Need some general advice on diagnosing sporatic connection dropping from my setup.
I have a Netgear MR314 wireless router paired with a 3Com 3CRSHPW196 XJack PC card. I tend to use my laptop in 2 locations which are about 50-80ft from the router, 1 spot upstairs and 1 downstairs. My connection at these locations is somewhat sporadic eventhough I may be sitting still with the laptop plugged into the AC outlet. During a typical hour's worth of work, I will have at least 4-5 dropped connections with the router.
1) Do I have crappy hardware? I used to have a DLink 614 router and PC card with great reception in these locations except the router was very flaky and lost its connection to the Internet frequently. I though this combo would be a more popular/standard home setup. If this is the case are there easy techniques (beyond buying and swapping in new hardware) to figure out if the problem is the card or the router?
2) Is there an easy/cheap way to boost the range of the radio of the router (moving it from my desk to the wall, hooking up a better antenna, etc)?
Thanks
-- Martin
