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Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Spruance
Grafter
Posts: 173
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Registered: ‎03-02-2008

Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

My newly ordered TG582N router arrived this morning and I set it up just over an hour ago and all seemed ok.
I immediately noticed a marked increase in download speed to around 12Mbps from an average of 9.5Mbps with my old Thomson 585v7 (wireless-g) device but was slightly put out by the reduction in upload speed which is coming out at around 320kbps down from a previous average of around 370kbps on the Thomson. However it is early days yet and just maybe these stats will even out over time.
The main issue really is that on my old Thomson 585v7 I very rarely managed 'good' signal strength and always assumed that this was down to it being a wireless-g device, so I was rather hoping that the wireless-n TG582N would show a marked improvement in this area, whereas in reality it is worse!  Shocked
The router is connected to the main incoming telephone point which is situated downstairs in the hall. The router sits on top of a  3ft high bookcase and is not obstructed in any way. The PC sits in the back bedroom of my detached house and as an indication of distance I would need a 30ft ethernet cable to complete a hard-wired connection. Moreover, my wireless adaptor shows a 'good' signal strength from two neighbours on the BT network both of which appear to be wireless-n routers (no doubt BT Home Hubs).
So, my question is why am I getting only poor signal strength from a router downstairs in my own house and yet can see a 'good' signal strength from a neighbour's router which has two solid brick walls and a brick built garage between it and my PC? Surely the nearer the router, the stronger the signal? Or am I doing something wrong?
PS: Graphic example as follows:-
20 REPLIES 20
gleneagles
Aspiring Legend
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

We might both be doing something wrong. I Went from a Thomson 585v7 to a Thomson TG582N.
This resulted in a very good increase in speed but signal strength dropped a fair bit, not really a problem for me as the maximum distance between the router and computer is no more than 8Mtrs, like you I am getting some fairly strong signals from neighbours routers.
In all fairness the line has never dropped so for me it's not a problem.
I Guess from the speeds you quote you use fibre whereas I am on standard broadband.
We are born into history and history is born into us.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Hi there,
Sorry to hear about the issues you seem to be having with our router. I'm just wondering what Operating system you have on your PC/computer(s) and what wireless adapters you're using?
Also can you check and let me know what the channel setting is on the TG582n (i.e automatic or manually set to a channel)
You may also want to familiarise yourself with this piece of software which may help identify certain busy wireless channels in your vicinity (so that you can then change the channel setting on the router to avoid issues). It personally helped me out when trying to diagnose an issue in the apartment block I live in where there's a large amount of local wireless traffic: http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/
PS we also have some new ADSL firmware for your router so we can point you to try that if my initial suggestions don't help.
Adam
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Spruance and gleneagles
As your both on ADSL you might both benefit from trying the new firmware version I've mentioned which can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/c47bfso
Note that youll need to use the flashing tool here to use that file: http://tinyurl.com/924owr3
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
Spruance
Grafter
Posts: 173
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Registered: ‎03-02-2008

Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

@Gleneagles :
Fibre? What's that?  Grin
No just a bog standard BT line I'm afraid. Ironically the self-same line that ill-fated Pipex told me would not support even 2Mbps six years ago.  Wink
The linespeed has been very good since I went completely wireless two years ago (had prior issues with secondary phone point) and like you it rarely drops out save in the early hours occasionally. The signal strength also seems to have no obvious affect as far as the desktop goes but I have been toying with the idea of also maybe having a laptop which would inevitably be used in the garden from time to time and on this showing I might be unable to get a signal at all. I just don't understand the disparity with BT Home Hubs (don't want to leave Plusnet though).

@Adam : Thanks for the info, I'll check that out.
My PC is a Dell Studio on 32-bit Windows Vista Home Premium SP2, wireless adaptor is an Edimax EW7717-UN owing to the fact that I unticked wireless card when ordering my current PC as at the time I used an ethernet connection.

...Not sure where to look for TG582n Channel settings.  Tongue
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Thanks for the info,
As for checking/changing the wireless channel settings here's a guide: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/hardware/technicolor-582n-wireless.shtml
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 Adam Walker
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Spruance
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Thanks for the link Adam.
As far as the firmware upgrade goes, I have downloaded the files but as I wasn't sure how to go about it I have referred back to some instructions I downloaded from PN when I did this for the old router and the PN staff member who wrote those said that on no account should the procedure be attempted from a wireless connected PC. Given that - short of buying a long ethernet cable - I don't have the means to hardwire my PC to my router does this stipulation still apply or should I forget the firmware upgrade for now?
As for the Inssider software, as far as I can determine it shows that my current 2.4Ghz signal is not overlapped by any of my neighbours which I suppose must be a good thing.
I need to go into town now but will revisit this a little later.
Thanks again.  Smiley
adamwalker
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

