Help!! Why can't I see my wireless network anymore?

So there you are, plodding along with your daily activities pretty much like any other day.
You shut your PC down at the end of the day and nothing untoward happens, it's all good.

Next morning when you boot up, all of a sudden you find that you are no longer connected to your wireless LAN... hmmmmmmm now that's weird.
When you search for Wireless Networks on your PC, you can't even pick it up as an available network to connect to. It has simply vanished.

This one confused the heck out of me for a while, before I decided that this was just too darn odd to let it go.

What you need to know about wireless networks is that they operate on any one of 13 possible channels or frequencies.
This channel is set to a default value by the manufacturer of the access point, but little-known to a lot of people, is the fact that other wireless devices in the area can interfere with, or even totally corrupt your wireless signal if they are sharing a frequency.

The solution? Simple. Change the channel that your wireless network uses.
To do so, you will need to connect to the access point using an ethernet cable (because your wireless connection is obviously dead at this point, hence the reason for you reading this :))

I cannot give a per-manufacturer guide on how to change your wireless channel (mainly due to my own laziness), but in general what you are looking for is the section dealing with the WLAN / Wireless LAN / WIFI setup and configuration, once you are logged into the access point.

- Once there, look for a setting called "Wireless Channel" or "Radio Channel" or "Channel"... you get the idea!
- Drop it down and simply change the current value, to another one of the available values (this should be a list of numbers from 1-13).
- Make sure you have saved your settings, and then check if your PC / Mac has reconnected to the wireless network.

Once the network is back in range and visible (should only take a few seconds), your machine should reconnect automatically.

Happy WIFI re-configuring!

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How to extend your wireless network

A lot of people have asked me about this subject - either at their homes or in their offices.
They are running a wireless network and as soon as they move into a certain room, or beyond a certain distance from the access point, their wireless signal becomes weak or is lost completely.

The obvious solution is to move your access point around, but this is not always possible if the access point is also an ADSL modem, and therefore limited in positioning by Telkom wall jacks etc.

There is another option, but only if your existing Wireless access point supports something called "WDS". WDS (courtesy of Wikipedia), is defined as follows:

"A Wireless Distribution System (WDS) is a system that enables the wireless interconnection of access points in an IEEE 802.11 network. It allows a wireless network to be expanded using multiple access points without the need for a wired backbone to link them, as is traditionally required."

So in plain English, you can extend your wireless network by placing another access point somewhere else in your home / office, and your 2 access points can then be configured to form one virtual access point, i.e. your laptop / PC will see them as one access point, just a whole lot larger than before.

In order to achieve this though, the following conditions need to be met:

- both access points must support WDS / Wireless Bridging
- both access points must have the same SSID
- both access points must be broadcasting on the same wireless channel
- both access points must be on the same IP subnet
- WDS / Wireless Bridging must be enabled on both access points, and the respective MAC addresses of each access point needs to be associated with the other access point.

Wow what a mouthful! I must say that I had quite a time getting this right initially, but if you meet all of the above conditions then you should be good to go.
If you are not sure what Access Point you can use to get this right, the Netgear WG602 is a great device that supports Wireless Bridging (provided that your existing access point is up to the task).

Want one? Drop me a mail now - the Netgear WG602 is currently available for R 700.
As always, T&C's apply.

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