K.

I'd forgotten that.

I already have a pair of those Devlo jobbies that transmit an ethernet signal though the mains. Whether my mains already is over cluttered with info I'd have to find out the hard way. I believe I can then connect the remote end to a WiFi router and have WiFi at the other end of the flat.

So it is ADSL WiFi router to Devlo to Devlo through the mains to a second router with WiFi.

OK?

TP

I have no idea TP.

TP that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, when I read your post 4541 above I thought to myself Is he using mains carried Ethernet! which is known to cause EMI.

I would recommend that you simplify your setup, unless you have a huge house you don't need 2 wireless routers, my personal recommendation would be a wired ADSL Modem/router (with firewall) then connected to that via an Ethernet cable a wireless AP (which could be a router configured as an AP). The AP could be some way from the router. It difficult to recommend more without understanding the layout and requirements.

Yes I thought about the mains Ethernet too, but I think he did say earlier that he had excluded that as the source of his problem.

S & K,

What's an AP please?

I heed your warning about using the Devlos.

Remember I do need WiFi as I want to be able to use my PDA for quick message checks. And I need that WiFi at both ends of the apartment which is too long for one WiFi to feed to the other end.

I have sockets at either end, but only one phone line.

TP

.

AP = Access Point, i.e. WiFi connected to a modem, so what you have at the moment.

Not sure about the geography of your flat but I don't suppose an AP put in the middle of the flat would work.

TP, as K says AP is Access point this can be a dedicated device that can only be an AP or often its a full router which is only doing AP work (that's what I have).

Some of the new WiFi devices have much better range and ability to work through walls etc however these tend to be a bit non standard, I use a Belkin Pre N router as an AP in my house in Hastings and its on the top Floor of 3 and I get a strong signal everywhere in the house (I also use a PDA and a laptop). These newer wifi devices are often known as Pre N or Mimo or other names. The problem with them is that they may well become obsolete soon when the full 802.11N standard released, as their is no guarantee that they will be upgradable. You don't need an N card to work with an N wifi AP (or Router) they will also work as B or G devices.

S and K.

Mimo I have tried. It was no better and any device that needs a card, if that is what 802.11N does, will be no help with the PDA.

" then connected to that via an Ethernet cable a wireless AP"

Sorry, but you'll be getting bored with my constraints, but one of them is that there is no way we'd want to lay an ethernet cable from one end of the flat to another.

I need to find a solution that uses the cables for mains and phones that we have.

If I leave my existing Belkin ADSL modem and wireless router in situ in my study at one end of the apartment and connected a similar device to the phone socket - using the same line - in the room at the other end of the apartment what problem of confliction would I have?

If it was simply a matter of turning them on and off depending where I was working it would not be a big deal.

TP

TP, 802.11n does not need new cards in PCs or PDA's, I am surprised at your findings using MIMO as its has hugly more ability to hold high data rates over longer distances (I have had it make a connection from about 100 meters from my house) the correct placement of the Ariel's is important (there are normally 3 on mimo units).

Using the mains Ethernet should work OK but remember that I dont think you have yet found out why your wireless setup does not work properly you need to be sure whats not working.

Using 2 separate wireless APs or routers is a recipe for problems and conflicts on wireless Chanel's. With a single ADLS line you cant have both modems active one would have to be a AP.

Good luck not much more I can suggest.

"802.11n does not need new cards in PCs or PDA's"

Are you saying that my existing PDA will then be able to pick up 11n then?

" I am surprised at your findings using MIMO"

I seem to have created a barrier half way down the flat that would impress MI5 or the ultimate bug detectors.

When you said
"TP that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me,"

I thought you were refering to when I said "I already have a pair of those Devlo jobbies that transmit an ethernet signal though the mains"

But in your last message you said "Using the mains Ethernet should work OK"

Have you had second thoughts or did I misunderstand your earlier post?

I don't intend to try it today but at least I already have the Devlo kit and a spare WiFi router to put at the other end. In the light of any cleverer or simpler solution it could remain on my list of possibilities - until it then screws up my TiVo that is also working through the mains when it dials in each day.........

Life is full of challenges - to say nothing about making money out of shares....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

TP

I've altered my register settings as Kayak kindly suggested in order to request 16 files at a time. I reckon things are loading faster but it's hard to say as my 8meg connection is running at 1.89meg at the moment (groan). How will we ever get to higher broadband speeds with the present telephone wires???

"802.11n does not need new cards in PCs or PDA's" Are you saying that my existing PDA will then be able to pick up 11n then?

Answer
I would not say it like that but In affect Yes

" I am surprised at your findings using MIMO" I seem to have created a barrier half way down the flat that would impress MI5 or the ultimate bug detectors.

Answer
This could be related to the devlo but I dont thinks thats likely, do you have anything thats large and metal and plugged into the mains there? Devlo can cause EMI on the mains and this could be concentrated here. Anything else that producing EMI? eg a DECT base station, A Mobile mast bolted on the outside wall etc

When you said "TP that sounds like a recipe for disaster to me," I thought you were refering to when I said "I already have a pair of those Devlo jobbies that transmit an ethernet signal though the mains" But in your last message you said "Using the mains Ethernet should work OK" Have you had second thoughts or did I misunderstand your earlier post?

Answer
The thing that I thinks sounds like a disaster is using multiple wifi transmitters in a flat, the delvo shoudl work but it will probably make the radio spectrum in your flat more complex and thus more likely to have problems.

Bolshi, your telephone wires are fine, you posted you were connecting at 8192Kb/s and that is the most you will connect at with BT at present. The throughput issue is a different one. It could be due to congestion at the exchange or at the ISP. To determine which you need to try the tests on Kitz's site. They bypass the ISP so if you get perfect speeds with them the problem is with the ISP, and if you get the same results then it is congestion at the exchange.

S.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I'll keep experimenting.

TP

Kayak:
Finally got the BT wholesale speed tester to work.

They report a speed of 699 kbps

I did a standard BT help desktop speed test straight after and it came up with 0.878Meg

This all at 8-45pm.

Those are pretty dire speeds Bolshi. They indicate the exchange is overloaded. BT wholesale don't guarantee 8Mb/s throughout the day but they have said people should expect at least 2Mb/s at busy times. Your result is much lower. Repeat the BT wholesale test a few more times, once late at night, and then complain to BT. Mind you they probably already realise and will do something about it eventually.

Bolshi, do you get obvious crackling noises on your phone line when making voice calls? If so and especially if this happens after its been raining then I suspect you have some bad cabling somwhere between your house and the exchange.

I havnt read all your posts but if you get crackling noises and you have tried using your ADSL from the master connection in your house (BT will only take this connection as definative) then you need to report the fault and you will need to be very persistant. BT will do everything that they can to avoid rewing but if your persistant they will do it in the end (I think they have to). Try reporting the fault as a voice problem and it does not do much harm to exagerate the effect of the crackling, this fault is almost alway intermittant anyway.

His modem connects at 8192 Spaceman as per his stats, it's a throughput issue rather than a sync speed issue.

I had a problem with my work portable PC today when the hard drive failed. I have backups of most of my files but there were a few I wanted to get if possible.

I read some time ago about using linux in these situations so I downloaded knoppix and made a bootable CD with it (Knoppix is designed to use the CD-ROM and a RAM disk to run and it does not install anything on the hard drive). Using knoppix I was able to mount (unix talk) the hard drive and copy the files I needed off the machine and onto a usb hard drive.

A cheap and faily easy way of doing some basic data recovery.