No problem and thanks again. Yes, forget about the firmware update for now, I'd just focus on checking the wireless channel setting next. I'd expect it to be set to automatic, however if it is set to a specific channel I would try changing it to one of the higher ones available such as 10 or 11.
As inSSIDer didn't show any overcrowding in local traffic that may not be an issue so we might have to come back to looking at the firmware upgrade again but I'll help you with that and make sure you get sorted.
Adam
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frank39
Grafter
Posts: 118
Registered: ‎19-03-2009

Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Sorry to butt in, but I have been following discussions about the new firmware, wireless range and ipv6.
Are there any notes about the upgrades/fixes for the 10.2.x compared with the 8.2.x that was on when mine was supplied.  I assume that the password to access the router will change following the f/w upgrade - can you tell us what it will be?  ie. will it be the technicolor default (user Administrator, no pw) or something else.  If the user subsequently reverts to the original firmware (using the bin file on the Plusnet site: http://www.mattturner.plus.com/PN%20TG582n%20R844J.bin), what will the password become?
jelv
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

@Spruance
If you were getting 370 upload I'm wondering if your upload is capped. With a download as high as yours you should be getting much better upload.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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taras
Grafter
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Registered: ‎22-08-2008

Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Quote from: frank39
Sorry to butt in, but I have been following discussions about the new firmware, wireless range and ipv6.
Are there any notes about the upgrades/fixes for the 10.2.x compared with the 8.2.x that was on when mine was supplied.  I assume that the password to access the router will change following the f/w upgrade - can you tell us what it will be?  ie. will it be the technicolor default (user Administrator, no pw) or something else.  If the user subsequently reverts to the original firmware (using the bin file on the Plusnet site: http://www.mattturner.plus.com/PN%20TG582n%20R844J.bin), what will the password become?

Adam probably can fill in more details, but the biggest change on the 10.2.x firmware is the inclusion of ipv6, multiple SSDs and some easy wireless stuff :).

10.2.x should use
user: admin
pw: access key
thats on the back of the 582n
adamwalker
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Quote
Are there any notes about the upgrades/fixes for the 10.2.x compared with the 8.2.x that was on when mine was supplied.  I assume that the password to access the router will change following the f/w upgrade - can you tell us what it will be?  ie. will it be the technicolor default (user Administrator, no pw) or something else.  If the user subsequently reverts to the original firmware (using the bin file on the Plusnet site: http://www.mattturner.plu...m/PN%20TG582n%20R844J.bin), what will the password become?


The main difference with the new version which we've just made available (as per my previous posts today) is that the wireless drivers have been completely re-written so we're particularly keen to try and get some feedback related to wifi usage (i.e stability and range mainly).
Also just to mention following the upgrade the login should default back to "admin" for the username and the password is the serial number.
Adam
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Spruance
Grafter
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Just a quick update.
The wireless channel set-up was on manual configure and was originally set to Channel 1. Having changed this to Channel 11 and rebooted PC for good measure I now have an extra 1Mbps on download (14.47Mbps just now) and the upload has increased marginally.
Coming back to what Jelv said, why would my upload speed be capped and if it wasn't what might be the likely upload speed?
adamwalker
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Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Hi there,
I'm glad to hear that's led to an improvement in wireless speeds at least.
Quote
Coming back to what Jelv said, why would my upload speed be capped and if it wasn't what might be the likely upload speed?

We don't provide ADSL with an uncapped upstream by default, would you like me to uncap it for you?
Adam
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frank39
Grafter
Posts: 118
Registered: ‎19-03-2009

Re: Technicolor TG582N - Poor Signal Strength

Thanks Adam for the info on the new fw.
I have installed the new fw 10.2.1.8.  The configuration save/restore that's part of the  upgrade tool failed, but I was able to restore manually from one I made earlier, logging on as you advised.
First observations:
sync speed up from ca. 14M (long standing) to 16.1, download speed up from ca. 12.6 to 13.6 (by ethernet)
Wireless now 11.49/0.360, was ca.12/0.35 (within a metre of the router)
Edit: 11.58 at 15m and a few walls from the router - that's the same as the previous fw.
S/N 3.0 - well within the previous range
my USB port doesn't seem to be supported - this is not a big deal as it only had limited functionality and I replaced it with a proper NAS some time ago.
I'll check wireless range and connection stability in the coming weeks.  Apart from titting about at the exchange, I get connections that last ca. 30 days, so it's got something to live up to.