Need help with my wireless router

h2o_spirals · May 27, 2007

hello, i have had my mac now for a year, and i have joined open networks before, but my dad got a new NetGear wireless router and it requires an encryption key to be enter in order to connect to the router.

i have looked in the network settings and no where can i find an option to input an encryption key... can anyone please help me? thanks in advance!

-h2o-spirals

PowerBookG4 · May 27, 2007

when you try to connect to the the router via the airport menu it should ask you for it.

dtravis7 · May 27, 2007

PowerbookG4 is correct. What Encryption you using? WEP? WPA? WPA2? If WEP 128Bit Hex?

h2o_spirals · May 27, 2007

dtravis7 said:
PowerbookG4 is correct. What Encryption you using? WEP? WPA? WPA2? If WEP 128Bit Hex?

well, i figured it out... it's WEP 128 Hex, at least i think... i selected that and put the encryption key in and it's working... the only problem now is that my airport keeps shifting from 4 bars to 3 bars and when it goes to 3 bars, it gets really slow and doesn't connect as fast to websites... i'm a big gamer and i play world of warcraft and i need to know if there is anything to fix that issue because i can't be crashing all the time because of poor connection. please help me with that issue, thanks in advance!

-h2o-spirals

cwa107 · May 27, 2007

h2o_spirals said:
well, i figured it out... it's WEP 128 Hex, at least i think... i selected that and put the encryption key in and it's working... the only problem now is that my airport keeps shifting from 4 bars to 3 bars and when it goes to 3 bars, it gets really slow and doesn't connect as fast to websites... i'm a big gamer and i play world of warcraft and i need to know if there is anything to fix that issue because i can't be crashing all the time because of poor connection. please help me with that issue, thanks in advance!

-h2o-spirals

First off, if your router supports it, dump WEP and switch to WPA (or better yet WPA2 if available). WEP is easily cracked, in some cases in less than 60 seconds. There is absolutely no advantage to using it. You may even find better range and performance using WPA.

h2o_spirals · May 27, 2007

well, my router has both WPA and WPA2, but my mac only supports WPA... so, we changed it and i am connected now, but in the internet connect, i am only getting 10-11 bars out of 15... it depends, sometimes it's 11 bars out of 15 and sometimes only 10, but it's never decreased more than that. when i turn my mac on or if i re-connect to the airport then it's a full signal of 15 bars in internet connect, but only for a minute or two. i am wondering if there is a compatible issue with the wireless router or something. i have done everything i can, my dad put me on the access list on the router with my airport mac address and we switched to the WPA, but so far nothing has helped with the signal strength.

cwa107 said:
First off, if your router supports it, dump WEP and switch to WPA (or better yet WPA2 if available). WEP is easily cracked, in some cases in less than 60 seconds. There is absolutely no advantage to using it. You may even find better range and performance using WPA.

dtravis7 · May 27, 2007

What Mac and version of OSX are you using? Also how far are you from the router?

h2o_spirals · May 27, 2007

h2o_spirals said:
well, my router has both WPA and WPA2, but my mac only supports WPA... so, we changed it and i am connected now, but in the internet connect, i am only getting 10-11 bars out of 15... it depends, sometimes it's 11 bars out of 15 and sometimes only 10, but it's never decreased more than that. when i turn my mac on or if i re-connect to the airport then it's a full signal of 15 bars in internet connect, but only for a minute or two. i am wondering if there is a compatible issue with the wireless router or something. i have done everything i can, my dad put me on the access list on the router with my airport mac address and we switched to the WPA, but so far nothing has helped with the signal strength.

wow, now it has decreased to 8 bars out of 15 bars... i have no idea what is going on, but i've never had an issue with wireless before. it seems like to me that i am going to have issues with this router.

h2o_spirals · May 27, 2007

dtravis7 said:
What Mac and version of OSX are you using? Also how far are you from the router?

i have a PowerBook G4 and i am running Mac OS 10.4.9 -- the router is above me upstairs, about 20 feet away or so, my dad set the range to 600 feet, and now my signal went back to 11 bars out of 15 bars, but it keeps shifting.

cwa107 · May 28, 2007

h2o_spirals said:
i have a PowerBook G4 and i am running Mac OS 10.4.9 -- the router is above me upstairs, about 20 feet away or so, my dad set the range to 600 feet, and now my signal went back to 11 bars out of 15 bars, but it keeps shifting.

It's going to shift from time to time based on interference in your home. If you have any cordless phones, be sure to keep the base station far away from your router. Also Microwave ovens can interfere with signal strength. You may also try a utility like AirPort Radar to detect your neighbor's wireless routers and what channel they're using. If they're using the same channel, change the channel you're using.

If you're using WPA, don't use MAC filtering (which is basically useless anyway). Also, don't disable SSID - it might seem like a good idea, but it just makes it harder for your machines to connect and stay connected. Besides, anyone with a scanning tool can still see your SSID regardless.

h2o_spirals · May 28, 2007

cwa107 said:
It's going to shift from time to time based on interference in your home. If you have any cordless phones, be sure to keep the base station far away from your router. Also Microwave ovens can interfere with signal strength. You may also try a utility like AirPort Radar to detect your neighbor's wireless routers and what channel they're using. If they're using the same channel, change the channel you're using.

If you're using WPA, don't use MAC filtering (which is basically useless anyway). Also, don't disable SSID - it might seem like a good idea, but it just makes it harder for your machines to connect and stay connected. Besides, anyone with a scanning tool can still see your SSID regardless.

i know this may seem stupid, but i am not really too familiar with wireless routers and i have a couple questions... how do i check and see if i am using "MAC filtering"? and also how do i change the channel that i am on, is just through my router, or do i have to change it on my apple laptop too? and last , but not least... how do i check and see if my SSID is enabled?

also, i have my cordless phone about 2 feet away from the router, is that too close?

dtravis7 · May 28, 2007

What is the model of your Netgear router?

The First pic below shows on my netgear how to change the channel. You change the channel on the router. The Mac will find it.

The 2nd pic shows the screen where you enable SSID. These are from my model Netgear, but most I have worked with are basically the same.

Only time the phone will cause problems if it's on the same channel. Try changing the channel on the router and see if things get a bit better.

h2o_spirals · May 28, 2007

dtravis7 said:
What is the model of your Netgear router?

it's a rangemax wireless router...

h2o_spirals · May 28, 2007

dtravis7 said:
What is the model of your Netgear router?

The First pic below shows on my netgear how to change the channel. You change the channel on the router. The Mac will find it.

The 2nd pic shows the screen where you enable SSID. These are from my model Netgear, but most I have worked with are basically the same.

Only time the phone will cause problems if it's on the same channel. Try changing the channel on the router and see if things get a bit better.

thanks, i will have to try those things... i am going to do it later tonight and i will let you guys know what the verdict is. i hope it works.

thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions!

-Stephanie