Mac Wireless connection Issues.

[monkeychoo]

I have a powerbook with an Airport card installed,and wireless connection via a Belkin router. Someone told me that because Im not using an Airport base station, the signal would be terrible, as Apple make so you have to buy their product to get the best performance.

So I am connecting using an Asus wireless dongle, which seems to work marginally better but my signal is still awful. As the crow flies Im sitting about 10 metres away from the modem and router, but then another friend told me he has the same set up, uses his Airport card and gets perfect signal, even though he too is about 10 metres away.

Im so confused! I dont know whether to invest in Airport base station to (this will have to be pugged in as well as the Belkin as my parents need a PC compatible router), or try my luck with some other kind of Mac-compatible wireless product, or if it's purely a crappy router and perhaps there's some kind of aerial I can get to boost the signal. I dont want to spend the extortionate amount on an Apple Airport that they charge, but perhaps this is the only way to get any kind of decent signal...

Many thanks in advance

Gem

[fo3nix]

Whoever told you about Apple making you buy their wireless products is talking a load of rubbish. For a while now, their hardware has had better wireless support than any other hardware, and that includes working with non-Apple stuff.

How is the antenna on your router aligned? Make sure it's pointing upwards if you're sat opposite it.

Finally, some routers let you alter the signal strength. If yours does, make sure that isn't an issue (it'll be in the 192.168.x.x settings somewhere if it has it).

PS.
Apple's wireless routers are just as compatible with windows PCs as any other routers: they all support the wifi standard.

[matt_london]

You could also try changing the channel number that your router is broadcasting on. You should get about 10 different channels to choose from. This is done through the routers homepage (192.168....) I also had some problems at first because I had a video sender device that was interfering with the routers signal. This was remedied by changing the broadcast channel.

[monkeychoo]

Thanks guys, excellent advice, my signal is a lot better now :) x