Orange powerline wi-fi extender setup.

[powerdesal]

I may be being a bit thick but I really think I need some advice.

This is the situation:-

Orange livebox is in hallway, just inside front door. It gives internet and phone.

My laptop is the other side of a thick stone wall and gets good wi-fi signal, 4 bars ( at the moment ) on Win 7. Occasionally I drop to 2 bars.

Mrs PD laptop is in kitchen and rarely gets above 2 bars signal strength, using Win Vista. Her laptop drops off the net very easily and often, showing a message '' local only''.

Yesterday we took delivery of a set of Orange powerline wi-fi extenders ( Euro 79, ordered on line ). The idea being that the remote end box would go in the kitchen, approx 1.5 m from the laptop.

The instructions seem very sparse, being effectively - 'plug them in and it will work'

However - even with all the relevant green lights on the kitchen laptop is still showing only 2 bar strength. Surely we can expect a signal strength equal to that available in the hallway, ie adjacent to the livebox ?

Any comments / advice will be gratefully received.

ps. According to Orange, our incoming signal strength is approx 6 Mbit (?) and my reported strength of <3.0 is wrong because I pinged on wi-fi.

[suein56]

[quote user="powerdesal"]Surely we can expect a signal strength equal to that available in the hallway, ie adjacent to the livebox ? [/quote]

OH and I have placed our 2 laptops side by side and my old HP never shows as good a signal as my OH's ancient Toshiba. Both are XP and nearly 7 and nearly 9 years old respectively. Which leads us to think that it is all down to the quality of the wifi card in the laptop. My HP being very poor.

Solution ? Change the wifi card ?

For me I am not going to bother as my laptop is being to go into a decline in other areas too but it might be the answer for your wife's machine.

Sue

[powerdesal]

Thanks Sue but both our laptops are the same Acer Aspire models, there is less than a year age between them, only the OS differs, mine being Win 7 as it is a few months younger than Mrs PD version.

I imagine they both have the same wifi card

[Pierre ZFP]

What sort of signal strength do you get if you put your laptop in the kitchen and Mrs PD's in place of yours?   I can't imagine the version of Windoze will make a difference but I will ask my Uber Geek son who knows about such things

[powerdesal]

Pierre,

latest test :-

Both laptops side by side in kitchen. both with same screens up ( Google + facebook ), mine has 5 bar strength, Mrs PD has 2 bar strength.

Mrs PD laptop in sitting room, 3 bar strength.

It sounds like a failing wi-fi card in her laptop.

What to do ?????

[Pierre ZFP]

If Mrs PD laptop works OK in sitting room then why not swap machines?

If this is not an option, I think the quickest/easiest/cheapest thing will be to get a wireless USB dongle as changing the wi-fi card in the laptop is not really do-able. (if indeed it is a separate card)

[powerdesal]

The dongle idea is a good one, swapping laptops would be a major pain because she runs various programmes ( such as Ancestry ) which I have no use for and vice versa.

[powerdesal]

Thanks for the suggestion Pierre, the problem is now solved.

I found an old Belkin usb dongle from years ago, downloaded a driver and Mrs PD is now connected via the Belkin with 5 bar strength, ie maximum.

Powerdesal Towers is once more a happy place.

[Pierre ZFP]

Excellent!

Good to know that harmony is restored [:D]