M6600 Owners Thread

A nifty trick, if you hover over the network name in the connections list in Windows it will show you what security method it uses (and the speed). Just interesting to gauge what the neighbors are using sometimes.
From where I live, I get about 20 networks and it is a (somewhat compact) residential suburban area. There aren't that many houses within 500 feet, so I'm amazed how far these wifi things can reach nowadays.

 

30. 30! THIRTY. I'd say two thirds have WPA2 enabled.
The Best Buy Geek squad is busy around here, see them all the time.
I'd definitely gotten lackadaisical and complacent after the failure a few years ago to implement WPA TKIP successfully for everyone and just reverted to getting up and running.
I'm still surprised and shocked that it may have been just my choices, not anyone's hardware, and that I was only five minutes away from making it better all those wasted years.

 

If you want more info on networks in range, this is the program to use: inSSIDer for Home – Discover The Wi-Fi Around You | MetaGeek. It'll show which channel the networks are on which is great for troubleshooting bad W-Fi connections.

Here's a screenshot of what it looks like for me and it also illustrates the awesomeness of a 5 GHz network. Moral of the story: if you get interference, get that Intel 6000 series adapter for your Precision and a 5 GHz compatible router.

 

Yeah during remodeling of the house my location changed relative to the router, and since the mouse and router share the same frequency, sometimes stutter. Happens with three different wireless mice (on two separate computers) so must be that - I hope.

We've been considering a new 5G router. Not sure what you mean by an "Intel 6000 series adapter", i6300 series internal wireless not there? It shows I can access 5Ghz if that's the signal.

 

By 6000 series, I mean 6200, 6205, 6230, 6235, 6250 and 6300 all those are dual band adapters. The 62xx are two streams, the 6300 is three streams and the 6230x series also has integrated bluetooth (not needed since the M6600/6700 have a separate Bluetooth adapter).

 

Just got feedback from the money boss: We're going shopping for a new 5G router.
And I got slapped figuratively for not knowing about this wireless stuff - doh

That program inSSIDer looks pretty cool - gonna whirl it up soon. I'll let you know.

 

A little out of date, but still useful: http://forum.notebookreview.com/net...ireless-router-buyer-s-guide-2012-2013-a.html, especially combined with smallnetbuilder. Personally, I suggest you go for a Broadcom based router if you want to go dual band. Almost all my devices support 5 GHz, my PS3 doesn't, the 360 does, the Wii doesn't (I think, it's been gathering dust forever), my HTC 8X , all my laptops, my Thinkpad Tablet 2 and my desktop support 5 GHz though. My network throughput is way overkill for my Internet connection, but it's great for file transfers.

Also, make sure you give different SSIDs to the networks for each band, you can also go nuts with the network name. Something like FBI surveillance van 42 tends to drive people away from trying to connect to your network and it doesn't say who it belongs to either. Just don't name it hack this if you can, some people might take that as a challenge.

 

Um, I think I'm incompetent.

I have the insider installed through the Admin acct. Tried it there and currently in the Standard acct.
It only shows my Network and strangely blocks visibility of all the other networks in both the ProSet App and the Windows App,
they won't even return after the program is closed and the Apps refreshed. Seems something is wrong?

 

Strange, it works fine for me on my desktop (both admin and standard), I haven't tried it in a while on the M6700. I've seen it drop wireless performance on a USB adapter, but that's it.

You can always try a previous version: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=A0FB8857EE81BE47!154&authkey=!ABeOpgted1gPYVw it's a zipped folder, so you can scan it to your heart's content before unzipping.

 

Whew. Tried yours, same problem. Wondered what I'd set in ProSet App and sure enough "Don't scan when connected" was enabled, that's it.
Doing anything/everything to get the mouse to stop stuttering.
What a cool program that is.
Narrowed the channel down to 6 since 1 and 11 were popular nearby - WoW! Faster, smoother, and mouse even seems much better, hasn't acted up.
Sure beats the old fashioned trial and error method.

Also, made the punisher do a crucible: read all our posts about WiFi - especially your last one about choosing a router and the linked post.
Last I heard was that she is much more aware about how wireless network security works. Me too.
Well done by you guys - thanks.

---

Edit:

Just got the phones, tablets and printers to connect - no problems. Everything's great.
And installed back the newer version of insider. No problem either.

---

Edit 2:

Thought I'd post this link, same site as tijo posted for the insider but an article about different security choices.
Note the WPS section. This is something the latest two WiFi drivers have as a new feature for connecting to public networks (for ease).
I guess this would be considered and should be a public network, not home or work in W7 Network and Sharing to invoke stronger security features.
Wireless Security Basics | MetaGeek