Wireless connection drops off briefly and often

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603 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#695925 4-Oct-2012 08:26

Are there any other 2.4 Ghz devices in the house?

tigger

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Geek

#695939 4-Oct-2012 09:00

Hi all

I have TP-Link TD-W8960. Just talked with tecchie and he does not know what gHz and thinks cannot be changed anyway.

He has changed the channel for me to 6 or 7 so we will see how that goes today, in the first instance, as that would be great if that easy to fix? One of you thought there might be clashes with 13.

No, the drop off coincides with nothing in the place ie use of phone etc. This has gone on for probably a year and I have looked for patterns etc. There are none at all. We do have an apple and PC but always have and the issue started occuring for no reason at all. Wireless always worked well to a point but cannot remember when it all started to drop off - pretty sure no new equipment or anything. So sounds like there could be interference from neighbours rather than in my place.

Will watch for the rest of the day on this new channel and fingers crossed. Will let you know.

Thank you so much for all of your responses. Should have come to you first before I spent heaps on replacing router etc etc. ;D

timmmay

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Uber Geek

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#695947 4-Oct-2012 09:13

Do try your cordless phone if you have one, and yes talk to the neighbours.

I strongly suggest getting a 5.8GHz router to try out, such as the one below (sorry I couldn't hyperlink properly, Geekzone's reply page isn't loading properly for me today)

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=407484

tigger

50 posts

Geek

#696615 5-Oct-2012 10:00

Hi all, good news. I think the problem may have resolved with a change in channel (?) to about 6 or 7, where previously 1 and 13 both had issues. No drop offs in the last 24 hours that I have noticed. I am hoping it is as simple as that, fingers crossed.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. Nice to know there are people happy to help. Have a great day xx

Azzura

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Ultimate Geek

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#696620 5-Oct-2012 10:06

Hey! That's not fair, you said -

"4. Changed the channel (from 1 to 13) on the router, with no change to the issue"

Or was it...you used chan 1 and 13, but skipped all the chan's in the middle

tigger

50 posts

Geek

#696622 5-Oct-2012 10:10

Azzura: Hey! That's not fair, you said -

"4. Changed the channel (from 1 to 13) on the router, with no change to the issue"

Or was it...you used chan 1 and 13, but skipped all the chan's in the middle

Hi, I had started on 1, changed to 13 and still had the issues. Came onto here to ask if anyone had further ideas and someone said 13 could still have conflicts at to try 6. So asked the tecchie to change it to 6 (think he may have set it at 7 though). No, I did not try any of the other channels as had to ring him everytime to do it for me. It seems that has resolved the issue.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#696630 5-Oct-2012 10:21

tigger:
Azzura: Hey! That's not fair, you said -

"4. Changed the channel (from 1 to 13) on the router, with no change to the issue"

Or was it...you used chan 1 and 13, but skipped all the chan's in the middle

Hi, I had started on 1, changed to 13 and still had the issues. Came onto here to ask if anyone had further ideas and someone said 13 could still have conflicts at to try 6. So asked the tecchie to change it to 6 (think he may have set it at 7 though). No, I did not try any of the other channels as had to ring him everytime to do it for me. It seems that has resolved the issue.

lol, so it all came down to how you worded your OP.

Had you said that you only tried channel 1 and 13 that would have been the first option, but beause we all thought you meant you had tried all channels from 1 to 13, peopl didn't bother suggesting it.

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ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#696632 5-Oct-2012 10:22

Running inSSIDer would have told you what channels were in use locally...

tigger

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Geek

#696637 5-Oct-2012 10:29

NonprayingMantis:
tigger:
Azzura: Hey! That's not fair, you said -

"4. Changed the channel (from 1 to 13) on the router, with no change to the issue"

Or was it...you used chan 1 and 13, but skipped all the chan's in the middle

Hi, I had started on 1, changed to 13 and still had the issues. Came onto here to ask if anyone had further ideas and someone said 13 could still have conflicts at to try 6. So asked the tecchie to change it to 6 (think he may have set it at 7 though). No, I did not try any of the other channels as had to ring him everytime to do it for me. It seems that has resolved the issue.

lol, so it all came down to how you worded your OP.

Had you said that you only tried channel 1 and 13 that would have been the first option, but beause we all thought you meant you had tried all channels from 1 to 13, peopl didn't bother suggesting it.

Apologies for the run around.

Yes, will be more careful with the way I word it in future.

tigger

50 posts

Geek

#696641 5-Oct-2012 10:30

ubergeeknz: Running inSSIDer would have told you what channels were in use locally...

Hi, thanks and yes, would have done that but did not know how to. I had a bit of a go but got stuck on that. Thought I would try the channel change first and figured if that did not work that I would have to ask how to do this. Clearly was the issue the channel thing.

webwat

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#697347 7-Oct-2012 03:25

tigger:
ubergeeknz: Running inSSIDer would have told you what channels were in use locally...

Hi, thanks and yes, would have done that but did not know how to. I had a bit of a go but got stuck on that. Thought I would try the channel change first and figured if that did not work that I would have to ask how to do this. Clearly was the issue the channel thing.

I don't think channel 13 is for public use in NZ? normally only use up to 11 anyway so try channel 11 if you have problems with 6.. Also try setting the RTS feature to something like 1024 so that it sends out a warning for other nodes not to interrupt the data. Might help.

Time to find a new industry!

tigger

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Geek

#697352 7-Oct-2012 07:17

Cool, thanks webwat

linw

2849 posts

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#697644 7-Oct-2012 22:47

And, if you have an Android device, download an app called 'WiFi Analyzer'. This is really neat for seeing the wifi networks around you and what channels they are on.

tigger

50 posts

Geek

#697701 8-Oct-2012 06:02

linw: And, if you have an Android device, download an app called 'WiFi Analyzer'. This is really neat for seeing the wifi networks around you and what channels they are on.

Thanks, just done that. Interestingly no one on 1 which was where I was originally with the problems and no one on 13. I am on 7 and (must be) neighbour on 6 and all is well

richms

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#699325 10-Oct-2012 20:55

The apps only show you other networks, which will generally still work ok and not cause a dropout etc, since it will just cause retransmissions as they are detected and avoided by your network gear.

Its other noise sources like ovens, cordless phones, video senders etc that will kill wifi and not show anything on the scanning software.

If your neighbour has a rusted out old oven and is nuking a pizza there is not a lot that your wifi gear can do to overcome that noise source that is about 2000 times more powerfull than the signal you want to get.

Richard rich.ms

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