Wireless Problem - solved (sorta)

George Toft plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Thu, 18 Jul 2002 00:21:59 -0400 

With a constant download (200kbps), I could watch packet loss increase
as soon as I started the MP3's and go back to 0% as soon as I stopped.

I got rid of the wireless card and replaced it with another WAP (total
of two WAPs).  No drivers to worry about and it's platform independent
with a web interface for configuration.  Blazing speed while I play
music.  This tells me the problem was inside the beige box, not outside.

George


Tom Emerson wrote:
> 
> Bryce, you turned on a light-bulb for me.  My rapidly aging, dim memory
> just regurgetated something pertinant:
> 
> George, any 2.4 GHz devices around the house, other than the WAP?
> 
> During lower bandwidth usage, the radio bandwidth occupied by the WAP &
> NIC exchange will be as narrow as the radios are capable of.  (not that
> unlicensed wireless network gear is always all that "clean" with it's use
> of spectrum!)
> 
> During high network bandwidth traffic, the radio bandwidth "spreads out",
> gets wider (this is easy to see if you have a spectrum analyzer handy!).
> This "wider" radio signal can interfere and be interfered with by devices
> operating on adjacent channels, or devices operating on the same channels
> (even spread spectrum radios, when in close proximity, like across the
> living room).
> 
> If you have any other wireless devices around the home, turn them all off,
> see if the problem persists.
> 
> We've seen several instances of 2.4 gig wireless telephones whacking
> wireless network devices.  Typically the sympton is really quite odd,
> looking more like an intermittant hardware failure or as you are thinking
> bus interupt contention issues.  Check for interference ...
> 
> Oh, another thing, some wireless cards, you can increase their radio power
> output levels, same for some WAP.  Don't do it, this increases adjacent
> channel interference, increases it a lot.  (and makes really nasty
> out-of-band noises).
> 
>  - tom e.
> ----------
> 
> On 14 Jul 2002, Bryce C wrote:
> 
> Here's an interesting one.  Not expecting any answers but when the power
> was switching on and of again, my WAP was not on a UPS and so when it
> cycled, my 2.4Ghz phone rang.  Only it.  Yes I know the both run in the
> same unregulated airspace but It was still quite odd.
> 
> On Sun, 2002-07-14 at 19:52, James Durham wrote:
> > Is it possible these two cards are just set too close in the computer? I know
> > I had a problem with TV reception when I had it plugged in near my Video
> > cards. I moved it a couple PCI slots over and saw a drastic improvement.
> >
> > On Sunday 14 July 2002 06:41 pm, George Toft wrote:
> > > I apologize for not being clear.  The MP3's are being played on the
> > > local workstation through the sound card.  I also have a TV card
> > > (Hauppage WinTV), and when I went to watch the Diamondbacks tonight, my
> > > network QOS went to hell.  In summary, whever I play MP3's or use the
> > > WinTV card (which outputs sound through the sound card), the wireless
> > > card starts dropping packets.
> > >
> > > Possible interrupt conflict?
> > >
> > > George
> > >
> > > Bryce C wrote:
> > > > Besides copying them to your HD locally, no.  I only have my personal
> > > > experience to give.  I have found that often, mp3 playing programs are
> > > > actively streaming the audio the entire time.  This means tremendous
> > > > amounts of traffice because every second, roughly 128Kb has to be
> > > > transferred and no matter what you say or the 802.11b rating is, your
> > > > not going to get 11Mbs because that's megabits and TCP/IP is, as far as
> > > > I know, the most inefficient protocol in use.
> > > >
> > > > On Sun, 2002-07-14 at 16:45, George Toft wrote:
> > > > > I wish I were normal - but then life would be boring.
> > > > >
> > > > > I just set up a wireless network using a Linksys WMP11 (PCI card) and a
> > > > > WAP11.  I get clear communication under normal conditions:
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 53. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 36. 54. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 53. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 52. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 53. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 38. 57. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 52. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 36. 55. 0% loss
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > When I play MP3's using xmms, I get packet loss:
> > > > > wlan0: 30. 46. 0% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 32. 48. 5% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 26. 41. 6% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 52. 8% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 30. 47. 5% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 36. 54. 5% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 51. 8% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 52. 10% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 34. 52. 5% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 36. 56. 5% loss
> > > > > wlan0: 32. 49. 1% loss
> > > > >
> > > > > What you are looking at is the interface (wlan0), link quality, signal
> > > > > level, and packet loss from my workstation to the WAP.
> > > > >
> > > > > Does anyone have a suggestion how I can listen to MP3's and not have
> > > > > packet loss?
> > > > >
> > > > > George
> > > > > ________________________________________________
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> > > > >
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> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Bryce Chidester
> > > > Network Administrator
> > > > CoBryce Communications
> > > > Bryce AT BryceCo DOT Net
> > > > http://www.bryceco.net
> > > >
> > > > ________________________________________________
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