ibook wireless not as good as i hoped (also Linksys Q)

[rinseout]

Hi,

New iBook questions again:

- One of the reasons I bought my iBook is the reputed excellent wireless performance. But I haven't had much luck with it. In one case I was in a hotspot that was giving me between 0-2 bars, usually 0 or 1, making the connection really unusable (I got DHCP off of it, but that's all). Right now I'm next to a base station and have 3 bars (of 4), whereas the PB crowd all have 4. Is this an issue, and if so, is it something I can fix? To be honest, I have been pulling my airport card in and out to install memory, but I'm pretty sure it's in there correctly.

- My girlfriend as a Linksys router using 128 bit WEP. Try as I might, I just couldn't authenticate to her network (that sounds terrible, no? ) Exactly what does a person need to do to make my iBook work with her Linksys router? It's a variety that has only 1 WEP key, does no MAC filtering or anything fancy, and is operating on channel 3 or 4 I think. I read somewhere that one has to preface the (hex) WEP key with "0x". Is that true?

 

[wordmunger]

I get better WiFi performance from my iBook G4 than my wife gets with her 1.5 AlBook. I think something's wrong with your Airport card -- perhaps the connection to the antenna is broken.

Can't answer the other question. There are definitely formatting issues with the WEP key going PC -- Mac, but I can't remember exactly what.

 

[wPod]

yeah, sounds like a problem with your card or the antenna, you might need to call apple and ask. iBooks have much better reception than a PB (its simple, AL blocks wireless transmition and plastic does not)

 

[Fredstar]

I was experiencing a similar situation. Make sure the antenna is ALL the way into the Extreme card, it sounds as if it is quite loose and some of the collar is showing.
Don't be afraid to use force because they are a bastard to get in

 

[rinseout]

here i thought i was through with taking the keyboard off. i'll try re-seating the airport card and antenna connector tonight. it's bad enough reception that i need to get it fixed for it even to be usable. i have to be close enough to the wireless router that i could just run a cable to it if i wanted.

 

[rinseout]

update: solved

just for completeness, this issue really was to do with a not-fully-inserted antenna connector. the pictures earlier in this thread about how to determine whether the antenna is properly connected were useful (you shouldn't see much of the collar on the connector).

thanks for the help.

 

[DeSnousa]

You said you were using it at a hotspot, the hotspot might be over crowded giving you a slower speed.

 

[phonemonkey]

Hi,


- My girlfriend as a Linksys router using 128 bit WEP. Try as I might, I just couldn't authenticate to her network (that sounds terrible, no? ) Exactly what does a person need to do to make my iBook work with her Linksys router? It's a variety that has only 1 WEP key, does no MAC filtering or anything fancy, and is operating on channel 3 or 4 I think. I read somewhere that one has to preface the (hex) WEP key with "0x". Is that true?

Not sure if it is the case, but some routers require a dollar sign ($) in front of the wep to authenticate.