Wireless Networking FAQ

Getting a wireless network setup can be problematic, and even when it has been working for ages sometimes it just dies on you. This page aims to gather up a number of resources that will help you resolve your wireless networking problems. Many of the resources will relate to the Samsung Netbooks but this information should be of use to a wider readership as the OS, routers and networks discussed are not unique to the Sammy range.

Wireless Networks

How fast is my wireless network?

• 802.11g: Supports bandwidth up to 54 Mbps
• 802.11n: Supports speeds of up to 300 Mbps - in its early days it was known as draft N and had speeds of up to 150/300 Mbps once N was final it was 300 Mbps. This also has the best signal range and is more resistant to signal interference from outside sources due to the ability to automatically switch channels when necessary.

Remember that these are theoretical speeds and unlikely to be reached in reality. The reality is if the network is secured then half the speed is reserved for encryption eg G class wifi card eg the NC10 Atheros AR5007EG is 54Mbps is running on an unsecured wireless network through wifi you could get the full 54Mbps but if any security is on the router eg WPA2 max you could get is 26Mbps. Going wired (ethernet) to a router would not incur these limitations and the full speed was be possible but regarding internet speeds it will only ever be max you are being supplied with by your ISP eg 10Mb.

Another thing to be aware of is that a network will only run at the speed of the slowest device on the network eg N class router G class card you will see G speeds or another example is G class router all computers with N class cards you will only see G class speeds. Using ad-hoc (where you just get 2 computers to connect to each other without a router) would allow for example 2 N class laptops to network at N speed.

Troubleshooting

===My wireless network has suddenly stopped working, what can I do?=== This has been noted to occur after updates have run. A good option here is to revert to a Windows System restore point. Unfortunately the Samsung updater doesn't seem to always locate the correct wireless drivers to push out.

Many things can go wrong but it is always best to do things in the right order, that way the fix is found quicker.

There are 2 main ways to have broadband: ADSL eg internet through phone sockets in UK for example Talk Talk, Sky and Virgin Media National/Beyond Cable/Non-cabled areas whereby most often the modem and router is just one device combining both functions. DSL eg in the UK Virgin Media cable often marketed as fibre optic this can be a separate modem and router or be a combined modem and router. For troubleshooting there aren't many differences between the two however for clarity both are listed below for ease of use.

ADSL Trouble shooting

1) Check lights on combined modem/router firstly does the thing even power on, if it powers on look for the internet light sometimes a letter 'i' sometimes an '@' sometimes WLAN and sometimes a world/globe/earth symbol. Common standards for this light are green if internet is fine orange or orange flashing if trying to connect (sometimes on ADSL this will stay orange and never get to green if the wrong username and password are in the router and also this can be due to a fault with the internet service getting to your house eg wider area fault or just a fault on your individual service coming to the house - this is the point you ring your ISP eg TalkTalk. If the internet light is not even lit up more than likely the phone line cable RG11 going into the back of the router is not connected properly or has a loose connection and a replacement RG11 cable should be sourced. 2) Once you do get a solid green internet light on router the next step would be checking how your computer connects to the network if it has built-in wifi make sure the wifi is switched on. Most laptops for example have a slider switch on the side/front or a push button, often laptops have an 'Fn' key bottom left of keyboard and holding this key then pressing one of the F1-F12 keys (with the wireless icon) puts the wifi on/off. On a Windows computer it shows wifi network connections down the bottom right where the little icons are however on most Macs it's the radar symbol (Airport) up at the top right of the screen. This should be checked on Windows to see if it says you are currently connected to your network(hopefully you recognise the name) or on a Mac the wifi network would have a tick by it if you were connected to it. If you do not see your wireless network name or do not recognise yours a quick way to tell is power off your router and does a wifi name come off the list of detected networks, if it does that probably is your router - this is backed up even more if the signal strength of the router is the strongest as you would expect the router in your residence to give out the strongest signal as you are closest to that router.

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