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Uncle Jack

Nov 7, 2003, 8:53 AM

Post #1 of 20 (2942 views)

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Crappy Wireless Internet?

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Anyone else having the same problem with their Lagunanet wireless as I am. I get up early in the morning and everything is working fine. By about 10:00 AM it doesn't work worth squat and then starts to get better about 5:00 PM.

uj

johanson / Moderator

Nov 7, 2003, 7:26 PM

Post #2 of 20 (2889 views)

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Re: [Uncle Jack] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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Yes my connection gets worse during that time period. It started getting worse about the same time they started to report solar flares. Using a program provided by www.networkstumbler.com i boresited my antenna in (I moved the antenna to maximize signal strength) and experimented connecting to different SSIDs (available networks or hot spots). There are at least four on the tower above the Internet Service Provider that I can connect to. I've minimized the problem but it's still there. I'm 700 meters from the tower.

At 700 meters line of site, I'm using the 24 db fixed antenna which came with the system when Lagunanet installed the system which may be overkill. Using a 4 db antenna connected to a wireless card plugged into a laptop I occasionally can connect at 700 meters. However when I move to within 50 to 100 meters I get good connectivity even when my fixed WiFi (home) connection isn't ideal.

I just bought some metal screen and I am going to experiment around to see if I can shield against possible interference from the solar flares.

Do I know that the problem is related to solar flares? No, but it's the best guess my fellow hams and I can come up with.

Roses5410

Nov 9, 2003, 4:56 AM

Post #3 of 20 (2851 views)

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Re: [Uncle Jack] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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Yes, we've noticed the problem too. Also, in the evening, it is almost impossible for us to get on line. I was starting to wonder if it was only our connection...

-K-
I love taking pictures...check out my prints for sale @ http://Rosacalaca.dpcprints.com/

johanson / Moderator

Nov 9, 2003, 8:10 AM

Post #4 of 20 (2837 views)

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Re: [Roses5410] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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My wireless connection is much better now. Still not perfect, but one heck of a lot better than dialup.

El Gringo Nuevo

Nov 11, 2003, 6:28 AM

Post #5 of 20 (2794 views)

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Re: [johanson] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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Still challenged with wireless in Jocotopec. Are others still challenged or do we possibly have equipment problems at our home. Seems to work in the a.m. and late evening. Otherwise it's either non-existent or intermittent service.

raferguson

Nov 15, 2003, 11:39 PM

Post #6 of 20 (2750 views)

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Re: [Uncle Jack] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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When you are talking about a "schedule" of predictable bad service, I can think of a couple of possible causes.

1. Some super generator of interference runs at certain times of the day and not others. Think about some nasty industrial machine.

2. This is a channel overload situation. When the channel gets busy, the individual throughput will go down. In some cases, overload can actually cause the total throughput to go down, so much mutual interference that almost nothing gets through for anybody.

I will say that I am surprised that someone near the base station with a good antenna is having problems. Usually, that is the only person who will get through! Maybe some heavy user is even closer to the base station, and is walking all over you.

Most of the above is based on use of wireless data systems with an protocol similar to Ethernet, where collisions are possible if multiple users transmit at the same time. Does anyone know the actual protocol, frequency, etc., used in this system?

http://www.fergusonsculpture.com

rodc

Nov 22, 2003, 5:54 AM

Post #7 of 20 (2718 views)

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Re: [raferguson] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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This all makes sense but the interference is consistent on a 20 Km run all accross the board weather its in a concentrated area lots of users or few users all APS are very selectively set up with only no more than 30 clients per AP but its definately something atmospheric I saw this activity the last time we had intense solar flares and had not seen this activity since.

And normally we think of interference only affecting certain channels which does happen ocasionally but al the APs have atomatic channel switching should interference hits but in this case the interference or whatever it is just shuts down all channels period.

Thursday reception was excellent and then we come in to a big solar flare activity session again and it goes down the tubes , heres an article that was sent to me by a fellow wireless ISP residing in Seattle downt know if this is it but it makes since

BTW this activity is also affecting a bit my 900 Mhz frecuency which is never affected

A severe geomagnetic storm is in progress at this time. As I
write this bulletin, the planetary K index (Kp) is at 7. The
Aurora Index is at 10 (maximum). The Bz (horizontal component of
the Interplanetary Magnetic Field) is strongly negative (oriented
southward), at -55.1 nanoTeslas. This stormy geomagnetic activity
is causing strong ionospheric recombination, decreasing the
maximum usable frequencies on all radio link paths. HF propagation
at all latitudes is poor.

