Remember that signal quality does not mean signal STRENGTH.
The signal can be very clean, which means few retransmissions etc., but the strength of the signal (Which is what actually determines throughput -- miliwatts and RF decibels) won't ever max out simply because of the air.
I asked what channel you WERE on, not what channel you switched TO (Eight).
dBi, the higher the better (Closer to or over zero). Now don't freak out! Realize that PCI cards and PCMCIA cards are several dozen dBi below zero. That's ok. My farthest wireless card approximately 50 feet away through three walls usually runs at -53 dB on the WRT54G's default of 19mW, and closer to -30 dB at 48mW.
I have lower numbers because both the source and destination have dipole antennas (Figure 8-patterned broadcast. Wide spread, good for overlapping. The signal is sent from the sides of the antenna. Your WRT54G has dual dipole antennas). Your internal card on the other hand is probably an omni, which has slightly lower performance but offers better RF intercept.
What is your card that gets such good reception then?
I already knew about db working on Minus and Plus btw, so the minus numbers didn't bother me.
Though I am wondering why it says my PCMCIA card is only broadcasting at 18dBm rather than 21dBm which it says it is rated at.....
Another annoying thing is that the 802.11a Turbo mode dissapears from my options when I have the country set to UK (and if it isnt set to UK it complains my settings dont match).
It might be that your country has restrictions on the 2.4GHz band that the U.S. doesn't. The specific proliferation of cell technology in Europe that hasn't quite caught on here might have something to do with that.
Your network card could very well be reading the country code you inadvertently picked when you set your timezone/country on the Windows install, and then telling the router that turbo mode is no go.
My primary 802.11G PCI card is a USRobotics USR5416 (63mW card; I forget the gain).
Hrmm I have a similar problem but with DLink, not Linksys. I have a DI-614+ 802.11b router and in mrs keto's computer in the living room, about 30 feet and 3 walls away, there's a PCI DWL-520+ receiver. Her signal is sometimes full, sometimes crap. OK, cleaning out the spyware from the kids downloading songs helped a bit :rolleyes2 but I wonder if there's similar ability to OC the router I have? I wouldn't know where to even begin to look, even after reading this thread
Here are the results of the speed boost next to the actual output in DB that the machine is giving out.
Though my speeds suck, it seems to max out around 910KBps (using Sandra) and is lowest around 500KBps. That is pathetically low (doesn't matter if I am overclocking the router or not).
Ok, managed to get up to 1280KBps downstairs through quite a lot of wall now (through the whole center of the house from upstairs to downstairs and through a giant block).
But the maximum I could get, like 5ft from the Router was ~1800KBps, 2200 Max, 1600 Min.
It never changed into 54/54 mode, it was in 48Mb Transmit and 54 Recieve mode. Any ideas?
Also, do these figures look right?
Oh, I found out the max for the router realitically is 74. I could go higher than 94 (and the range continued to increase) but the speed would lower (it was at about 1400KBps @ 84mW) as I tested every 4mW from 19 to 100.
Well my router died at the weekend so I've now got one of these Linksys as well and have used the 1.42.2 european firmware. The hack sems to work for me although I won't now for sure till my wifi card arrives (hopefully tomorrow).
So thanks Thrax & dertester !
Also a systems guy at work said I should gone for the D-Link 614+ as its better even though its a 802.11b router. What do you lot think.
I dont know ifit matters but I was able to downgrade my WRT54g(v1.1) from firmware 1.42.3 to 1.30.7 with a little Hex editing, so far everthing is running without any problems.
Contains his own hacked versions with added features, and also the other latest ones with all channels (1-14) and just the plain one with pinghack (all latest version).
Ok, Cool, Is there one out there for the Linksys BEFSR41? I got a new combined router/modem from bellsouth, so I can play with the linksys router to see if it will OC.
I highly doubt it. The only customised ones are the WAP54 and WRT54.
This guys hacked ones also allow you to increase the power via the standard web interface, which is nice.
I woulnd't bother. As you increase the power level above 50 you will notice the speeds start to drop, but this isn't caused by heat. So basically, you can increase it all the way to 88 or so, but the signal quality continues to drop (heat unrelated).
DISCLAIMER:If you toast your router, cry to someone who cares. This hack is to be used at your own will, and I take no responsibility for you smoking your $112 802.11G WAP. Short-media also takes no responsibility. REMEMBER THAT THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY.
I repeat this clearly:
-You're doing this on your own accord
-I am not responsible for damages
-Short-Media is not responsible for damages
-Your warranty will be voided
PREREQUISITES: The newest 9/9/03 firmware, WRT54G by Linksys.
PRELIMINARY INFO: The WRT54G runs Linux kernel 2.4.5 on a 125MHz MIPS processor with 16mb RAM. Approximate 9MB free if you would ever wish to execute your own code. If you want to know how to do that, let me know.
