Mom's internet has been working slower than when we had the low power modem. We decided to replace our router (the machine that "broadcasts" the wireless signal) with a stronger one.
I plugged in the big Linksys router (WTR600N) that we used when we rented the office building. When we moved, we just transferred all the work computers onto Mom's home network, so ever since then we've been using a cheap D-Link router.
As soon as I plugged in all the hardwired computers to the Linksys, the internet on those computers worked. However, the wireless computers were offline because they could not detect a network to connect to. I looked up the default IP address to adjust the settings on the Linksys (192.168.1.1), but that IP did not work--we must have changed it when we used the router at the office building.
So I decided to find the manual for the Linksys. I found a setup disk, which was supposed to step me through the process of installing a brand new router, so I tried to run that, even though I knew the Linksys still had all the settings on it from when we used it at the office building.
Apparently, the normal setup on the disk could not run on a Windows 7 operating system. So I had to open the disk manually (instead of autorun) and open "setup.exe." This program stepped me through plugging in the router correctly, so I unplugged the router and re-plugged it in following these directions. I continued following the directions, and the system asked for a password for me to access the router information. This would not happen if the router had been brand new, but it happened this time since we had already changed the default password on the Linksys. I found the password in the records I made before we moved from the office, and input it.
The system then asked me to set some basic settings, the security key, etc. I just left it the way it was. Then the system said that the setup was successful.
So I tried connecting to the internet on a wireless computer. It still had the same problem--it couldn't find our network. When I tried it on Mom's wireless computer, it found something called "Other Network" but I could not connect to it because it said something like my system does not fulfill the requirements for this network connection.
So I went back to the setup disk and ran it again. This time, I changed the security system from WEP2-Personal to WEP-Personal, with the same password. I thought that perhaps our wireless adapters (the little usb things that plug into the computer) were not programmed to handle a WEP2 security system. Assuming that WEP would be a more basic system than WEP2, I hoped the change would make the adapters able to connect to the network.
Unfortunately, it did not. So I tried again to access the Linksys settings directly through the IP address. The default address still did not work, but I tried several IPs that I had written down in my notes from when we moved from the office building. I tried 192.168.1.254, 192.168.1.64, and 192.168.0.1. The last address worked! I logged in with username admin and password kady, and started looking at all the settings. (This won't work unless you are on a computer hardwired to the router)
First I tried to compare them with my notes, and see what was different, but then I realized that at the office building, all our computers were hardwired. So I looked under the "Wireless" tab, and I found that the wireless signal had been turned off! So I checked the "Enable" radio button in two places: one under the 5GHz heading (this was titled "johnson_media") and one under the 2.5GHz heading (titled "johnson"). I assumed that these were the two different frequencies I had read about which the Linksys broadcasted on to minimize interference. I saved my changes, and went to check the internet.
This time, the network showed up as "johnson" and again as "johnson_media". I was able to connect to one or the other on some computers, while other computers still said that "your system does not fulfill the requirements for this network". On Mom's computer, I was able to connect, but when I connected to "johnson" the connection became "Fair", while the "johnson_media" connection became "Excellent". So then I connected to the latter, and it's connection became "Fair" while "johnson" became Excellent.
So I figured I needed to enable one or the other, not both. So I went back to the wireless settings page (at 192.168.1.64) and under the 5.0GHz network (johnson_media) checked "disable" under "Allow network discovery." I didn't realize at the time that this was the wrong checkbox, and only controlled whether other computers could find, or "see", the network.
Sure enough, the other computers now saw a "johnson" network and a "Other Network". When I tried to connect to the latter, it asked for the name of the network, then the password. I input "johnson_media", and the connection worked just as before, with the connection quality going down as soon as I connected to it, while the connection quality of "johnson" jumped up.
So back at the wireless settings page, under 5.0GHz, I checked the "disable" box next to the original "enable" box that I had checked earlier (duh!). I chose to disable the 5.0GHz because I know that 2.5GHz is more standard, and thus probably better to use unless I have problems with interference (which I might, but I'm still not going to change the frequency unless a definite problem arises, such as very intermittent connections, lost data, etc.). I saved the changes, then went to the Security tab and double checked that the security system was WEP, not WEP2.
Now it all works! Whew!
However, Mom's computer was still going rather slowly. So I moved the Linksys router closer to the wall shared by the office and the family room (onto Annie's desk). To do this, I had to use a huge long CAT5e cable (don't use a CAT5--they can actually slow down your connection speed. There should be text printed on the cable which will tell you which type it is.) to connect the router to the modem all the way across the room. The modem couldn't be moved because there was no cable outlet on the farther wall (remember, we are using Comcast cable internet now, not like the AT&T internet at the office building which we plugged in to phone lines).
Then I used a short CAT5e to connect Annie's computer to the Linksys. (Remember, all but one [Rosie's] of the computers in the office are hardwired.) Since I didn't have any more really long cables, I decided to use the switch we had used at the office. The switch basically looks like a little modem, but it functions more like a power strip in that it will lengthen your power cord and multiply the number of outlets available. To use it, I plugged one cable into it and then into the Linksys router. Then I used two more cables to plug the remaining two computers in the office to the switch. This allowed me to double the distance I could have between the computers and the router, and that is the only reason I used the switch.
See my next post for a diagram of the office as of today.
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