Page 27 of 67
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 15 Apr 2020, 9:28pm
by revbob
Looking for an android music player that will also update cover art. Ive been using Rocket Player but it effed up and doesn't update album art anymore and for good measure it fucked up a bunch of art.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 10:50am
by Dr. Medulla
Anybody here use a wifi signal extender? The Boss works in the kitchen and says the signal can be spotty there. I'm curious mainly about how well extenders work and especially how easily they are to set up. I can't help but think that I'd buy one and then be utterly frustrated getting it to recognize the modem and/or baffle the various devices.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 11:16am
by revbob
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 10:50am
Anybody here use a wifi signal extender? The Boss works in the kitchen and says the signal can be spotty there. I'm curious mainly about how well extenders work and especially how easily they are to set up. I can't help but think that I'd buy one and then be utterly frustrated getting it to recognize the modem and/or baffle the various devices.
Ive never used one for a number of reasons. One is wifi communication is already half duplex. That is only one device is talking at a time, which is fine but then your main wifi router and the extender need to talk too again probably fine but this results in more overhead. and those blazing speeds advertised on the boxes are a pipe dream. Half of the available bandwidth (those advertised speeds) which you never get are used up by overhead communications between all the devices.
I can geek out on this all day long.
Basically you need to see what kind of signal strength there is where you work and where she works and could you move your main wifi router to a place where you both get good signal strength (-70dBm or better, closer to 0 is better). Download inSSIDer from Metageek. This will allow you to see your own wifi network as well as neighbors and how strong your computer sees your signal. It is possible a neighbors wifi signal is just stronger where she sits.
You need to know if you are using 2.4GHz or 5GHz channels. 2.4 has better distance, goes thru walls and doors better but the spectrum is noisy because the available spectrum is small.
Think of wifi RF signals similar to sound waves it is a very good analogy and can help a lay person understand it better.
But yeah get inSSIDer it is free and a good program to allow you to see what is going on in the RF space.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 11:22am
by Flex
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 10:50am
Anybody here use a wifi signal extender? The Boss works in the kitchen and says the signal can be spotty there. I'm curious mainly about how well extenders work and especially how easily they are to set up. I can't help but think that I'd buy one and then be utterly frustrated getting it to recognize the modem and/or baffle the various devices.
We have pretty good wifi coverage in our house, but there's one damned room (which is now the wife's home office since we're all still here at home) that gets less-than-great signal. So we got one of these:
https://www.newegg.com/tp-link-re220/p/N82E16833704487
Got it from a Wirecutter review, it works pretty well. Easy to set up and haven't had any serious problems. Had to unplug and plug it back in once randomly after it seemed to lose connectivity to the router but no big deal. Generally, these days people recommend mesh networking setups rather than adding extenders, but if you're really looking to just cover one room (as we were), this was a much cheaper option.
I'd say that, just by happenstance of house configuration, we still had to position the extender slightly further away from the room than we wanted so the signal there still isn't awesome. I'd find a halfway point between your router and the kitchen and make sure there's an electric outlet nearby to plug the extender into. If the nearest outlet is still too far away from the room you want to cover, it won't do as much good.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 11:36am
by Dr. Medulla
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 11:16am
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 10:50am
Anybody here use a wifi signal extender? The Boss works in the kitchen and says the signal can be spotty there. I'm curious mainly about how well extenders work and especially how easily they are to set up. I can't help but think that I'd buy one and then be utterly frustrated getting it to recognize the modem and/or baffle the various devices.
Ive never used one for a number of reasons. One is wifi communication is already half duplex. That is only one device is talking at a time, which is fine but then your main wifi router and the extender need to talk too again probably fine but this results in more overhead. and those blazing speeds advertised on the boxes are a pipe dream. Half of the available bandwidth (those advertised speeds) which you never get are used up by overhead communications between all the devices.
I can geek out on this all day long.
Basically you need to see what kind of signal strength there is where you work and where she works and could you move your main wifi router to a place where you both get good signal strength (-70dBm or better, closer to 0 is better). Download inSSIDer from Metageek. This will allow you to see your own wifi network as well as neighbors and how strong your computer sees your signal. It is possible a neighbors wifi signal is just stronger where she sits.
You need to know if you are using 2.4GHz or 5GHz channels. 2.4 has better distance, goes thru walls and doors better but the spectrum is noisy because the available spectrum is small.
Think of wifi RF signals similar to sound waves it is a very good analogy and can help a lay person understand it better.
But yeah get inSSIDer it is free and a good program to allow you to see what is going on in the RF space.
I've found your Ratty zone.
Thanks for the advice. inSSIDer doesn't have a Mac version but I think I've found a Mac alternative. I'll see what that says. As well, I'll see if her switching to 2.4 helps things. We're not really in a good position to move the modem, so I might also try Flex's recommendation. It's certainly cheap enough to try. I read about the mesh stuff and winced at the cost. My ISP also rents mesh coverage for $10 a month.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 12:01pm
by revbob
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 11:36am
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 11:16am
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 10:50am
Anybody here use a wifi signal extender? The Boss works in the kitchen and says the signal can be spotty there. I'm curious mainly about how well extenders work and especially how easily they are to set up. I can't help but think that I'd buy one and then be utterly frustrated getting it to recognize the modem and/or baffle the various devices.
Ive never used one for a number of reasons. One is wifi communication is already half duplex. That is only one device is talking at a time, which is fine but then your main wifi router and the extender need to talk too again probably fine but this results in more overhead. and those blazing speeds advertised on the boxes are a pipe dream. Half of the available bandwidth (those advertised speeds) which you never get are used up by overhead communications between all the devices.
