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SkOrPn7
join:2006-02-15
Albuquerque, NM
1 edit | [SOLVED] C1000A or Q1000 w/antennas? 120ft distance to PC? Hello everyone, hope all had a great Thanksgiving. Its been a while since my last journey to dslreports, however we are in need of a kind individual helping me to decide what I should do. Yesterday our little GT701WG wireless modem completely died while family members were connecting to it (I dont think it has ever had as many connections as it did yesterday). I have tried everything but the modem now will not turn on the wireless and only freezes when tried to do so. SO, I have decided to get another modem today.
Today I have done research and believe the modem to get is the C1000A, however it has no external antennas. One of my connections is to a small camper about 115 feet from the modem. The signal must pass through several mobile home walls but then has direct line of sight just barely lol. The Actiontec GT701WG performed just fine with about 4 bars (75% to 80% signal) and the user never complained and stated his Internet worked great (my 2nd Son). The GT701WG has a very small single antenna on it but surprisingly had great signal, even more so than my Dlink router with three antennas. So, we always used the built in wireless on the modem (until it died yesterday)...
I have read that the Q1000 is the exact same modem but with external antennas, however it is not available at my local Best Buy, but the C1000A is avail in CenturyLink packaging. So the question is, will the C1000A's built in Antenna be fine for a signal to the small camper trailer outside about 115 feet away? The camper is using a Ralink powered "Premiertek PT-H10DN-1W Speedy2" two antenna 1-watt Wireless-N usb module which is double sided taped to a window near his laptop, lol. I laugh because not sure how it can be called 1-watt when a laptops usb 2.0 port does not even come close to providing that kind of power.
Has anyone done any testing with this modem yet to determine the distance it is capable of with a usable signal? Should I get the Q1000 instead? We now have up to 40 Mbps in my area (zip 87059) and want to make sure I get a future proof model. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide me, anything at all will help me figure this out.
Regards,
SkOrPn | | |
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 billaustinthey call me Mr. BillPremium,MVM
join:2001-10-13
North Las Vegas, NV
kudos:3 | Re: C1000A or Q1000? 120ft distance to PC Ok? Same Modems? Get the C1000A. Put it as high in the air as possible. If you have range issues, put a second AP near a window on the side of the house facing the camper. If the camper is going to be there on a regular basis, get an outdoor AP and mount it on the outside wall. This will also spread the load across multiple radios and provide better performance for your indoor wireless devices.
As a side note, the 1-watt rating on the USB radio device refers to transmitter power, not electric consumption. The standard USB port provides 5 volts with a half-amp capacity, which equals 2.5 watts available for consumption. | |
SkOrPn7
join:2006-02-15
Albuquerque, NM | Thanks billaustin for the reply. Ok, cool so I will not need a powered usb hub to get the full 1-watt transmit rating then? That is good to know...
Ok good news, this C1000A we got today from BB is providing us with 100% "Excellent" signal according to the laptops Ralink connection tool in the camper (did not expect that). Yes the camper is permanently situated along side my Garage and has not moved since the 90's. This is an improvement over the old modem setup. However, the reported bandwidth avail shows 54 mb/s (which is of no concern really), so not sure what protocol it is using, g or n (I would assume n by default?). When I connect to my Dlink DIR-655 using N only and the same usb module (with the module on the outside of the window) the reported available bw is 300 Mbps, and that router is at least 60 feet further away (that module wasn't cheap so I am not going to let him mount it outside the camper haha). Thankfully this connection is just for email, facebook, connecting with his kids etc (and hopefully job searching lol).
So far so good with this Modem. Have not found any bugs within the setup pages, but strangely the connection was not easy on the XP machine (long story). My other sons Win7 machine connected near instant to it though. All in all I am happy so far. I hope there will be less disconnects now as we have dealt with that for years on the GT701WG... Also, looks like we got a free albeit small boost in speeds, especially the upload by nearly 1/2 a meg.
Thanks for the modem recommendation billaustin, we appreciated it much. Enjoy the Holidays my friend...
Regards
SkOrPn | |
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