Bell Canada → Re: 2Wire Modem Low Signal Strength - Can I have 2nd Router??

The 2Wire is really not that bad a modem/router/wireless combination.

Login to the 2Wire Wireless page here:

»192.168.2.1/xslt?PAGE=C_2_1

and if you go to the bottom of the page, you will notice that there is a power level setting. The default is 4. This setting is for the wireless transmitter power. The maximum setting 10.

You could set the level to 10 or increase the level by 2 and and retry. The theory is that by restricting the power level, you reduce the area covered by the transmitter and thus reduce the potential number of hackers that know that you exist.

The Sagemcom 2864 modem (supplied by Bell for speeds higher than 15 Mbits) defaults to 10.

Routers work really well behind a 2Wire, but the world mostly has its head up its ass about routers behind routers.

I currently have a D-Link DIR-835 behind a 2Wire from Bell and it took 4 tries to get it to work properly. I kept getting the following message "unable to setup the 2Wire (wording not exact)" call Bell Internet support for help.

I can give you more details if you are having difficulty.

Rick

And yet it still has pathetic wireless range.

Hey RickStep.

I finally ran the wire from the Bell2Wire to downstairs in my basement room.

I plugged the Cat5 into the Port1 of Bell2Wire and ran it into a port of the Linksys. I connected but with limited connection after about 5 minutes. The speed test showed good, but then I lost connection and it went limited.

I also tried plugging into the WAN/Internet port of Linksys but also limited connection (this time right off the bat).

I can log into the Linksys router but not sure what to do.

Any chance you can help me out with this? There isn't much support anywhere.

This is true, the 2wire is actually pretty damn good for wireless range. The sagem sucks though. Decent if you are in an apartment, but not so much for housing.