I can geek out on this all day long.
Basically you need to see what kind of signal strength there is where you work and where she works and could you move your main wifi router to a place where you both get good signal strength (-70dBm or better, closer to 0 is better). Download inSSIDer from Metageek. This will allow you to see your own wifi network as well as neighbors and how strong your computer sees your signal. It is possible a neighbors wifi signal is just stronger where she sits.
You need to know if you are using 2.4GHz or 5GHz channels. 2.4 has better distance, goes thru walls and doors better but the spectrum is noisy because the available spectrum is small.
Think of wifi RF signals similar to sound waves it is a very good analogy and can help a lay person understand it better.
But yeah get inSSIDer it is free and a good program to allow you to see what is going on in the RF space.
I've found your Ratty zone.
Thanks for the advice. inSSIDer doesn't have a Mac version but I think I've found a Mac alternative. I'll see what that says. As well, I'll see if her switching to 2.4 helps things. We're not really in a good position to move the modem, so I might also try Flex's recommendation. It's certainly cheap enough to try. I read about the mesh stuff and winced at the cost. My ISP also rents mesh coverage for $10 a month.
Yeah its my Ratty zone for sure. Trust me if I was on a computer i would have written a lot more with screen grabs etc.
So signal strength is key, but also how congested that spectrum is and it could be a fix as simple as changing the channel your wifi router is on so that it isnt on the same channel as a neighbors router.
This is the link for the mac download
https://www.metageek.com/support/downlo ... r-mac.html
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 12:22pm
by Dr. Medulla
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:01pm
Yeah its my Ratty zone for sure. Trust me if I was on a computer i would have written a lot more with screen grabs etc.
So signal strength is key, but also how congested that spectrum is and it could be a fix as simple as changing the channel your wifi router is on so that it isnt on the same channel as a neighbors router.
This is the link for the mac download
https://www.metageek.com/support/downlo ... r-mac.html
Okay, inSSIDer is running and I have no idea what I'm looking at. I'm running it on my desktop Mac, in my office where the modem is located. The 2.4 shows -25dBm and the 5G is -31dBm. I assume we need to install this on her laptop to test from the kitchen?
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 12:25pm
by Flex
Watching revbob run tech support for doc in real time is somehow not as exciting as I thought it would be.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 1:01pm
by Dr. Medulla
Flex wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:25pm
Watching revbob run tech support for doc in real time is somehow not as exciting as I thought it would be.
So you're tell me I wasted money on my fake boobs?
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 1:06pm
by revbob
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:22pm
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:01pm
Yeah its my Ratty zone for sure. Trust me if I was on a computer i would have written a lot more with screen grabs etc.
So signal strength is key, but also how congested that spectrum is and it could be a fix as simple as changing the channel your wifi router is on so that it isnt on the same channel as a neighbors router.
This is the link for the mac download
https://www.metageek.com/support/downlo ... r-mac.html
Okay, inSSIDer is running and I have no idea what I'm looking at. I'm running it on my desktop Mac, in my office where the modem is located. The 2.4 shows -25dBm and the 5G is -31dBm. I assume we need to install this on her laptop to test from the kitchen?
That or bring your laptop in where she sits.
Feel free to share screen grabs with me.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 1:38pm
by revbob
Flex wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:25pm
Watching revbob run tech support for doc in real time is somehow not as exciting as I thought it would be.
You just because your resolution sucks. Im doing all that CSI clear screen zoom in bull shit and I can assure you Doc's titties are just fine. Wouldn't mind seeing a little nip slip though Doc.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 1:39pm
by Dr. Medulla
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 1:06pm
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:22pm
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 12:01pm
Yeah its my Ratty zone for sure. Trust me if I was on a computer i would have written a lot more with screen grabs etc.
So signal strength is key, but also how congested that spectrum is and it could be a fix as simple as changing the channel your wifi router is on so that it isnt on the same channel as a neighbors router.
This is the link for the mac download
https://www.metageek.com/support/downlo ... r-mac.html
Okay, inSSIDer is running and I have no idea what I'm looking at. I'm running it on my desktop Mac, in my office where the modem is located. The 2.4 shows -25dBm and the 5G is -31dBm. I assume we need to install this on her laptop to test from the kitchen?
That or bring your laptop in where she sits.
Duh. I'm ready for velcro shoes.
Feel free to share screen grabs with me.
The order is Kitchen (2.4), Kitchen (5), and Office (5). Is it odd that downstairs it doesn't detect as many other networks?
edit: The attachments got fucked. Hold on.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 1:43pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kitchen (2.4)
Kitchen (5)
Office
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 2:41pm
by revbob
No Medulla 2.4GHz showing in the kitchen and only very low 5GHz in there, looks lile -80 or so barely useable for most things.
I find it odd that the 2.4GHz signal is not showing in the kitchen as it has much stronger propagation than 5GHz.
Office: signal for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz are very strong with very little interference. Should have excellent performance.
Is there an intermediate point where you could take a measurement?
Also
Rogers operating on channel 2 is either unaware or a dick but for you his signal is weak enough that it shouldn't bother you.
Re: I need a good boffin.
Posted: 03 Jun 2020, 2:55pm
by Dr. Medulla
revbob wrote: ↑03 Jun 2020, 2:41pm
Is there an intermediate point where you could take a measurement?
This is from the living room, almost underneath my office and about 30–35 feet from the kitchen table.
2.4
5
Also Rogers operating on channel 2 is either unaware or a dick but for you his signal is weak enough that it shouldn't bother you.
The Rogers one might be a separate modem that is connected to the home security gizmahoozit. Don't ask me how the economy works.