Troubleshooting Page

Troubleshooting steps are listed below and on our FAQ page.

If you suspect a system problem, call 381-8900 to see if we have a message yet on the voicemail describing the problem.  If we don't, please wait at least an hour before reporting it to us.  Many times problems fix themselves (our units have automatic rebooters and timers).  Please review the steps listed below (they really do work).  If you have no success, please send an email using your backup dialup account to service [at] muirbeachLAN [dot] com, or leave us a voicemail at 381-8900.  Please, however, do not call or email Leighton, Scott or Maury directly because there are more than 100 households on the LAN, and we would like to keep our sanity.

Troubleshooting

Rebooting Your Receiver:  Before reporting a problem, please take the following steps (in order).  We've found them to be really useful in fixing things within seconds: 

(1) Reboot your receiver (the receiver is the unit located outside, likely on your roof) by unplugging and replugging its AC power adapter (see the FAQ page for the exact details).  Wait 30 seconds for it to reboot before going to the next step;

(2) do the same for your wireless router or Airport; and then

(3) reboot your computer, and wait at least 30 more seconds (for your computer to request and be given an IP address).  See if things now work.

Bypass Wireless Router:  If you have a wireless router or Airport, you might try bypassing it temporarily, and plug the Ethernet cable that normally goes to your router directly into your computer.  Please be sure to label your cables before disconnecting things because if you plug them back in incorrectly, things definitely will not work.  If you can then browse the Internet by bypassing that router or Airport, you'll know the problem lies with it and not your connection or your computer.  You should contact a local computer specialist for help, or get a new router at Best Buy - ususally about $40, and they do eventually fail.

Get a Lamp Timer:  Many people connect a lamp timer to a power strip for their roof-top receiver and router, and have the timer shut the power off for a minute in the middle of the night each night.  You will then not need to do periodic reboots, and you may notice a big improvement in reliability.

Interference from Cordless Phones:  We have noticed that cordless phones often cause reception problems - even more than 100 feet from your cordless phone base station.  Cordless phones use the exact same channels as wireless LANs (as do baby monitors - if that happens to be relevant for you!).  An excellent solution is to get a 5.8 GHz phone from Best Buy or a model labeled DECT, which use a different set of channels, and will end this source of interference for your connection.

Uninstall Peer-to-Peer File-sharing Programs:  These are programs that give other computers access to your computer most typically in order to make free copies of music files.   If you download a song or program from a service like LimeWire, Kazaa, Morpheus, BitTorrent, Bearshare or Napster, you have in the fine print agreed to then allow other computers to copy files from your computer - and whether or not the program is running (they operate in the background).  The problem for us is they can consume huge amounts of LAN bandwidth.  Since we have a very fast connection, literally hundreds of computers will be connecting to your computer to copy those files. 

We need your help to keep these programs from being used.  Please uninstall any such programs you find on your (or your teenager's) computers.  Please check your list of installed programs (in Windows: Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, scroll down and uninstall any program like that which you find).

Main System Nodes Now Encrypted

Our system is designed for neighbors to connect using the Ethernet cable from their rooftop receivers rather than using their laptops to connect wirelessly directly to the system nodes.  Although this has always been our request, we recently changed our system nodes so that they will no longer accept direct connections that bypass each neighbor's rooftop receiver. 

Our plan is not for Muir Beach to be a Wi-Fi hot-spot, like a Starbucks, where computers connect directly to our main distribution nodes (we would have to have far more nodes to be able to support such a system).  Our system nodes broadcast a relatively weak signal over a large area, and each house has a dedicated receiver mounted outside, typically on the roof, which has a very sensitive antenna aimed directly at the nearest system node for best reception.  Your wireless rooftop receiver then delivers the Internet via wire (Ethernet cable) for use inside your home.

It has been possible for laptops to occasionally or accidentally pick up our wireless signal and make a wireless connection directly to the LAN.  Not only is that connection far too weak to give good speed or to otherwise be reliable, our system nodes can get bogged down trying to maintain those very weak connections, and that can degrade performance for the entire LAN.  Our recently implemented solution has been to encrypt the signal broadcast by our system nodes.  Your rooftop receiver is configured to be able to decode the encrypted signal.  This also adds to the security of our network by keeping unauthorized visitors and passersby from connecting to our neighborhood LAN.

You should set your laptop's wireless card to receive only the wireless signal broadcast by your own wireless router you may have purchased and installed in your house (and definitely not any signal identified as "muir beach lan south, or west, or north, or east, or central, or upper tank, or lower tank, or shed, or bbq, or hwy1, or cove ").  For best performance, your computers should connect by Ethernet cable to a (purchased) router or to the Ethernet cable that leads from your rooftop receiver and that was made available to you at the time your receiver was installed.  If you do not have a wireless router (which you would have purchased directly from Best Buy or elsewhere) then it is best to simply turn off the built-in wireless card (called an Airport on the Mac) that may be standard equipment on your laptop. 

Thanks for your help with making our LAN more reliable and more secure.

In conclusion:  Muir Beach LAN's sole task is to provide Internet service to your home - and any issues related to inside devices, computer configurations, Ethernet cables, email settings, and home wireless networks need to be handled by local specialists!  Thanks for your help and understanding.