Stupid Wireless Network Question

[VladtheImpaler]

Ok, I am a luddite, so please bear with me. We have a desktop upstairs with a wireless router. Has been set up this way for 3 years. Never really had any problems using laptops anywhere in the house. Now, for the past week, the wireless connection has been fading in/out every 3 minutes or so. Terribly annoying, since the wife works remotely on the laptop and I like to play poker while watching TV. I've tried all the basic stuff, like unplugging and restarting the router, unplugging and restarting the SHAW modem, or both - nada. So, what else might you knowlegeable people suggest??? Many thanks.

[Rathji]

Call Shaw talk to them and find out if it is your connection to your network(or the network itself) that is dying which would indicate the router is the trouble, or your modem that is dropping, which would indicate your signal ratio is probably the issue. They should be able to tell this by looking at your modem uptime.

If you can narrow it down, or already know which of these is happening, it will drastically increase the chances of it being fixed sooner.

[Jedi Ninja]

On her laptop, you should be able to monitor the status of the wireless connection. What does it say when her connection goes down? When it goes down, can you ping the gateway on the router. (Open a command window and type PING 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 etc..) Or, just try accessing the admin page for the router when her connection is broken.

I gather that the PC has no problems and is connected to the same router?

If she sits right beside the router, does she still lose her connection?

You can get wireless interference from a variety of sources including dimmer switches, certain types of lighting, or other wireless devices operating on the 2.4ghz spectrum, usually cordless phones.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

On her laptop, you should be able to monitor the status of the wireless connection. What does it say when her connection goes down? When it goes down, can you ping the gateway on the router. (Open a command window and type PING 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 etc..) Or, just try accessing the admin page for the router when her connection is broken.

I gather that the PC has no problems and is connected to the same router?

If she sits right beside the router, does she still lose her connection?

You can get wireless interference from a variety of sources including dimmer switches, certain types of lighting, or other wireless devices operating on the 2.4ghz spectrum, usually cordless phones.

Thanks, I will try all this when I get home. Yes, the PC is fine.

[sclitheroe]

The router could be configured to auto-select its radio channel, and is flipping between channels. Lock it down to one of channels 1, 6, or 11 (the three non-overlapping channels).

Channel 1 is typically the least congested channel in my experience (most routers pick 6 or 11 by default)

See if that helps.

[VladtheImpaler]

Well, I plugged another router in there and everything is working fine. Trendnet is sending me a new one to replace the one that was having problems, since none of their techs could figure it out.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Well, I plugged another router in there and everything is working fine. Trendnet is sending me a new one to replace the one that was having problems, since none of their techs could figure it out.

Ah. I see the problem.

When I first got into IT I had a client who was having problems on their network. Went out and was checking things out but was stumped. Called my boss to see if he could lend a hand in troubleshooting and he asked a few things that I already did and then he asked me what kind of router do they have. When I told him Trendnet he said he would call me back in about 15 minutes. He grabbed a dlink router came over to the clients and told me swap out the router.... problem solved.

[Jedi Ninja]

Originally Posted by Buff

Ah. I see the problem.

When I first got into IT I had a client who was having problems on their network. Went out and was checking things out but was stumped. Called my boss to see if he could lend a hand in troubleshooting and he asked a few things that I already did and then he asked me what kind of router do they have. When I told him Trendnet he said he would call me back in about 15 minutes. He grabbed a dlink router came over to the clients and told me swap out the router.... problem solved.

Agreed. Not a solid brand. Every TN product I have had has shipped with buggy firmware and has required a firmware upgrade just to get a minimal level of reliability. (Ok, "every" means just two, but still...)