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DaveAuld wrote: a) it is warmer
Are you kidding me? That's an adjective I've never heard connected with Scotland before! 
Wet, yes! But warm? 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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I'm not in Scotland at the moment, I'm in Qatar! So definitely warmer 
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That explains the heat, but what about the beer? Surely you're not allowed to drink alcohol there? 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Non-muslim residents can apply for a license to buy alcohol from the only distribution centre. The application must also be with consent from your employer, and they have to declare your income so that your alcohol allowance/month can be set which works out at around 10% of income. You can also buy pork products from the distribution centre.
There is also booze in many of the major hotels.
So, dry we are not!
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A few months ago, I bought my mum an Android tablet.
Everything was fine until I went round a couple of weeks ago and she said she could no longer connect to the internet. I checked all the settings, turned it off and on again and did all the usual stuff but it still wouldn't connect.
I went upstairs and restarted the router (the router is located in the room above her living room and is pretty much directly above where she tends to sit). It connected without any issues and I thought that everything was okay.
It wasn't.
Whenever she tries to reconnect it just won't work downstairs but if she goes upstairs (in fact anything above half way up the stairs) she can connect and once connected, the connection will hold perfectly well downstairs for however long the tablet stays on but it just will not reconnect from there.
Signal strength doesn't always show 100% but by the same token it never seems to hit a particularly low point (no idea how meaningful those signal-strength displays are but the network seems to be in constant view).
I'm certainly no expert on wi-fi (or the ways of the modern world in general) but it doesn't make any sense to me that a better signal would be required to connect than to maintain a connection. My 'phone can happily connect to her wi-fi from downstairs.
Basically, I'm a bit baffled and my dear old ma not only has to go upstairs to login every time she wants to look up a word on Countdown but also has to deal with the embarrassment that her son who is supposedly "good at computers" can't even get her tablet on-line.
Has anyone ever run into something similar?
Slogans aren't solutions.
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If it is an android device, install the Wifi Analyser app. It will show you the signal levels, channel congestion etc.
downstairs, it is maybe picking up interference, or channel congestion etc.
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Thanks Dave, I shall give that a try.
Slogans aren't solutions.
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I'd also suggest moving the router - it should be as close as possible to the master socket to maximise speed, and many routers emit a ellipsoidal field instead of spherical, so it may be that with the router on the upper floor there isn't any real signal getting downstairs.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: many routers emit a ellipsoidal field instead of spherical
Interesting. I didn't know that.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Seconded! It's a damn fine app, that!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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If your wifi has a high decibel isotropic rating it may work much better in the horizontal plane than the vertical. Try propping it on its side and see if that fixes it?
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That's interesting.
My initial thought was simply to move the thing downstairs as per Griff's suggestion but there isn't a power socket anywhere near the master 'phone socket (is a woeful lack of power points in houses a global problem or does it just apply to the UK?) so there aren't really any viable options on the location front.
I did try rotating it to various points on its vertical access but the thought never occurred to rotate it horizontally. That'll definitely be worth a try.
Am I right in thinking that a signal needs to be stronger to obtain a connection than maintain one? That seems a little counter-intuitive to me.
Slogans aren't solutions.
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PeejayAdams wrote: Am I right in thinking that a signal needs to be stronger to obtain a connection than maintain one? That seems a little counter-intuitive to me.
It is possible that the connection process is less tolerant of dropped packets than general use? Probably in the authentication stage ( 802.11 connection process[^] )
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Yes, the idea that the authentication might be less packet-loss tolerant than association would certainly fit the evidence so far.
I shall go and sort it out for her next week and report back with my findings.
Slogans aren't solutions.
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PeejayAdams wrote: is a woeful lack of power points in houses a global problem or does it just apply to the UK?
I grew up in a farm house in Northern Ontario; it was the house my Dad was born in, so it had some age on it.
On the ground floor, there were a number of outlets; upstairs in the bedrooms? None. Zero. Zilch. To get power to the room, you had the light hanging from the ceiling (pull cord variety) or you ran an extension cord from the ground floor up through the floor vent.
Thanks for the nostalgic memories...
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But... does that mean I have to lay on my side to use the tablet?
Software Zen: delete this;
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Any changes in the wireless landline phone in her house? Sometimes the frequencies interfere with one another.
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That was the first suspect as she has a wireless land-line receiver right next to her chair but we tried powering that off (and moving it elsewhere just to make sure) and it didn't make any difference. Added to which, it's the same 'phone that she's had for quite a while so we can only assume that it's an innocent party.
There's not anything that's changed in her general telecoms set-up that we're aware of.
Slogans aren't solutions.
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It's possible that a neighbor changed their phone. I had that issue and the phone had two channels two switch in between. Ask your neighbor if you're on friendly terms with them.
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That's a good thought.
She's quite friendly with them so I'll get her to ask.
Thanks.
Slogans aren't solutions.
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The signal-strength thing is pretty much meaningless, and is not connected to data-transport speeds, for example.
Just get a cheap, plug-in repeater AP, for downstairs.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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PeejayAdams wrote: (the router is located in the room above her living room and is pretty much directly above where she tends to sit).
This could be the problem - she may well be sitting in a dead spot. WiFi boxes are designed to radiate radially. If the router has adjustable aerials, then try making them parallel to the ground, or lay the unit on its side/face.
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My suspicion, just a hunch...
- In the floor/ceiling between the router and where she sits, there is a wire that is carrying a lot of power.
- That wire is generating RFI
Just a wild guess; no clue if I'm helping or not.
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One of the things I would look for are new devices that have been introduced or have been moved. Especially those that are wireless themselves. Wireless phones are notorious for screwing with Wifi signals. Also check the antennas on the router. Make sure nothing is blocking them and they are positioned in the proper orientation.
When you are dead, you won't even know that you are dead. It's a pain only felt by others.
Same thing when you are stupid.
modified 19-Nov-21 21:01pm.
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My first inclination (supported by some of the other comments,) was that the signal wasn't being projected downward (or, very strongly, at least.)
My suggestion is to just simply mount it upside-down on the ceiling. If your Mum doesn't like the look, or you don't feel like running wires through the walls, just run the wires into a closet and mount it there instead.
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