Router Help

[mredskins]

I was hoping someone could help me with finding a new Router. My biggest problem is range and maybe a little speed. Currently I have a Netgear WGR614 Wireless-G Router, it has done a decent job but now we have to move it closer to my wife's computer on the thrid floor and my 360 is on the basement floor. I actually don't even know if it is going to be a problem I am just guessing. Comcast has to make the jack live for us this week on the third floor. For the majority of this routers life it has been in the bump out portion of my townhouse on the second floor and it actually works kind of crappy there. Then about a month or two ago after my wife cried about it I moved it to the third floor and spliced it off the master bedrooms TV jack. Now all of a sudden the modem doesn't like being up there it has trouble communicating with Comcast. So I am going to have to move it to the front of the Townhouse on the third floor (about 20 feet). Since I moved it to the master from the second floor both our computers and Xbox have run better.

Two other questions:

Will moving it twenty feet make a big difference? Currently it is right above the 360 just two floors up and works fine.

Also will the 360 run on a N router?

If anyone has any suggestions this would be helpful.

I guess I am also asking have there been any huge break throughs in routers that will blow away my current Netgear one.

Thank You!

[BDBohnzie]

From my personal experience, Netgear = Crap. But that's besides the point...

20 feet shouldn't make or break anything. Being on the 3rd floor, the signal in your house should be better. Think of the router as an umbrella. The signal casts out then down. So being on the 3rd floor should improve your signal throughout the house.

If your router is having trouble, it might be interference, so I would try changing the channel. Log into the router using the web interface (192.168.?.?) and look for the tab to change the channel. The common channels for routers are 1, 6, and 11. I think the one I have at home, I have set to channel 10 and it works fine. My Linksys Wireless-G Vonage router is on the 3rd floor of our home, and my desktop in the basement gets the signal just fine.

N routers are backwards compatible, so it should work fine with the 360 (purely speculating, since I don't have a 360). As long as the wireless adapter for the 360 is a B or G, then it should work fine with an N router. My sister has the Linksys WRT160 and it's worked flawlessly since she got it.

But if the Netgear router has worked fine, I wouldn't worry about upgrading just yet, unless you have a piece of equipment that can take advantage of the Wireless-N protocol. Wireless-G is just fine, and since most of the time, your signal from Comcast will be less that 16Mbps, no need to faster until you have to.

[That Guy]

a) G is faster than your broadband, so speed doesn't matter, but latency might...

b) you can buy a bigger better antenna to increase the range. that's what i did for my parent's and it really made a difference. buying one at best buy is expensive though, so check newegg first.

c) interference from other neighborhood wireless networks running on the same frequency/channel you are can lead to issues sometimes where your signal is weak...

[That Guy]

netgear isn't crap, at least it hasn't been for me. just avoid belkin.

about the channels - even though there are 11 channels, there's really only 3 - 1, 6, and 11. the rest aren't completely independent from those 3.

besides antennas (which should be enough) you can also use wireless access points to extend range (sorta like adding a 2nd router, but without nearly as many configuration hassles)...

[Daseal]

I have to say I've had bad experiences with Netgear too. Belkin is just terrible. What That Guy said in point c can really help. I was in an apartment, having a ton of issues, changed the channel and the problems went away immediately. There's a program that will display all the networks in range along with what channel they run on.

[mredskins]

this is a big help! thank you.

I am going t ohave it moved on Friday so I will just see how it goes then before purchasing new equipment.

Worst case if it doesn't work Iwill just move the modem next to my 360 and hardwire when i want to play. I only play late at night once everyone is tucked in and the chores are done.

[Smooter]

I have a linksys Wireless-G and have had no probs.