TrueMobile 1300, Inspiron 8500, and Linksys BEFW11S4 Redux

Question

Hi, I've read most of the articles on this forum concerning the somewhat stable/somewhat not combination of the TM 1300, I8500, and Linksys BEFW11S4 router.  I am one of those people who is having difficulties.  While I'm not experiencing any connection/disconnection problems (yet), I am definitely experiencing slowness issues.  While the transfer speed can fluctuate from less than 100Kbps to a little over 600Kbps, it averages approximately 125Kbps (these values are obtained from CNET's bandwidth meter), which is not good considering I was able to get well over 2/3Mbps when I had this computer hooked up to the router with an ethernet cable. I know that the router is not the problem because I have two other computers--a Mac using an Airport card, and another PC using a Linksys card--and they have no speed problems with the router whatsoever.  I've updated the router's firmware (1.45) and the TM 1300's drivers (3.20.23.0) and still no change.  I've played around with the channel settings; originally, the TM 1300 and the router were set to channel 6, then channel 11, then I set the router to 7 and the card to 1 and vice versa, and no change.  I've set the IBSS mode to both Normal and 802.11b Mode and neither setting seems to change the speed all that much.  I've also set the Fragmentation Threshold and RTS Threshold to 2304 and the Rate to 11, which had been suggested previously on this forum, and still nothing. Have there been any recent developments in terms of the compatibility/incompatibility of the TM 1300 and the Linksys router?  (I'd read earlier that it was suggested to some that these two devices were not compatible at all.) I've yet to call Dell Technical Support as I've had less than stellar experiences with them (after having called them three times for other, unrelated problems--and I've had this computer for less than two months!) and I don't wish to relive that horror without first assessing my options.  I'm hoping that someone has some solution to this problem, as I'm ready to throw the TM 1300 out the window.

darkcore · Answer

Anyone?

dgbowen · Answer

Darcore,
Don't think that people aren't listening just because we don't respond. Your original
post was so thorough that you didn't leave much room for response!
You are not a novice user, and you've done all the things any of us would try to solve
this problem.
At this point, you might try connecting your tm1300 to a router somewhere else
(starbucks?) and see if it's still slow. Don't change anything. Just take the laptop to
another location where you can connect wirelessly and see if it behaves better.

If it does, then I have to suggest something very UN-tech. Some cards just don't function
well with some wireless APs. My tm1300 does not like to connect to a netgear wireless AP.
I do not know why, I just know that it's true.

No one likes to spend money on new equipment when the stuff you have SHOULD work, but
getting a happier pairing of tm1300 with wireless AP might be the only solution.

I hope you can find a way to fix it before you buy another router.

-Don

pedidoc · Answer

I just read your problem and wonder if you have resolved it. I have an I5100 with 1300 mobile card and the same router as you. I can connect with only 64 bit encryption and off and on go very slowly. How have you resolved your situation

i8000_coastal · Answer

Check out my post on the thread http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_network&message.id=13996

Try turning off encryption as this can slow down wireless connections. Also try switching to serveral different channels. Turn off SSID broadcasting and change your SSID from the default to make sure no one else is picking up your connection. In the end as you will see from my post I got my BEFW11S4 replaced to the newest version. Which is still v4.

Hmmm... didn't read your post all the way through the 1st time.... you suspect that isn't the router, but maybe a new replacement to v4 would help.

Message Edited by i8000_coastal on 11-11-2003 05:28 PM

phillyg22511 · Answer

I am having a very similar problem. I also have an I8500 with a BEFW11S4 Router. The first week i had my computer, the wireless connection worked wonderful. However, now it is barely working at all. I am getting a strong signal, my computer is not receiving anything from the router. If anyone finds out ANYTHING about this apparent conflict with the TM1300m and the BEFW11S4, then please let us know. I do not want to have to purchase a new router over this stupid conflict.

pedidoc · Answer

I still have this problem; however, my wife has a compaq laptop running Win 98(first edition). In order to hook her into the home network I spoke to Linksys. they suggested WET11 which runs off an ethernet card. It works perfectly and talks to the router very nicely and is fast. I have been tempted to disable the TM 1300 and hook the WET11 to my Inspiron to the ethernet outlet on the laptop. Has anybody tried this?

darkcore · Answer

An update on my Linksys/TM 1300 issues:

I've been getting connection speeds of about 1100 Kbps (according to CNET), which is decent, though there are still days when I get very poor connection speeds (despite excellent signal strength from the router). I found that updating the router's firmware really helped. (I have v1.45 for v2/v3.) I also found that setting the router to channel 4 and setting the IBSS Channel Number to 10 seems to have also helped. I'm told that they should be on the same channel, but I had it set that way before and I was having problems.

I'll keep you posted as the situation changes.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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