot connect"...now detecting "0bps".

attempting to connect to tv portal seems to throw me off the network.
 
I have no idea BH, I really am not techy. How would I find out and change if necessary? A google search I suppose but if I could beg your indulgence..

I noticed on another thread that you recommended a TL-WR702N for similar problems.

If I understand it right, this little box will take the signal supplied by the router in the pub from my laptop (54mbps right now) and share it amongst the devises in my living room?

This actually sounds like a good solution for the other flaky internet connecting devises I have (sammy TV/media centre pc) if thats how it works.
 
Yes, but it only has one Cat5 output. If you wanted it to run more than one device you would need to add a hub (Ethernet splitter) or buy something different with multiple outputs.

As supplied, the 702 is configured to connect to a wired Ethernet and create a WiFi network locally, but it can also be configured to link to an existing WiFi network and provide a wired Ethernet to another device.

The 702 is also supposed to bridge one WiFi network to another, but I have never managed to make it do that.

Actually, for your situation I would recommend HomePlug.
 
Home plug seemed perfect until I tried it and discovered different circuits in flat and pub :( same electric bill though :)
 
Right now I have a laptop, media center PC and a samsung TV all happily running off my wifi. The only device that wont connect is the Humax "connection failed. check your settings and try again". Ive tried the dongle in both USbs and done a couple of turning it off etc.

Is this a "fault" with this particular box and/or dongle in which case I will have John Lewis exchange it, or is or is this a problem with the whole humax way of connecting? as I still have a few days under the distance selling regs to reject the humax and look for something else.
 
gazzer said:
Right now I have a laptop, media center PC and a samsung TV all happily running off my wifi. The only device that wont connect is the Humax "connection failed. check your settings and try again".
Click to expand...
Does the passphrase have spaces or non alpha numeric characters in it?
 
nope, all numbers as drunk customers need it relatively easy.

I'm happy with the way this performs as a pvr so I will probably stick with it (got caught up in a forum discussion and lost concentration for the first 30 minutes of Salamander...just went into the playbar and took it back to the beginning, which is a top feature) but my TV has trouble with iplayer without buffering and cant be connected through RCA to my oldish but good amp, so I was hoping that this pvr would give me problem free iplayer.

If its this specific dongle/box im sure John Lewis will swap it.
 
Have you checked if there is anything else in range using the same wifi channel? A nearby router on the same channel can cause this effect.

I've also had problems with a few 'g' devices on a 'n' enabled network - they would connect and opperate for a moment then completely lose the signal in a cyclic fashion. The only workaround I found was to disable 'n' on the router and move to a channel with no n signals in range.

May not be relevant but thought it was worth a mention.
 
Ezra Pound said:
You can have a look at your local Wi-Fi environment by running something like Inssider (Link Here)
Click to expand...

Hello EP, I used the Inssider last night and found that my network was "g" on channel 8 , went from 6-10 and that there were 2 networks overlapping also on "g". There were another couple of networks on "n" but they didnt over lap (from the name I think they are BT openzone).

Could you help me interpret this and what it might mean for the TV portal?
 
The Inssider screen over simplifies things a bit, but basically Wi-Fi channels overlap, so if you are using say channel 8 there will be some of the signal 'visible' on channels 6, 7, 9, and 10 as well. All Wi-Fi equipment can tolerate this overlap to a certain extent, but you will always be better off with as little overlap as possible. So it's a case of keeping the signal you want to use away from the others as much as possible, especially if the other signal are quite powerful. Inssider has a 'Channels' screen which will give you an idea which alternative channels in your are are 'quieter' due to less overlapping, I think signal strength is also taking into account when making it's suggestion

'g' refers to 802.11g and 'n' refers to 802.11n, 'g' supports bandwidth up to 54 Mbps and uses a single 2.4 Ghz frequency, where-as 'n' supports bandwidth up to 300 Mbps and uses multiple 2.4 Ghz frequencies. 'n' can interferer with other users more by using say channels 4 + 8 which can spread across all channels 2 to 10, as I have said other user's equipment can tolerate this kind of thing up to a limit
 
thanks for the reply. Um this is odd, I just lost my wifi to the laptop for the first time in ages and went to check the inssider screen, now I'm on channel 5!

I do have one or two quite technically knowledgeable customers (they have "for a joke" changed the name of the router in the past). I wonder if they are mucking about with it?
 
Some routers have a 'auto' mode where they decide which is the quietest Wi-Fi channel and will use that one, if things change, say a neighbour adds another router, the 'auto' router can change it's channel and all the items connected to it will automatically 'follow' it to the new channel
 
Ive just read more closely into the inssider score.

The "link score" from my laptop is 54, but 2 maybe only 1.5 meters away where the humax is it has dropped to 41. would a usb extender help? would it lose signal in the cable if I got a really long one?
 
The 54 and 41 you are referring to are the connection speeds i.e. 54 Mbps, this is the Maximum (for 802.11g ) but it can 'fall back' to lower speeds, this may not be a problem and is sometimes automatically reduce if there is no traffic demand. A USB extender would help place the dongle in a better position, the radio frequency signal is generated in the dongle itself so a longer USB cable wont be a problem
 
Thanks again Ezra, Its good to know that the extension to the USB will not effect the signal strength as it should really help with the PC. The TV unfortunately has a built in wifi erm, thing. I've just ordered an extension from Amazon and will pick up a sieve from a pound shop in the week (ive seen a DIY receiver I will have a go at building).

I cant see how the Humax doesnt connect at all though. Is it just a duff one ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top