This geomagnetic storm is a result of the arrival and passage of a
coronal hole mass ejection from 18-XI-2003. The solar wind speed
increased from 430 km per second to 750 km per second, with a very
strongly negative horizontal IMF component. Whenever the Bz is
negative (whenever the horizontal IMF component is oriented
southward), the IMF combines with the magnetosphere in such a way
as to create geomagnetic disturbances and ionospheric storms.
Aurora is also a typical result of such interaction.

This geomagnetic storm is expected to continue through the end of
20-XI-2003. Additional CME arrivals may continue to keep the
geomagnetic activity high.

At 0747Z, 20-XI-2003, a flare peaked at M9.6, further causing
degradation of the HF propagation, on the sunlit area of the Earth.
Continued C, M, and possible X flares are possible today and for
the next week. The major sunspot groups from the end of October
and the beginning of November have and are returning into view,
increasing solar activity.

Today's HF propagation outlook is poor. While the 10.7-cm flux
is climbing, the continued geomagnetic storm will significantly
degrade higher frequency propagation. The moderate to major flare
activity expected will also degrade mid-HF frequencies. Nighttime
propagation on low to mid HF frequencies will also suffer, as the
E-layer will be significantly recombined, decreasing its MUF.

VHF propagation via Aurora, Aurora-E, and Trans-equitorial
propagation (TEP) will be fair to good. I welcome reports, if
any, of your success on VHF during this period.

More information as events warrant will be posted in follow-up
bulletins. Live information is ongoing at

raferguson

Nov 23, 2003, 8:40 PM

Post #8 of 20 (2686 views)

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Re: [rodc] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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I am a little skeptical about the solar explanation. Solar activity has been up and down, with some very low days and some extremely high days. (I happen to get a solar activity report in my email every day, so I know when it is up and when it is down). I can imagine an effect of some kind on the extremely high days, but those are few and far between, although we are seeing some events in the last month.

The initial report was that the problem happened every day, almost like clockwork. If the problem was really related to solar activity, then it would vary greatly from day to day and week to week.

http://www.fergusonsculpture.com

rodc

Nov 24, 2003, 3:43 AM

Post #9 of 20 (2679 views)

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Re: [raferguson] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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Hi there this in fact has happened it has not been consistent some days terrible but so far so good as of Saturday since the afternoon things have improved and have been consistently good so I am hoping this will be the end of the cycle.

Rod

johanson / Moderator

Nov 24, 2003, 9:57 PM

Post #10 of 20 (2655 views)

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Re: [raferguson] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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At about 6 PM Monday, my wireless connection was about as slow as my dialup connection, so I decided to try the dialup connection. I got on with the first call and have been connected now for 5 hours and 45 minutes so far on my PC.

I, then as a backup, tried connecting my laptop via a teletronic wireless card to the wireless fixed high gain antenna and was not having very good luck.

I disconnected the fixed wireless 24 dB antenna from the teletronic card and attached it to an Ethernet bridge that feeds a 802.11g backwards compatible linksys router, disabled my Teletronic card, enabled my internal centrino wireless card in my laptop and I'm back in business. Yes the wireless connections have not been perfect lately, but with a little tweaking I was able to minimize my downtime. (Yes I know, I was speaking another language, and I still have a lot to learn.)

Are you supposed to be able to tweak your system or for that matter even understand what I just wrote? My 16 year old cousin says yes, and that we should understand much more. But many of my piers say no. I know I'm having a heck of a time trying to keep up with the kid.

I remember when mom was getting older and Dad got her their first microwave oven, and she said, "I can't stand these newfangled inventions, they're simply too modern for me". When I heard her say that I was shocked and decided never to let my children hear me to make such a statement. I'm trying not to make the same type of statement to my cousin. But darn it's hard to keep up with him

Yes there have been some wireless issues lately here on the shores of Lake Chapala, however some of those whose systems that did not appear to work were tweakable or simply required the unplugging and replugging in of the Ethernet bridge (don't push the reset button).

So should your wireless connection fail to work, all may not be lost, you may be able to fix it, or at least minimize the problem.

johanson / Moderator

Nov 30, 2003, 7:03 PM

Post #11 of 20 (2619 views)

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Re: [johanson] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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My wireless was was getting worse and worse. Friday evening. I phoned up the web master at his home and said I didn't know what to do. HE DID. He reminded me that I had lowered my antenna and positioned it so that I could easily rotate it from East to West so that I could experiment around. (During ideal atmospheric conditions my new location worked just great)

Well I put it back where it was some six feet higher and pointed it toward the ISP. I not only moved the dish left and right but up and down to maximize the signal. I used "network stumbler" to show signal strength on the screen. I am again getting a good signal even during periods of high interference.

