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Broadband Problem
By: rekha singh | 11 Jun 2010 6:59 pm
MMmmmmmm, looks like something happened to my wireless connection since last night. Everything was OK last night but when I switched it on this morning I couldn't retrieve my mail because I had no connection. Four blue lights on the hub but the wireless system tray icon was grey. I called up the desktop help and started all the tests. Then I got a message telling me to connect the hub and laptop with an Ethernet lead. I thought I had that but when I followed the Ethernet cable from the router it was in my older tower. I knew I had both connected through the same router but I expected the Ethernet cable to be from the router straight into my laptop and a USB cable from the router to the tower which is windows XP. The laptop being vista. I had an engineer come up here and do the original connection for me. I think he may have done that as a temporary measure while he collected and transferred my email, address book which I had forgotten. Maybe he just forgot to change it over or else I have a vivid imagination.
Well anyway I had to call my broadband server who came on remote with me. It looked like she deleted the original connection and made a new one. Funny thing was though that when I plugged in the Ethernet cable I had a connection to the Internet but the icon in the system tray was grey. Well after doing the new connection the icon in the system tray went green and everything seems OK. This is all very confusing to me. I have decided to forget having the Internet on the tower now in case I mess up the connection I now have on the laptop.
I just thought it would be handy to have both connected so that if I had a problem which turned out not to a server problem or a router problem, I could still get hold of you guys for help. Oh well, never mind.
CommentsYour Tower should be connected with an Ethernet cable and if you need to re-set the laptop you would still use an Ethernet cable. Normally when you lose connection on a BT hub, you just re-start the hub.
By: rekha singh | 11 Jun 2010
Yes, My tower was connected by USB because I didn't have an Ethernet cable. When I bought the laptop it came with a new Ethernet cable so the engineer just used what I had I guess. It's no hassle when doing remote and I have a feeling that BT think it's a lot easier to do remote rather than trying to explain things to people and waiting for them to find things and do it. They seem to be using remote an awful lot these days. Suits me and I just sit and watch what they are doing.
By: rekha singh | 11 Jun 2010
Ethernet is more reliable for remote connections and is difficult to troubleshoot things via wireless. There is a speed factor as far as screen refresh rates at the technicians end. The technician, being able to see your desktop, needs to see screen changes almost as fast as you can sitting in front of the computer. Otherwise, sometimes the changes aren't actually always seen except only to you. Besides being a source of frustration for the tech, they are trying to get you fixed up as quickly as possible. I would pickup a second ethernet cable and plug one end in the router to be used on the laptop when wireless is not working or for troubleshooting. Having both systems capable of using ethernet gives the ability to use both systems when something happens. I believe we all discussed the USB to BT hub issue previously as far as using a hub with a single ethernet port and a single usb port to service two systems. Your installer setup your tower as I would it sounds like using ethernet as a preference over USB. I believe your new hub has more than one ethernet port right?
By: rekha singh | 11 Jun 2010
Hello, Yes, the hub has four Ethernet ports. Are you saying that I should buy another Ethernet cable to keep as a spare or to use it to connect my older tower to the Internet. I don't use wireless unless I wish to be able from my test which is very rare.
By: rekha singh | 11 Jun 2010
I would have an ethernet cable for both the laptop and the desktop. On the desktop you won't see much speed difference from usb over ethernet. However, it's also a reliability thing. Ethernet is the port of choice when you have that choice. If you normally connect the laptop with ethernet and the desktop with usb...change both to use ethernet and disconnect the usb. You need 2 ethernet cable to do that. If you already have 2 then you don't need and extra exept possibly to put in your laptop bag to take with you. Make sense?
By: rekha singh | 11 Jun 2010
Hello, Yep all clear now as far as that goes. How do I get a connection to my tower though or will it share the one I already have?
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
Also, all the communication overhead is handled by the ethernet card rather than the operating system, so ethernet taxes your system less and that is especially good with older systems.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
No you do not have to buy another cable. You use the Ethernet cable for the old tower to connect and if on the off chance you have to set up the wireless again you could unplug it and put it into your laptop just to do that and back again after the short bit of work is done.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
On the BT hub or any other Router why would you connect a wireless laptop by cable.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
Set up the wireless by Ethernet and then you can connect the tower by the cable and your laptop by wireless from anywhere in your house.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
Does your tower have an ethernet port? You said your BT router has 4 ethernet ports. They can be used by 4 different ethernet devices. They will all share the internet connection and internet problems at the same time. Most technicians will use an ethernet cable at least initially when installing or setting up a wireless connection for a laptop. It is done that way to setup security and stuff first. That can't be done when the wireless cannot connect to the router wirelessly.
Your tower can and should remain connected via ethernet to the BT router and be left that way.
Now that you have your wireless setup, you don't need an ethernet cable constantly connected if you so choose. But if the wireless connection fails...plug an ethernet cable into it. Your laptop has 2 options to exploit.
If your laptop primarily sets close to your router...close enough for an ethernet cable to reach...opt to use the ethernet connection. Use the wireless when using it in front of the TV or out by the barby. Wireless connections are slower that a wired connection no matter how close to the router you are. Ethernet cables can be up to 100 meters in theory but start losing signal the longer it is. That usually starts to be noticible around 75 meters. Ethernet connections don't suffer from radio interference and seldom fail.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
Hello, Yes my tower has an Ethernet port but only one I believe. I could have checked but the tower is right into a corner and it's getting awkward for me now due to me getting old and cranky. Just at the moment the Ethernet cable is just connected to my router and nothing else since last night I disconnected it from my laptop. Later on I might as well connect it back to the tower. I don't use by tower to connect to the Internet hardly ever and I just wanted to have the facility in case I do or as already explained in case I have a problem with my laptop so that I can get help. .
My laptop site right next to the router just inches away.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
OK just remember that other electrical and wireless signals can interfere with your wireless link to the laptop so you may find your to close to the router. Best to move the laptop around if you lose the connection again before you think of other reasons. Yes the tower usually has only one and your friendly mech would have checked that out I guess.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
Well I had thought that it was best to be as close as possible to the router with the laptop.
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
Also there is no need for wireless if your always going to use it that close best to just plug it into the Ethernet than
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
By: rekha singh | 12 Jun 2010
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