Roadworks on the M3, lots of them!

After a week away from work, my first journey into Bracknell was blighted by the arrival of not one, but two new sets of roadworks on the M3!! This to add to the already boring 50mph stretch over the railway line bridge between J5 & Fleet Services. The wazzocks at the Highways Agency have added a long stretch from J3 to J4, cameras for traffic flow fully installed, so it looks long term. The white lines for temporary speed cameras are already painted as well. They have also added a mini bit between J6 & J7 Southbound as well!

Here's looking forward to a couple of months of shitty journeys then!

Complete, total & utter network hardware refresh [maybe]

I haven't been impressed with the new D-Link stuff so far, so it's last chance is going to be a bit of help from one of these. A D-Link DWL G-710 Wireless Range Extender, it just plugs into the mains for power & repeats the wireless signal a bit further (so they say). Fingers crossed it might help push the boundaries of the 802.11x signal that is a little weak at present in one or two places.

Update : it appears to work very well, and really easy to setup. Just plug in power & connect with ethernet cable, configure, unplug ethernet & place some distance from the wireless router & hey presto the WiFi signal in the house goes off the scale! I will have a play with the other bits of kit at the weekend.

As a parallel test, I have also ordered the same suite of kit from Linksys. A Linksys WRT54GS Wireless Router & the Linksys WRE54G Wireless Range Expander\Repeater. Whichever works best will stay, the worst performer will be donated\sold to my brother.

After reading all the blurb from manufacturers & reviews from cyber geeks, it looks like the repeater technology doesn't cross manufacturer borders. They appear to do something proprietry, (yes, I know it's an astonishing claim!) that makes using a repeater from one manufacturer with a router from another a little difficult, if not impossible.

I have also been tempted by the Devolo MicroLink dLan kit which plugs into the house power supply & transfers data using the electrical wiring of the house.

So an update posted here soon with the results, my prediction is that D-Link will be finding a new home!