Intermittent wireless connection

Llancaedydd · 07-11-2011, 21:55

Hello all,

New to the forum, and here I am afraid looking for help - any such will be very gratefully received indeed.

A few months ago we switched our Broadband provider to Talk Talk from Virgin. Bad idea. As required, we used the wireless router as supplied by TT instead of my Apple Airport Extreme which had previously provided the wireless network for Virgin. Ever since we have consistently found that all active computer devices in the house drop off the network several times a day and all at the same time. This never happened with the previous set up which suggests to this (admittedly very non-technical) frustrated customer that the problem lies with some of the equipment TT have supplied.

Is this a reasonable assumption? I admit that I have not fitted DSL filters to every socket etc as recommended on the help section of their site, I considered that because of the fact that the problem was not previously seen then filters would not resolve the issue.

Thanks all.

Andy

Hom3r · 07-11-2011, 22:16

Another reason for the drop outs could be a wifi channel conflict.

what channel is your wifi using?

If you have a smart phone you can download a free wifi sniffer (I use Wifi Analyzer on my Android phone).

There are PC/Mac versions but I haven't used them.

If somebody near you has the same channel change it.

jb66 · 07-11-2011, 22:25

Most routers provided by isps are crap, an airport exterem is one of the best routers out there

thenry · 07-11-2011, 22:26

as hom3r said check the channels. if you can't do it via a phone download inSSIDer on a laptop/wireless capable device, install it and run it letting it search for all networks within reach. note the channel number each network uses then set your network to use one that isn't used, they will range from 1-13.

Llancaedydd · 08-11-2011, 06:14

Many thanks guys. I will try to change the channel and see what that does. WIll report back.

regards

Andy

Hom3r · 08-11-2011, 10:10

Try and get a wifi sniffer sw, because I've been told that if somebody is on channel 6 and you change it to 7, you may still get problems.

Several people in my are are on BT and the routers are all the same channel.

Waldo Pepper · 08-11-2011, 19:28

Some routers have a setting where they will disconnect after a certain amount of inactivity.
Worth a try browsing the router web page.

Llancaedydd · 08-11-2011, 20:14

Hi again - your help so far is much appreciated. Far better than talk Talk who send me the standard "do all this stuff, buy that stuff then as a very very last resort we might deign to send out an engineer but you'll pay for it" response. Marvellous.

Anyway, I have changed channels on my router with no joy, my iMac was disconnected this evening when I got home from work, couldn't get back on, rebooted router, Bob's your mother's brother.

I have an iPhone and Apple have apparently banned wireless analysers from the app store for their gadgets some reason which is beyond me. Instead I downloaded something called WiFi Analyzer from the Mac Store on to my computer so am desk bound with regard to checking signal strength. I am embarrassed to say I need help to interpret the readings on what appears to be a very simple utility.

Here we are then:
Signal strength (dB) -50
Signal noise (dB) -96
Signal to noise (dB) -46
data rate (Mbps) 65

They vary a bit but the above is about modal for the time I have been watching. I have no idea whether these are good bad or indifferent, my guess is that some of you guys do - I hope!

thanks again

Andy

Waldo Pepper · 09-11-2011, 23:22

The signal strength is about right. Mine is similar with the WiFi router in the next room.

The signal noise floor is what your adapter sees when there is no signal there which on a crowded channel can be quite high. -96dB is good which means you are probably alone on the channel of your choice in your home vicinity.

The signal to noise ratio is the difference. 46dB is quite good as is the 65 Mbps.

You should not be having problems with the WiFi settings based on these results.

My guess is that you now may have a ADSL2 router that is capable of a much higher datarate and ADSL filters may now be required.

They only cost a few quid and may be worth the investment,

Llancaedydd · 10-11-2011, 21:04

Many thanks WP, I'll take your advice. The drop off rate has reduced to about one a day since changing channels but still irritating.

regards

Andy