Thread: Totally out of my depth ..... Why fi?

I understand your feelings but we're lucky having a close family member in the IT game.

We have also had headaches with our wifi that I'm pleased to say we sorted out just a few days ago.
We live on a long narrow block and so use two wifi broadcast points to give us wifi across the whole house.
The NBN and first Wifi broadcast point are right up near the street.
From there we have an ethernet connection to middle of the house where there is a network hub.
From there a second ethernet cable runs to the upstairs back of the house where there is a second wifi broadcast point.
As we live mostly in the back part of the house this second Wifi point is the most heavily used
Problem was second wifi was frustratingly sporadic - every time I tried to trace the fault, the fault would disappear for a while only to reappear some time later.

To cut a long story short we traced the problem to an ethernet cable plug attached to the network hub which was inside a built in cupboard.
When I opened up the cupboard the little blinking lights on the hub showing the connections would be there but then we'd close the door and a day or so later the fault would appear.
Opening the door and the problem would mysteriously disappear.
Today I realised that the cable that goes upstairs is extra long and closing the cupboard door pushes the cable down putting pressure on the plug/connector which was enough to disconnect that plug and cause the problem.
I found I could cause the disconnection by simply pushing down on the cable.
When I released the pressure on the cable the connection would be remade.

Geeks2U...awesome. I recently failed to add work emails to my new work phone. I struggled on for a couple of days, trying everything I could think of.
In the end I gave up and called the company IT geek. I was also very relieved to find out that I wasn't a total numpty. Have to be added by a suitably authorised person. I would never have been able to do it no matter how geekified I was.
I'd be interested to know what the mobile geek squad charges.

We have a large house, underground rumpus and a big workshop and I found the best place for all over coverage for wifi is put the modem/router in the roof of the house as it then has no multiple walls and barriers to penetrate. I was concerned the heat might affect it but that does not appear to be the case at all. Fletty, the next time you have issues give me a ring as we have a resident IT guy here.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

We have a large house, underground rumpus and a big workshop and I found the best place for all over coverage for wifi is put the modem/router in the roof of the house as it then has no multiple walls and barriers to penetrate. I was concerned the heat might affect it but that does not appear to be the case at all. Fletty, the next time you have issues give me a ring as we have a resident IT guy here.

We tried that and it didn't work. Our long narrow house has a corro roof in three (1 older and 2 newer) sections each with ceiling spaces that are not connected and the corro seems to shield the signal to its own part of the house. We also found the higher up in the roof the wifi unit was, the lower the signal spread around outside the house and stopped it getting to the workshop.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

I'd be interested to know what the mobile geek squad charges.

$158 for first hour and $79 per half hour thereafter but I had an extra $49 for Saturday work. There are all sorts of guarantees and warranties attached to that though. The 'geek' was very competent, patient with my questions and explained as he went along.

fletty

Originally Posted by BobL

We tried that and it didn't work. Our long narrow house has a corro roof in three (1 older and 2 newer) sections each with ceiling spaces that are not connected and the corro seems to shield the signal to its own part of the house. We also found the higher up in the roof the wifi unit was, the lower the signal spread around outside the house and stopped it getting to the workshop.

Our house has a tin roof also and it works brilliantly, modern houses are built differently I guess. I would certainly recommend it to anyone with wifi issues as a quick easy test.

Not good Alan.

With the amount of hassles, outages reports media has been making of Telstra its no wonder on top of that cables with weather as its been wet etc corrode and become almost useless. They should be first point of call online tests can also help links off the website. THAT IS if you can even get a signal at all of course (many a dumb IT from OS Telstra will tell you go online to sort out your problem even the phone speil does that.

It took the techie here 2 1/2hrs to sort out the mess on the street line reporting it needs to be fully replaced when we moved in, since then everytime the house phone rings net is disconnected. Still sorting that one out.

Chris major problem is when you do phone IT the first question is "What lights are on the modem"? I had enough trouble down in Sydney getting behind the lounge to see and turn it off for a reboot.

Alan prior leaving Sydney we took up latest bundle which also includes Telstra Air which we use the phones on WiFi but we could do that even prior. Try switching your phone to WiFi you'll need PW etc. That'll cut your Data rate, you should also on your phone be able to set a data limit.

Then again it could all boil down to you using a rotten Apple

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Chris major problem is when you do phone IT the first question is "What lights are on the modem"? I had enough trouble down in Sydney getting behind the lounge to see and turn it off for a reboot.

I got over the problem of the set menu of questions they insist asking. I just tell them I am putting a technician on the line and they shut up and then decide it is all too hard and hand off to someone higher up.

We have had two separate month long outages in the last six months, neither caused by Telstra but both exacerbated by Telstra not being getting their act together and repairing line damage. After a month of the second one I rang Telstra and demanded to speak to an Australian and refused to take no for an answer and finally I told the operator that I was going to hang up and ring the ombudsman. Waddya know, I got an immediate call back from an Australian and the problem was fixed the next day. I was told but haven't any proof that when the Ombudsman gets involved there is a daily penalty that Telstra has to pay until the problem is fixed, does anyone know if that is actually the case?

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Our house has a tin roof also and it works brilliantly, modern houses are built differently I guess. I would certainly recommend it to anyone with wifi issues as a quick easy test.

The old part of our house was built in 1918, while the newer part with upstairs section was added in 1995.
If the Wifi station near the front of the house is placed in the roof space the signal doesn't get out to the front yard.
Likewise at the back of the house - station in the roof space, signal does not get to the shed, instead we have it on the floor upstairs and it easily reaches the shed.

For folks in two story houses or with large coverage requirements, there are a few options to consider.

1. Try to source a dual band 5g wireless access point.
2. Consider using multiple access points with identical SSIDs and passwords. Your devices will roam (although inelegantly) from one WAP to the other. Extension with Ethernet over power can be quite reasonable.