# Multiple Wireless Bridges in the same house.....



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

Multiple Wireless Bridges in the same house.....

Is it possible?

I set up a second one today, but the speed is not good.

The First one I set up works fine when transferring programs to the PC... 

I'm not sure if it is a distance problem, or a problem with having to of the exact same bridges set up in the same house...

If I run a cable along the floor and connect it transfers perfectly... 
(may have to run a permanent cable to it)....


----------



## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

I have 2 bridges in my house. No problems, related to the bridges anyway <grin>.


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

I'm thinking it must just be too far, with too many walls in between or something....

Transferring from my other wireless Bridged Tivo to this one is just ungodly slow!

Like I said if I connect it with a wire along the floor it works great.....


----------



## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

Try some additional troubleshooting.

Swapping the bridges around and see if the slow speed follows the bridge.
Try 1 bridge at a time with the long cat 5 cable going to the other (all locations).

If the problem moves around, it could be either a setup or hardware (bridge) problem.

If it really is a distance/walls (weak signal) problem it will always be slow from that 1 location, you could try moving the bridge to a different location (longer cable to the tivo of course) in the room. Or you could also try different antennae (Higher gain) (if you can change them) or you could increase the distance of that by making them a parabolic reflector using plans like this. I've never used them but I have heard that they actually work.


----------



## Seattle (Dec 13, 2001)

I have five Belkin routers setup as wireless bridges and they all work great. The one farthest away does transfer a little slower then the others but still faster than realtime video.


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

Guess it could still be a configuration issue. I have the settings exactly the same for each Router that is set to be a bridge (except for different IP addresses).....

I'll have to trouble shoot it more I guess. Or break down and just run a cable straight to it.


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

Must be a configuration thing. 
Moving it closer didn't seem to help either.

Both Bridges should be on the same channel right?


----------



## Seattle (Dec 13, 2001)

tward_biteme1 said:


> Must be a configuration thing.
> Moving it closer didn't seem to help either.
> 
> Both Bridges should be on the same channel right?


On my Belkin routers all you have to do is put the MAC address of the other routers and enable bridge mode. I do have all my routers on the same channel.


----------



## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

tward_biteme1 said:


> Must be a configuration thing.
> Moving it closer didn't seem to help either.
> 
> Both Bridges should be on the same channel right?


yes same channel


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

What speeds do people usually get going from one Bridged Tivo to another Bridged Tivo?


----------



## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

When I do a speed check I get between 4.5 and 5.5


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

Is one of them 802.11b and the other 802.11g?


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

ciper said:


> Is one of them 802.11b and the other 802.11g?


They are both set for 2.4 GHz (B+G)..

Just transferred 2 MB in 142 seconds... Says it will tak 4:22:29 to transfer a 15 minute show...

Looks like I have the settings the same on both.

The only thing it can be is distance.... Or maybe interference?


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

If you are running windows you could install network stumbler and do a site survey. Perhaps a neighbor has recently installed a wireless access point near the slower machine and its causing the problem


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

ciper said:


> If you are running windows you could install network stumbler and do a site survey. Perhaps a neighbor has recently installed a wireless access point near the slower machine and its causing the problem


No neighbors close enough to interfere....

Seemed to be fixed yesterday when I set everything to do 2.4 G only, but tonight it seems slow again....

Very weird!


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

JWThiers said:


> When I do a speed check I get between 4.5 and 5.5


Was getting between 5.5 and 6.0 for about a week.

Thought all was good.

Checked it last night and now it is too slow to even see the now playing list on from one to the other....

What the heck would cause that?

I racked my brain last night and just couldn't figure out what was going on...


----------



## stevecon (Apr 29, 2005)

I found several things that can affect transfer speed. In no particular order:

Secure your wireless network. There are many ways to lock out potential freeloaders (a favorite of mine is limiting access by MAC address and disable the SSID broadcast).

Download & run AngryIP (shareware / freeware) to determine what IPs your router is handing out - are all authorized? 

Whenever possible, go wired.

Reduce the distance, number and density of obstructions between your wireless router(s) and other wireless devices as much as possible.

Look into cordless phones and intercoms (2.4Ghz) nearby - unplug base & remove battery from handset. These can be a source of interference. Don't overlook the 5.8ghz variety of these devices, as some automatically "fallback" to 2.4Ghz operation. 

If you have more than one wireless router in use, employ a unique channel on each router. Set the wireless bridge / game adapter to use the same channel as the router that is closest. As pointed out above, running network stumbler is an excellent way to determine if other networks are in use nearby. 

Your transfer speed can suffer if there is large amounts of traffic on the router already (ie: a PC downloading large files from the internet via high speed connection - or file transfers between PCs or PC to a network printer.

Fringe areas can benefit by replacing antenna(s) with those that have higher gain value. Directional antennas can solve many point to point problems, by concentrating power in one direction instead of 360 degrees.


----------



## tward_biteme1 (Jan 16, 2004)

stevecon said:


> Secure your wireless network. There are many ways to lock out potential freeloaders (a favorite of mine is limiting access by MAC address and disable the SSID broadcast).


In the boonies, no one is close enough to use it....



stevecon said:


> Download & run AngryIP (shareware / freeware) to determine what IPs your router is handing out - are all authorized?


Did this anyway, all looks good.



stevecon said:


> Whenever possible, go wired.


Had one wired, with cable running down the hallway in the middle of the floor. Got wireless working with Speed reporting 5.5-6.0 on both DTivos.

All was working great for a week. Now MRV just seems to be broken... Speed from the computer to each DTivo seems fine. Can play music on both with out problems.

But now when I run Speed, it sits for a while then when finally done reports 0.01....

Nothing has changed that I know of...


----------

