problem with neighbour's wireless connection
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Plusnet Community
- :
- Forum
- :
- Other forums
- :
- Tech Help - Software/Hardware etc
- :
- Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
problem with neighbour's wireless connection
05-02-2009 2:12 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I have a DSL-2640B wirelss ADSL2+ modem router which I got from Plusnet, and an Edimax IEEE 802.11g turbo mode wireless LAN USB adapter.
I have my connection set up so it doesn't connect automatically, but I type the password into a Ralink Wireless Utility window when I want to connect. I want it this way so that I can choose not to be connected to the internet if I don't want to be. I usually have no problems getting a very good signal.
Now I find that my Ralink Wireless Utility window sometimes also shows the neighbour's wireless connection.( I presume she doesn't have it on all the time.) When her connection is displayed, my computer is already connected to it when I go to log on. Presumably she has no password protection on her connection. I've told her about this and suggested she get some protection, but as far as I know she has done nothing about it.
Sometimes I can simply log on to mine and the link switches to my connection. But sometimes this doesn't happen and I can't make a connection. I've tried rebooting, but sometimes I have to do this 3 or 4 times before I can get a connection. Her signal is too weak to be usable, and mine is also usually weaker than it is when her connection is not listed.
When I've tampered before with my connection, I've got things into a mess and had a lot of trouble getting the connection back, so I want to know what I can do about this without creating other problems.
I'd be very grateful for any help.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
05-02-2009 2:13 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
05-02-2009 11:57 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
http://www.netstumbler.com/
This will show you who is on and what channel they are using
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
06-02-2009 1:21 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
06-02-2009 7:55 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
It seems like a good idea to analyse the problem first with netstumbler, and that should give me some idea what I need to change it to.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
06-02-2009 10:10 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
06-02-2009 10:39 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
To do this you to need right click on your wireless icon, select properties and then go to the wireless networks tab. (Or go to Control Panel > Network Connections, right click on your wireless connection and select "properties")
In the list of preferred networks under "Automatically Connect to available networks in the order listed below" select your neighbour's network then hit "Remove" and "OK" (see screenshot attached).
This assumes you're using Xp. There will be a similar set of steps for Vista that will disable automatically connecting to an availble network.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
06-02-2009 9:47 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Yes, I'm on XP
I tried following what you said, but I don't have that middle tab with "Wireless networks" at the top so I can't find the list of preferred networks
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
06-02-2009 10:19 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Try going to Control Panel > Network Connections and right clicking on the Wireless Network icon.
Alternatively, right click on the wireless icon in the system tray and select "View Available Networks" then click on "Change the order of preferred networks" (see screenshot). That should now bring up the screen in my previous post.
The above assumes that you're using the standard Windows wireless networking tools and not a third party tool.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
07-02-2009 11:31 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Quote The above assumes that you're using the standard Windows wireless networking tools and not a third party tool.
I think that might be the problem ...
Quote Now I find that my Ralink Wireless Utility window
Try disabling the Ralink utility and using the Windows wireless tools as Paul03 suggests...
Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
10-02-2009 11:41 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
I'm a bit reluctant to dabble with disabling Ralink as I think I did this once before and couldn't get my connection back. Without it, I couldn't ask for help either. Also I haven't had the problem for about 5 days so I suppose I'm hoping it has gone away. I'd still like to be sure of what to do if it causes problems again though.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
10-02-2009 11:45 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
11-02-2009 7:53 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
You could have a look in your Ralink settings to see if there is an option similar to that in the Microsoft tool which allows you to not connect automatically to an available network (i.e. remove it from your preferred networks).
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
11-02-2009 8:33 AM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
Having had a quick look at the Ralink Utility manual , I think you need to create a 'profile' for your network and activate it.
Hopefully that should make the Utility attempt to connect to your network rather than the first available network.
Hope that helps.
Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.
Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection
11-02-2009 9:49 PM
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Highlight
- Report to Moderator
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Plusnet Community
- :
- Forum
- :
- Other forums
- :
- Tech Help - Software/Hardware etc
- :
- Re: problem with neighbour's wireless connection