Lazyweb: mains networking
Sep. 28th, 2011 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovingbothWhile the new house is very lovely in many ways, there is one thing that is driving me to distraction.
We're getting internet from Virgin Media cable service. Coo, even the 30Mbs 'medium' speed service is fast, about 10x the speed we were getting in London. (Oh, the joys of being at the very edge of our exchange's area - at least one other telephone exchange was closer, grr...)
The router is located in the living room at the back of the house, because that's where the TV is and we're also getting TV via cable. The PC is in the dining room at the front. In between the two rooms, thanks to the joys of having a 1930s house, is a 6" / 15cm thick wall.
And this, I suspect, is the problem. While the wireless network dongle on the PC will talk to the router, it is not reliable, falling over several times a day. Unplugging and replugging it works, but I am not always there to do that. Alas, even if I were allowed to get the drill out for some Cat5e cabling between the two rooms, that's a rather long hole to have to make.
I have tried setting the VM router to be just a modem and using the Linksys WRT54GS that did sterling work as the router in London - it's been upgraded to third-party firmware that allows all sorts of nice things, including playing with the wireless power. Alas2, while the wireless network became much more reliable, it appears that the router couldn't quite cope with the new internet speed - they'd be ten seconds of nothing happening every thirty to forty seconds.
So, mains networking. Does it actually work well? I expect very high network reliability - if it falls over more than once a quarter, that's not acceptable. Cat5 cabling easily delivers that - does this?
Presumably there is no standard, so once you have bought company A's kit, you're tied to them?
We're getting internet from Virgin Media cable service. Coo, even the 30Mbs 'medium' speed service is fast, about 10x the speed we were getting in London. (Oh, the joys of being at the very edge of our exchange's area - at least one other telephone exchange was closer, grr...)
The router is located in the living room at the back of the house, because that's where the TV is and we're also getting TV via cable. The PC is in the dining room at the front. In between the two rooms, thanks to the joys of having a 1930s house, is a 6" / 15cm thick wall.
And this, I suspect, is the problem. While the wireless network dongle on the PC will talk to the router, it is not reliable, falling over several times a day. Unplugging and replugging it works, but I am not always there to do that. Alas, even if I were allowed to get the drill out for some Cat5e cabling between the two rooms, that's a rather long hole to have to make.
I have tried setting the VM router to be just a modem and using the Linksys WRT54GS that did sterling work as the router in London - it's been upgraded to third-party firmware that allows all sorts of nice things, including playing with the wireless power. Alas2, while the wireless network became much more reliable, it appears that the router couldn't quite cope with the new internet speed - they'd be ten seconds of nothing happening every thirty to forty seconds.
So, mains networking. Does it actually work well? I expect very high network reliability - if it falls over more than once a quarter, that's not acceptable. Cat5 cabling easily delivers that - does this?
Presumably there is no standard, so once you have bought company A's kit, you're tied to them?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-29 09:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-01 09:06 pm (UTC)