Virgin Media / Netgear Router / connection problems

MarkBargain

I used to have an Acer Revo which connected to the internet fine, but I recently changed it to an Acer Aspire 5741-A laptop (a decent one with an i3 processor and 3GB RAM running Windows 7). The laptop often struggles to connect to the wireless internet however when it is in the same position as the Revo was (a desk in a bedroom in the room directly above the router). Even in the living room (where the router is) it sometimes struggles a bit, but in the kitchen the connection is always fine. Strange! I am using Virgin Media and have the standard issue Netgear Wireless G Router WGR614 v9. Is it worth investing in a more powerful router? I only have a small terraced house so I am a bit puzzled. I tried moving the router about a bit, but it made little difference. Maybe it is electrical interferance of something like that, but then I am surprised the Revo wasn't affected. Any advice appreciated!

Mr_Oink

Have you tried changing the wireless channel?

MarkBargain

Mr_Oink wrote: »

Have you tried changing the wireless channel?

No, how do I do that?

mchale

http://www.fixya.com/support/t3055152-need_change_channel_netgear_wgr614_dont

or google "wgr614 change channel" loads of info

aliEnRIK

MarkBargain wrote: »

No, how do I do that?

You need to log into the router. Then it depends on the model, but it should be pretty easy to find the channel setting (usually in the basic settings)

Mr_Oink

aliEnRIK wrote: »

You need to log into the router. Then it depends on the model

Hang on... I'm sure he was pretty clear on that.....

MarkBargain wrote: »

I am using Virgin Media and have the standard issue Netgear Wireless G Router WGR614 v9.

Yep, that's pretty clear.......

MANUAL: HERE
See page(s) 30,31 & 75

Cricri

type in your browser address bar:

http://192.168.0.1

It will ask you to log in, the user and password are written on the sticker at the bottom of the router. Then in the menu on the left, towards the top, go to something like "Wireless settings" and you should see a drop down box letting you select a channel between 1 to 13. Change to a quite different number (as channels overlap), and try again. no need to do anything on the PC, it will switch to the new channel automatically.

aliEnRIK

I know what is pretty clear

MarkBargain

Thanks, I have changed the channel from 6 to 7 and I'll see if that makes a difference.

It's a bit worrying that I could log into the router using the default username and password! Is that secure? It's using WPA-PSK[TKIP] encryption so I guess only devices knowing my broadband password could log into the router? Talking of encryption, there are options below to change this to WPA2-PSK [AES] or WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]. It would improve my security to click the last one, wouldn't it?

Mr_Oink

MarkBargain wrote: »

Thanks, I have changed the channel from 6 to 7 and I'll see if that makes a difference.

Just in case you don't know, Wireless G channels overlap. There are only 3 channels that don't clash: {1,6 and 11} so using 7 won't actually put you into a 'clear' channel as such. Personally I would look at 1 or 11 and see how that goes:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Channels_and_international_compatibility

MarkBargain wrote: »

It's a bit worrying that I could log into the router using the default username and password! Is that secure?

No, but you should really change (at least) the password and lock it down. That's a different subject - and an interesting one - so it may be worth firing up another thread on it.

MarkBargain wrote: »

It's using WPA-PSK[TKIP] encryption so I guess only devices knowing my broadband password could log into the router? Talking of encryption, there are options below to change this to WPA2-PSK [AES] or WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]. It would improve my security to click the last one, wouldn't it?

As long as it's not OPEN or WEP then any of the PSK's with any of the cipher suites mentioned is fine. That said, make sure the pass phrase is complex. You'd be amazed how some people set these things up to be secure as hell on encryption and then set up a passphrase like 'netgear2011', allowing anyone in. There are a number of decent password/phrase generators out there if you get stuck for a good choice, eg: http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/

Finally, this post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2991632

covers much of this and more and you may find it helpful

MarkBargain

Thanks Mr Oink, I will start a separate thread as you suggest.