Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Can the Circle be Broken?

My husband and I decided to expand on the broadband experience by installing a router so we could be hooked up via wireless to his much faster cable, rather than the DSL I'd been using.

Everything started out fine. The installer came at the right time, hooked up the cable to the router, plus the phone service so we could get their discount, and the laptop computers easily connected to the new router, with a much faster speed than through the DSL.

Then I asked him to connect my other desktop through the router. It had a wireless card, so I figured it was worth a try. He tried, but since the new network didn't come up, he suggested perhaps my card was not strong enough, and he left.

Not wanting to give up I called Dell yesterday. I did the remote access thing with a very nice technician, but bottom line, he couldn't tell why it didn't work, and he ordered a new card, since my computer was under extended warranty. Someone came out this morning, installed the card, but the network still wouldn't come up, and he was afraid to go further, since he was only supposed to put in the card.

Still not wanting to give up, I called the cable provider. After spending too much time with them with no solution, I was informed I'd have to pay extra for router issues, since they'd supplied the router free and it wasn't really part of their services.

So, am I stuck with the slow DSL service on the desktop, unless I want to pay extra to them to hike up the speed, or can I somehow get the router to work for it? Can the Circle be Broken?

If you know how, let me know. If I figure it out, I'll let you know.

Morgan Mandel


3 comments:

S0rcy said...

I had nothing but trouble with my XPS and cable. I now know it is not the Dell, because I have changed to Centurylink DSL and all the computers including the Dell XPS picked up the signal immediately and hooked into the wireless system with no problem.

If you have a separate router and cable modem, this could be the problem. I had huge problems with Comcast because of their system. After receiving a new router and modem the problems lessened, but were still there intermittently.

Deb Larson said...

This definitely sounds like a media run-around! Good Luck in untangling the web they created.
DL Larson

SBJones said...

If it's not "strong enough" you can test by moving the desktop near the wireless router, If it shows up, then they are right. If not, then your new router and wireless card might not speak the same language. The most common types are 802.11a and 802.11g.

I highly doubt they set it up using a different spec, but it is possible.

Some quick fixes would be to get a new wireless card for the desktop. You can get them good and cheap and in USB so you don't have to crack the pc open.

Another thing you can do is get a real router and hook it up to the cable modem instead of using the one they gave you that might simply only allow a very limited amount of connections.

OR lol. It could be even something else like the wireless card in your desktop is turned off or something.