Wireless Interference or Dodgy Router?

Joedm45 · 31-12-2010, 13:18

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone can help with the rather strange dilemma I have.

When I had my BB (2Mb then free upgrade to 10Mb) installed some time ago VM only gave me a modem as that was the deal at the time and I had no need for wireless. After some time I got a laptop and so purchased, not through VM, a Netgear WGR614v9 wireless router but couldn't get the wireless to work. If I'm honest I didn't really have the time to look into too much so just left it and used the network ports instead, a bit messy with wires everywhere but oh well.

I recently decided to look into again, did a firmware update and hey presto it worked! However.... it is very erratic and sometimes doesn't seem to want to broadcast the signal.

This is the strange part, my laptop picks up the signal during the day but doesn't see it at all at night. This may be coincidental I guess.

My laptop sees lots of networks every time I turn it on so that side of it is OK.

Would anything interfere with the signal? I only sit a couple of metres away from the router so its not a distance thing. Is the router likely to be faulty even though it does work occassionally?

Its really annoying me now and am tempted to upgrade my BB just to get the VM wireless super hub so at least if there is a problem it's down to VM to fix.

Thanks for any replies.

Joe

31-12-2010, 13:24

It sounds like you are connecting to someone else's unsecured wireless network, rather than your one.

Go into the router setup & change your SSID to something recognisable & set it to 'broadcast' (and set a password also) - then when you search for the signal make sure you only connect to the SSID you recognise as definitely yours, enter the password & you should connect..

If that still doesn't work try another channel.

http://kb.netgear.com/app/products/model/a_id/2591

Joedm45 · 31-12-2010, 13:32

Thanks for the quick reply.

I had already changed the SSID to something only I would understand and put a password in place.

One of my pet hates is keeping the default SSID or even worse using your own name as the SSID. Maybe thats just me being picky and wanting to stay a little private.

The channel is on 'Auto' but I think it defaults to 6. I've been meaning to go through each channel but thought I'd ask for advice first

31-12-2010, 13:54

The only thing I can suggest, with my limited knowledge, is to go right back to basics - reset to factory defaults & run through the installation wizard on the CD.

Paul K · 31-12-2010, 16:48

Change the channel to a manual one, "Auto" will basically try and find a clean signal and if you have a few around you already you will have a lot of drop outs occurring if you hit a channel already in use. I had to switch mine to channel 11 to start with but recently someone has jumped on that with a homehub so now I am on 13.

Joedm45 · 01-01-2011, 10:21

A Very Happy New Year To You all and thanks again for all your replies.

When I turned the laptop on this morning it did not connect to my network. I did a quick search on the forum and found out about a program called netstumbler. This searches for available networks and gives you more broadcast info. I found out that channel 11 is absolutely rinsed in my area so avoided that one. I tried channel 10 as this did not appear on the list and it worked! Currently typing on said laptop

Hopefully it is sorted now but will not be totally convinced until it connects first time for a few days.

Cheers again for all your help

Joe

Paul K · 01-01-2011, 11:29

10 may overlap 11 so experimenting with a few others may improve it even more. If no one is on 7 I would look at that, even if someone is on there it may be usable if they do not have a strong signal in relation to yours. Netstumbler is a very important tool for any windows wireless PC lol.

Hom3r · 01-01-2011, 11:39

If you click on the link there is a file called "How to secure your network"

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.ewles/cf/

Its a bit old, but should still be relevant.

01-01-2011, 13:00

i've tried to get netstumbler to work in the past but it refuses to scan i read somewhere that it won't recognise broardcom b/g adapters ,has this been fixed yet ?

Quam256 · 02-01-2011, 19:52

Is your router near any other type of wireless connection ?.Such as a cordless phone or baby monitor.
As these can cause problems.

Joedm45 · 02-01-2011, 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quam256

Is your router near any other type of wireless connection ?.Such as a cordless phone or baby monitor.
As these can cause problems.

It is quite near my cordless land line phone. However since tinkering with the channels on the router settings my laptop has connected everytime I've turned it on so I'm more than happy now

Thanks again for all your suggestions and comments