THINGS TO REMEMBER: This hack must be applied again if you (A) Turn your router off and back on (B) Soft-reset the router (C) Factory reset the router. The command functions like a linux command on a temporary file, reboot and it's gone.
Log into the router through your browser and proceed to the ping test window by going to administration -> Diagnostics. Click the ping test.
Follow the picture below. Where it says "TXPWR 84" change the value to 48. Eighty-four is too high a mW rating without additional cooling, and this value provides unstable signals.
The Linksys WRT54G comes with 19mW signal, which is complete crap. Due to FCC regulations, Linksys can't ship it with a signal strength much higher than this. They can't stop you though!
`/usr/sbin/wl -i eth2 txpwr 48` is the string to be placed in the WRT54G ping test interface. Place it in, and hit ping. Your signal strength is now double, and you have successfully overclocked your router. Also, go to the advanced section on your WRT54G and enable "Frame burst." This is what netgear and several other 54G providers are calling turbo mode.
Comments
The signal can be very clean, which means few retransmissions etc., but the strength of the signal (Which is what actually determines throughput -- miliwatts and RF decibels) won't ever max out simply because of the air.
What channel were you on? 6 or 11 by any chance?
The signal strength here is -60dB...... is that good or bad?
Here is a pic of the connection during a heavy file transfer.
When idling the bad frames is normally 2-10 and the good frames 0-4.
NS
dBi, the higher the better (Closer to or over zero). Now don't freak out! Realize that PCI cards and PCMCIA cards are several dozen dBi below zero. That's ok. My farthest wireless card approximately 50 feet away through three walls usually runs at -53 dB on the WRT54G's default of 19mW, and closer to -30 dB at 48mW.
I have lower numbers because both the source and destination have dipole antennas (Figure 8-patterned broadcast. Wide spread, good for overlapping. The signal is sent from the sides of the antenna. Your WRT54G has dual dipole antennas). Your internal card on the other hand is probably an omni, which has slightly lower performance but offers better RF intercept.
I already knew about db working on Minus and Plus btw, so the minus numbers didn't bother me.
Though I am wondering why it says my PCMCIA card is only broadcasting at 18dBm rather than 21dBm which it says it is rated at.....
Another annoying thing is that the 802.11a Turbo mode dissapears from my options when I have the country set to UK (and if it isnt set to UK it complains my settings dont match).
NS
Windows shows this and it keeps dropping to 3........
NS
Your network card could very well be reading the country code you inadvertently picked when you set your timezone/country on the Windows install, and then telling the router that turbo mode is no go.
My primary 802.11G PCI card is a USRobotics USR5416 (63mW card; I forget the gain).
//EDIT: I would be more likely to trust Atheros.
I wonder if there is any way to boost the signal on this card like you can on the router.......
NS
Right!
Probably not.
Unless you had some way to hack the firmware, it's generally improbable that you can increase it.
Though my speeds suck, it seems to max out around 910KBps (using Sandra) and is lowest around 500KBps. That is pathetically low (doesn't matter if I am overclocking the router or not).
NS
But the maximum I could get, like 5ft from the Router was ~1800KBps, 2200 Max, 1600 Min.
It never changed into 54/54 mode, it was in 48Mb Transmit and 54 Recieve mode. Any ideas?
Also, do these figures look right?
Oh, I found out the max for the router realitically is 74. I could go higher than 94 (and the range continued to increase) but the speed would lower (it was at about 1400KBps @ 84mW) as I tested every 4mW from 19 to 100.
NS
After I click 'ping', all that happens is 'Invalid IP Address or Domain Name' appears in the window. Is that what should happen?
I have the 1.42.2 firmware.
Regards,
Bruce
The hack doesn't work on the latest firmware, you need to downgrade to .1 I believe.
NS
Hallo take this Firmaware
http://h.vu.wifi-box.net/wrt54g/cust_fw/WRT54G_1.42.2_EU_Pinghack_18_11_03_code.bin
its 1.42.2 european but pinghack works , I've tested cu dertester
So thanks Thrax & dertester !
Also a systems guy at work said I should gone for the D-Link 614+ as its better even though its a 802.11b router. What do you lot think.
Regards
Jim
Thank you for wasting my time.
NS
NS
"Do as I think, not as I say"
http://h.vu.wifi-box.net/wrt54g/#Otherhacked
Contains his own hacked versions with added features, and also the other latest ones with all channels (1-14) and just the plain one with pinghack (all latest version).
This guys hacked ones also allow you to increase the power via the standard web interface, which is nice.
Wow, this guy did a good job.
edit:
I'm looking at pictures for the inside of a WRT54G and I was wondering, if I was going to mod the router for a high power increase what chips on the board would be needing the cooling?
http://seattlewireless.net/~mattw/photos/linksyswrt54g/gallery/
I tried this but all i get is invalid domain...what am i doing wrong?