Hello dear forum community...

[Klueless]

Welcome back (or bon voyage? I forgot whether you were coming or going ...)

Doubled your speed on the HP? Sounds awesome to me! You sound disappointed? Hey, maybe not a "home run" but a solid double and another base hit should drive the run in.

Here's what I'm learning from you and your team. It not only takes a decent wireless router, it also takes a decent wireless client/PC. Come July your new router might finish the job.

I may buy a longer extension cable ...

As in power cable and move the whole desktop? Or as in USB extension cable and simply move the N600 dongle a little closer?

Looking forward to hearing how you make out with the Dell.

I'm starting to realize how useful "Fast Sam" could be. Simply move him close to one of your problem clients/PCs; if Sam performs well then simply upgrade the wireless adapter on the slacker.

Regarding July I am so not making any recommendations but I might suggest reading up on the Asus RT-AC2900 (aka RT-AC86U). One of the things I like about Asus is their built-in real time traffic monitor, I've found it to be most useful.

 

[FatherLandDescendant]

Or as in USB extension cable and simply move the N600 dongle a little closer?

Which could help to get it away from the case.

I have run USB dongles off of a USB cable that I ran up the wall about half way to improve reception.

It looked like hell but it worked.

 

[sonavogel]

Hi, @Klueless!

Or as in USB extension cable and simply move the N600 dongle a little closer?

Yes, that's what I meant. If I can buy an extension cable that will allow me to move the dongle across the room downstairs, the dongle will be directly under the Ubee...and that might ("might" being the operative word) shift it from its yellow light to green/blue. It's worth a try.

Oh--and I leave a week from yesterday. My Intel 7260 wireless mini card arrived two days ago, and I plan on dropping off the Inspiron and card on Wednesday, assuming the techies there still confirm their ability (and willingness) to install it, test it...and maybe dust off the inside of my poor old laptop while they're at it.

Doubled your speed on the HP? Sounds awesome to me! You sound disappointed?

No, I wasn't disappointed--it's much faster on the download. But I can't help wondering why upload speeds are always slow, not matter where you test your machine, how you test it (wired/wireless), or which machine you test. It baffles me.

Which could help to get it away from the case.

I have run USB dongles off of a USB cable that I ran up the wall about half way to improve reception.

It looked like hell but it worked.

Sounds like a plan to me!

 

[Klueless]

I can't help wondering why upload speeds are always slow, not matter where you test your machine, how you test it (wired/wireless), or which machine you test.

Spectrum runs a wire from you/your log cabin to them. That wire is pretty much worthless without the service they sell. That service is for some number of bits (Mbps) down and up. So let's make up a number; e.g., that the service is for, let's call it 132 Mbps. Now instead of all bits flow to you (like cable TV where you watch/listen but don't get to talk back) they let bits flow both ways; some down and some up.

They could have chosen to split it equally; 66Mbps down and 66Mbps up. Experience shows most people take a lot more from the Internet than they send up to the Internet so it's not unusual to slice it in a 10:1 ratio. For you that means about 120Mbps down and 12Mbps up.

Does that add to the confusion?

 

[sonavogel]

Spectrum runs a wire from you/your log cabin to them. That wire is pretty much worthless without the service they sell. That service is for some number of bits (Mbps) down and up. So let's make up a number; e.g., that the service is for, let's call it 132 Mbps. Now instead of all bits flow to you (like cable TV where you watch/listen but don't get to talk back) they let bits flow both ways; some down and some up.

They could have chosen to split it equally; 66Mbps down and 66Mbps up. Experience shows most people take a lot more from the Internet than they send up to the Internet so it's not unusual to slice it in a 10:1 ratio. For you that means about 120Mbps down and 12Mbps up.

Does that add to the confusion?

Nope. It makes perfect sense, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Too bad they didn't design a dual-cable architecture--one for down, one for up. Probably someone did...but got bumped off and dumped into the Hudson.

Also, @Klueless...that cable Spectrum connected to the cabin, the one that's worthless without the service they provide--can it be picked up and made use of by any other service provider if we were to cancel Spectrum?

 

[degrub]

Only the part inside your house (from the demarc box). The rest of the cable is owned by spectrum most likely.
However, there may be agreements between providers. Only the provider can tell you. And don't believe them the first time, particularly over the phone. They just want to sell you a plan. If your neighbors have the other provider, that is a good sign, usually that at least they are in the area. However, you might be charged for them to make a drop to your place. It can get expensive. Talk with their field guys if you can get them. The sale people are only partly useful.

 

[Klueless]

Too bad they didn't design a dual-cable architecture--one for down, one for up. Probably someone did...but got bumped off and dumped into the Hudson.

Don't underestimate these guys; it's amazing what they can do ... and will do ... for a price.

Someone like me might go to Men's Wearhouse for an off-the-rack suit but the lawyers in our town would go to Adrian Jules for a custom made suit.

You and I my friend bought an off-the-rack solution from Spectrum (and coming from a 6Mbps service I'm still rather thrilled ; -) Providing a one size fits many solution allows them to realize many economies of scale (some of which I like to think they pass on to me?)

I had meant to share this picture of our range extender back when you and I were talking about range extenders.

There's a router in the window across the way, the range extender connects our building to their network.

(BTW: What kind of work do you do from your cabin office?)

 

[sonavogel]

I had meant to share this picture of our range extender back when you and I were talking about range extenders.

There's a router in the window across the way, the range extender connects our building to their network.

Was that you (both) wanted? To connect your building to theirs, and vice versa, with respect to WiFi? Do you work together?