AND yes as Raferguson (spelling?) said the closer I am to the ISP, the lower the interference problem. In fact when I am within a block or so, I get a great signal whether I am using my external card with a 4 dB antenna or my internal centrino card.

In most cases unless you are in a fringe area, you should be able to tweak your antenna and get a very usable signal

johanson / Moderator

Dec 6, 2003, 8:38 PM

Post #12 of 20 (2598 views)

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Re: [johanson] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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Wireless update: Back to normal

The signal strength seems to be back to normal, and most if not all of the interference seems to have gone away. Let's hope it stays that way.

Uncle Jack

Dec 10, 2003, 6:17 AM

Post #13 of 20 (2583 views)

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So much for hope!

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Today marks the 33rd day since my first post and things are no better than they were a six weeks ago when this problem started.

It's getting a little wearisome paying $40.00 a month on top of the original $450.00 for the antenna for a service that is only usable in the dead of night.

I'm not a techie, but I do know that if you don't have a signal then either it's not being transmitted or something is interfering with it and I think that we have finally ruled out sunspots.

Anymore ideas, guys?

todoalcd

Dec 11, 2003, 10:53 AM

Post #14 of 20 (2529 views)

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Re: [Uncle Jack] So much for hope!

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UJ, why not try Prodigy Infinitum? this 256 Kbps ADSL service by Telmex is now zero pesos installation and 599 pesos a month (until Dec. 31st.)

To check availability contact the Telmex office.

johanson / Moderator

Dec 11, 2003, 4:15 PM

Post #15 of 20 (2511 views)

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Re: [todoalcd] So much for hope!

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Sadly UJ lives a little too far away from Ajijic to get Inifinitim (spelling?) At $499 + IVA or 574 pesos per month its time for UJ to move closer to town. I'm told that the closer you are to the infinitim access point, the faster the speed.

The same goes for wireless. The closer you are to the access point, ( AKA hot spot, transceiver antenna, +.+) the better the line of site signal.

Don't forget folks you also have at least two other internet options,; one and two-way internet access via geo-stationary satellites.

(This post was edited by johanson on Jan 12, 2004, 8:36 PM)

cmzeisler2

Dec 22, 2003, 9:01 PM

Post #16 of 20 (2468 views)

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Re: [El Gringo Nuevo] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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So what does the wireless connection cost? What are the equipment charges and can you get hooked up for just a month?

johanson / Moderator

Dec 22, 2003, 9:23 PM

Post #17 of 20 (2466 views)

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Re: [cmzeisler2] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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The equipment costs are usually $450 to $485 US. the 128 kb/s connection costs $40 per month the 256K $60 per month. Charges could be less if you have a laptop and live very close to a hot spot.

It's questionable whether www.lagunanet.net.mx would be willing to hook someone up for only one month.

cmzeisler3

Jan 12, 2004, 7:02 PM

Post #18 of 20 (2412 views)

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Re: [Uncle Jack] Crappy Wireless Internet?

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is DSL available in the area? If it is do you know what the costs are. It seems that the wireless connections have some problems.

johanson / Moderator

Jan 12, 2004, 8:41 PM

Post #19 of 20 (2405 views)

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Re: [cmzeisler3] ADSL?

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ADSL is available within 3 Km (wire distance) of the telmex office in Ajijic and Chapala. I guess in the posts above I should have mentioned that Prodigy Infinitum is ADSL. Some day they have plans for additional service, but no date has been given. The monthly charge is 574 pesos including IVA for a 256 Kb/sec ADSL hookup. The setup fee varies dependent upon hookup period. The last time I checked, the hookup charge was 3,449 pesos.

Actual download speeds have been closer to 400 Kb/sec. You will have to get the owner of the phone to have the ADSL put in. It's rather doubtful that you could get it for a short period of time. It can get a little complicated if you do not live here or only plan to be here for only one month

Both fixed wireless and ADSL seem to be working well at the moment.

Ol' Gringo

Jan 14, 2004, 11:28 AM

Post #20 of 20 (2362 views)

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Re: [johanson] ADSL?

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If you will go to qrz.com you may find some good info. about your problem. Buena suerte.
Jerry n5jt