UnitiQute & Wireless signal strength

I wasn't aware that you could actually view the signal strength, how do you check?

My Qute wouldn't connect to my old wireless router, but having changed to an Airport Extreme, it works fine and its some distance away on another floor.

I've noticed flaky wireless connection with my UQ as well! Which version are you on?

You can get the signal strength if you browse to its ip address. I'm on 3.13 which i think is the latest version.

Cool. I'd never have thought of doing that. My Unitiqute is marginal also. It plays fine though, even hi res 24/96 hi res over wireless. Mine is 3.13 also.

My unitiqute is quite away from my airport extreme, but in the same room my macbook pro shows full signal strength.

I wonder if that signal strength meter on the qute is actually that accurate?

Thanks Steven, I have just had the new 192 board fitted (I cannot remember what it was on the old board) and was a bit worried. I'm connecting with 802.11g  but I am about to order a new router that will support 802.11n so will see it that makes any difference. At the weekend i aim to move it around the house to see how much it varies (as expected, it does go to poor if i remove the aerial ).

Just found this oldish thread while searching (unitiqute wireless) as I wanted to learn what wireless protocols are supported, 802.11 b/g or b/g and n?

I have had a look in the on-line manual but can't see the answer.

KR, Mike.

The original model was 2.4GHz b/g.

The newer one (with the 24/192 board) is 2.4GHz b/g/n.

Irrespective, the antenna is useless and the RF impacts sound quality, so best avoided.

Buy a wireless bridge instead (eg. Apple Airport Express) and connect this to the Qute using a network cable.

This will:

• Cost peanuts
• Improve bandwidth
• Improve wireless range
• Allow you to use 5GHz if preferred
• Allow you to remove the Qute's unslightly wifi antenna
• Remove the localised RF from the Qute, improving sound quality

Having spent all that money on a UQ, it is a bit disappointing that I still need to spend $99 on an airport express to improve wireless streaming

Thanks for the info 0rangutan, I was kinda thinking of a second/bedroom system so I would hope that the wireless preformance would be acceptable in this context.

It would be wise if I could home demo a Qute to learn if it would work within the intended wireless range as I can't be bothered with an upstairs wired network or any extra powerlines/AEXs ect.

I would be happy with wired network streaming downstairs at some point but I don't see the Qute in these plans.

My 24/96 Unitiqute shows excellent excellent signal strength in the Kitchen whereas my Laptop Wireless N) shows as weak.

Gerry

Mike, it should be fine in your scenario.

Mine worked with 802.11g wireless from a router two floors away for 16/44.1 tracks.

It just couldn't cope with 24/96, even with the 802.11n board.

Thought I'd resurrect this thread:

My Qute2 reads poor/marginal and has been 'losing' the router key every day, so I was wondering if the two were connected (no pun)? iPad will not 'see' the Qute after some hours after having keyed in the router key, PC cannot find Qute on the network either once the key is lost, how can this even happen??

I'm sure they are. When I first got my SuperUniti, I tried it wireless and it kept dropping the connection. Internet radio was decidedly flaky too. As soon as it was wired, it became rock solid. You can get a high gain aerial as an accessory, which may do the trick if a wired connection is not possible. Make sure also that your router provides a good strong wireless signal; I use a DrayTek, which is really good.

Hafler3o, one thing to try if you are having issues with wifi, is to ensure your wifi router is up high on a shelf and there are minimal wires and metal(such as cabinets) around it. This will help the transmission and reception of the radio signals with minimal interference/reflections.

You could also try a wifi repeater, but they can be problematic.

Simon

It's everything your suggestion isn't! Low down, lots of spaghetti and sat on metal casing of PC, so I'll try a little hoicking and dredging later!

I'll try and swap aerials first (just to make sure they are all equal) and see how the SU aerial acts with the Qute, I've never had it stop playing or not work, it just "disconnects totally and loses the key" when I'm not around. Sneaky (like a Linn gremlin) !

Hafler3o, I must admit your Qute shouldn't lose the key.. It should keep it in memory even if you lose the signal.. So irresepective of wifi signal strength that doesn't sound right.

What encryption are you using, WPA? Are you having to renter the same key into your Qute each time?

It might be time to talk to your dealer.

Simon

From factory settings menu Qute2 is reporting WPA2-(then a load of characters that don't mean much to me)

I've no idea yet what encryption the router is using, I'll have a look at that too.

I talked to Steve H. yesterday and did a factory reset and am currently leaving the Qute set to the Analogue inputs, but it seems none of that has made a difference. I'm not sure if the Qute2 actually 'loses' the key, but I certainly need to re-enter it in order to gain access to the network again.

Ok, if you are talking to Steve H, then you are obviously in good hands. But it does sound to me like your Qute is poorly.

Simon

..but I'll talk to anyone in a crisis  so far so not good

I've just enabled WPA & WPA2 on router (to be on the safe side, it was 'just' WPA2 before) any other ideas will be gratefully received!

Incidentally Simon, do you know what 'profiles' are? When I double-click the Qute icon in 'My Network Places' on the PC I get a web-browser tab pop up, in the top right is a 'current profile / all profiles' selector. When I'm upstairs I get a profile different from the one seen on the iPad.

When working the iPad shows the Qute as IP 192.168.1.66 but the Qute display shows 192.168.1.80 (one of 4 'other' profiles listed, and the only one that has an IP assignment, the others are mostly void of info.) This seems strange!

Hi - I think Naim uses the concept to describe a group of network settings. So if you used the device in one location you would use one profile and another location another profile. I cant quite see the real value of it however.

I have checked, my profile1 has an IP address stored which doesn't correspond to the actual IP address that is used when profile1 used. I suspect that the ip address in the profile is over written by the address obtained by DHCP.

I have no issues with this, but I am using wired not wireless Ethernet.

Simon

Everything reconfigured to place the router high up and away from metal and the Qute2 has been running with double the signal strength and 100 (%?) quality for a day, so far no issues! I was dreading posting because of Sod's Law...

That's great that you've got better results now.  What brand is the wifi router?

I have found that the Apple wifi routers (Airport Extreme especially) are more robust than the typical all-in-one cable modem / router supplied by the internet providers.