When I lived in NYC, in a brownstone, I had TWC for everything--back when it cost a reasonable monthly (so reasonable that I can't even remember what it was; but I remember that I was able to afford it, so that's saying something!)--and whenever I'd boot up, the router names of everyone in the building would show their faces in my network window. Of course, they all had passwords, and I don't think anyone tried to poach off of someone else's territory, but it was fun to see all the names.

Now we live in a rural community--I don't think even a WiFi extender would show us any other users in the vicinity.

I dropped off my Inspiron 15R today, along with the Intel 7260 dual band wireless express half mini card. Fingers crossed that they install it properly, that it works on the Inspiron, and that they test it well for me. I'll be leaving on Saturday, and can pick it up when I return Friday...so we'll see if I get a call before then with any issues.

And if they do get it in there and it works, fingers crossed that it strengthens and speeds up my poor Inspiron's WiFi!

(BTW: What kind of work do you do from your cabin office?)

@Klueless, I'm a full-time freelance copy editor. Most of my clients are book publishing houses, but I also handle online e-copy editing for a few newsmagazines and reports for NGOs. Used to be 100 percent hard copy; now it's nearly 100 percent e-c/e.

When I started working as a copy editor, my clients cared more about the final product (spelling, punctuation, grammar/usage, organization/structure, fact-checking, and so on). These days, less and less.

@degrub, I wanted to reply to one of the fun (as in it made me smile) comments you made:

If your neighbors have the other provider, that is a good sign, usually that at least they are in the area. However, you might be charged for them to make a drop to your place.

There are no other providers where we live--there wasn't even this provider, Spectrum, until about five months ago. I was asking about cable ownership only because I was curious; but we can't apply the strategy of negotiating with Spectrum by threatening to go to their competitors. Up here, they have none.

 

[Klueless]

Was that you (both) wanted? To connect your building to theirs, and vice versa, with respect to WiFi? Do you work together?

<lol> yes. The owner of the car lot bought the house next door (doubling the size of his car lot) and wanted to use the house for extra office space. The ISP wanted $100 a month to connect the house to the Internet and a few hundred (per month) more for the two buildings to talk with each other.

Stuck the range extender in on a whim and get up to 215 Mbps between buildings (although 60 Mbps is more typical). In any case it's more than good enough as we only have a 15 Mbps Internet service.

Only problem is the owner parks his huge GMC truck/SUV right in front of the window. Works out good, when Facebook goes down we know the boss is in!

copy editor

And that would explain your stellar communications skills!

 

[sonavogel]

sonavogel said:
Was that you (both) wanted?

And that would explain your stellar communications skills!

Hah!! If you don't count dropped words such as "what"!

So: I managed to get to Staples before the snowstorm, and I've placed my ASUS 10-inch netbook in its spot. It's the only device (prior to the MSI) that picks up 5GHz WiFi, and it's doing well as a pinch-hitter till I hit the road on Saturday (and it better not be snowing then!). Mostly e-mail and fact-checking, research, that sort of thing. The screen is too small for manuscript or document copy-editing--at least for me. The MSI is perfect for that: what a clear screen!

Hope you're managing okay in Rochester, @Klueless. What a winter.

Y'know, I was wondering: When you lose power (I mean if you lose power), do you have a generator to keep your router and cable connection working? Or have you connected the works to a large backup battery or something?

I ask because there are only so many places in the cabin that we can connect to our generator, and the Spectrum Ubee area isn't one of them. I'm curious as to what other people do for uninterrupted Internet when the power goes out.

Which suddenly made me think of another, as yet uncontemplated, issue: Remember those (one or two) access point devices that might get plugged in around the cabin once I've got my new router--the ones that will support the weaker WiFi areas? There's a potential nightmare in the making if the power drops out during a storm! Or do they carry an internal battery for a few hours that keeps them going till the lights come back on?

I have that kind of situation with my HP Pavilion desktop. If the power goes out even for 2 seconds and then comes back on--a flicker--the desktop dies, along with my work. It happened three times two (or was it three?) days ago, drove me nuts. I switched to the MSI for peace of mind. (I like the desktop because I bought a large monitor for it.)

Finally, if I may return the query: What business are you and your neighbor in together?

 

[Klueless]

Hah!! If you don't count dropped words such as "what"

Hah ... I noticed that : -)

We lose power so often I can find the flashlights with my eyes closed. Every year I say I'm going to buy a backup generator and every year I manage to spend the money on something else. Which, like you said, is why I love my old laptop; when the power goes out I have plenty of time to save my work, close it up, grab a couple flashlights, beers and call it a day (or, in some cases, call it a week). Yeah, it's been quite a winter.

A UPS would give your systems a couple of hours such that you can weather a short outage or to facilitate an orderly shutdown. Here are a couple forum posts (one and two) on the topic (which I didn't even read yet : -) that mention a few such products. You might try posting a new topic under "other discussions".

"Fast Sam" has a mini display port? Mini displayport to VGA adapters can be had for about ten bucks such that you can treat Fast Sam to the HP's large screen monitor on occasion.

My friend owns a car lot and I work a few hours a week for him, e.g., helping to pick up some of the cars he buys and driving them back to the car lot. The old house next door was part of his father's car lot which he bought a few years back. He was going to bulldoze the house but decided to keep it in honor of his father. He restored the old place real nice and uses it for archiving records, extra office space and a lunch room for employees. When he proudly showed his father what he had done his father said, "eh, I would've knocked the damn thing down". <lol>

Wow, from NYC to a cabin in the mountains. What a lifestyle change! Sounds bee-you-tea-full (although I don't think Carrie Bradshaw could have done it).

 

[Klueless]

I dropped off my Inspiron 15R today, along with the Intel 7260 dual band wireless express half mini card ... fingers crossed that it strengthens and speeds up my poor Inspiron's WiFi!

Well you should just about be back now with an amazing success story?