hi-jacking a wireless connection
 

How come sometimes I can get a connection at my brothers and other times i cant? It always shows over 50% and a "good" connection on the wireless card thing but only "low" on the twin screens in the lower right hand corner. Do you need a min of 54mbps for it to get online or what??? any input appreciated....

two different wireless programs (one is from your wireless card, one is the windows) and both have different measurements of how strong the signal is. the windows one is usually the most accurate in terms of how well/fast your internet will be. there could be TONS of reasons why your signal is weak and you're getting slow connectivity.

eg.

- distance from router
- interference from material in the house
- interference from other wireless routers in area
- interference from other devices (cordless phones operating on same freq.)
- firmware of router
- wireless software version
- internet provider

oh, and to answer your q, you don't need min 54kbps to connect to the router, SO LONG as it isn't set to only allow that speed. most wireless routers have a setting where you can set it to ONLY allow certain wireless standards (a/b/g/n).

oK Iam at a buddies place, in his backyard with a worse connection and Iam online perfectly. At my brothers the signal is atleast 20-30% better and It wont let me online!!! The windows icons bounce between "low" and "good"...there are 3 other linksys signals interfering but they are much weaker...whats the deal?? Thanks for the reply.

Figured it out, you gotta find a way to get on lesser signal connections. the best connection isnt always the one that'll get you on.