What is going on with my Wireless network...!?

[Bananadude]

I've just got a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router. I have flashed it with the latest DD-WRT firmware and all seems to be working ok, but not when it comes to the wireless.

For no good reason, the internet just stops working on my PC which has the wireless set-up. The signal strength does not change. It's not great at about 50%, but that shouldn't stop it from working altogether. It goes from a pretty fast stable connection to suddenly nothing.

The net connection is fine on my other system which is plugged directly into the router, and as I say, the wireless connection itself still seems to be healthy and active as I can see the other system in the DD-WRT control panel.

The same thing happened before I upgraded the firmware, and I hoped it would fix it, but it hasn't. I can get it working again by 'repairing' the network connection and/or changing the network channel, but this is obviously a real pain to keep doing! There is no indication anywhere I can see that anything is not working properly, apart from the simple fact the internet stops working!

Any ideas...?

P.S - I'm on a Virgin Media 10mb Cable connection.

 

[rmicro1]

Do you have any cordless phones? If both your wireless and cordless phones operate at 2.4GHz, it'll cause your wireless to cut out. Even a near by neighbour with a cordless phone may cause this.

They only real way to fix this is to by a cordless phone that works at another frequency like 900Mhz or 5.8Ghz (5.8Ghz is recommended). I have the same problem at my home right now. Phone cuts the wireless and router out whenever the phone is in use. I've got a new 5.8Ghz phone ordered.

Firmware doesn't fix this kind of problem either. Your router may allow you to select a specific channel to use so it'll use a frequency like 2.41 or 2.42. By selecting a specific channel my reduce the number of times the phone will be at the same frequency. Didn't work for my however but it's worth a shot.

Just take note if the wireless fails when a cordless phone is in use.

 

[Bananadude]

I do have a cordless phone (who doesn't these days!) but the connection has dropped in the last 30 mins and the phone has not been in use in that time. It could ofcourse be a neighbour though I guess.

The firmware lets me choose a channel from 1 to 14, and each has a different Ghz rating, ranging from, 2.412 to 2.484. I guess I can try different channels and see if one is more stable than another.

I never encountered this problem before where I lived though, and I had a cordless phone there. Different router, but perhaps this Buffalo one is more prone to interferance.

 

[Bananadude]

OK, I've been playing around with this. I'm not sure it's the phone thing. It's happening too regularly. And when I thinhk about it, it happens alot even at 2-3AM in the morning. Regardless of what channel/frequency I switch to.

It seems to be linked to actual use. When loading image heavy pages, downloading or with numerous windows open, it seems to come unstuck and just stop working. The only way to get it up again is to do a repair on it and change the channel.

So if the phone is not the culprit, what on earth could it be? :?

 

[rmicro1]

Is it a hot running unit? Many are being built so that they stand upright instead of of horizontal so that they dissipate heat better. Perhaps if it's getting too warm, it may be cutting in and out. Just feel it with your hand and see if by your estimation, it is warmer than it should be. It's actually amazing how many things are affected by something as simple as heat.

 

[Bananadude]

It actually is standing upright and is barely warm to the touch. Besides, it is only the wireless, and the wired connection never skips a beat. In that sense it's more reliable than my old netgear setup (not difficult admittedly), but atleast that gave me decent wireless connectivity! :roll:

 

[Iceblue]

...For no good reason, the internet just stops working on my PC which has the wireless set-up. The signal strength does not change. It's not great at about 50%, but that shouldn't stop it from working altogether. It goes from a pretty fast stable connection to suddenly nothing....

"Signal strength" is not the whole story. Have you checked your S/N ratio? Download a program like Network Stumbler and look for other nearby networks on your same channel, and check your systems S/N ratio.

Also, be aware that the channels overlap. You need to be at least 5 channels apart for them to not interfere with each other. So, your 1-14 channels really only has 3 non-overlapping channels: 1, 6, and 11. No big surprise, these are the channels that people actually use. So, if you pick channel 4 (for example) you can get interference from neighbors on channels 1 and 6.

Can you get your wireless computer physically closer to the router for running some tests? Try to get in the same room, line of sight with the router, so you have a very strong signal and low noise and see if you can maintain a connection. If you can, then your problem is your signal. If you can't, then your problem most likely is either your router or your wireless adapter / driver in your PC.

 

[micronerdo]

My wireless phone system is 2.4Ghz. And it's about 10 feet from the router. I use channel 1 with the extended range mode checked. In some cases, a 5.8Ghz could overpower the routers signal if close by. Don't know if that's really true, but I read it somewhere. I was thinking about getting the 5.8Ghz phone system until I read it. Got the 2.4Ghz instead. When I set up my new DLink router, I was having problems connecting to the internet on my desktop upstairs. Then I changed the channel from 6 to 1, went to my desktop and removed the existing connection from the Status\Properties\Wireless Networks path, added a new one (but same SSID), checked off WEP key, re-entered my WEP key numbers from a box that popped up after I hit connect and got to the internet. I know your saying that it comes and go's, but this might get it to remain stable.