Intermittent Wireless Connection

[frkitten99]

My wireless internet connection is intermittent when I'm at my house, but is solid and consistent anywhere else. In other words, at home I am able to connect automatically (the network is NOT secured) but the signal is really weak, I get disconnected every 5 minutes or so and have to "repair".

This doesn't happen to any other computer in the house. This also doesn't happen to me anywhere else...just at the house. Any ideas?

I am using a Dell Inspiron 1150 Laptop with a Dell Wireless WLAN 1450 Dual Band WLAN Mini-PCI Card. The router at home is a linksys something or other, 802.11 g. I don't know a whole lot about hardware or wireless it for that matter, so I'm sorry if I'm not providing enough info. Just ask!

Any advice is appreciated. Again, I don't have this problem with my laptop anywhere else but home...and no one else who lives there has this problem.

 

[G0AOZ]

You've told us of two problems - weak signal and dropped connections. These may or may not be related, but certainly having a weak signal doesn't help matters.

You said "the signal is really weak". Presumably other people in the house get strong signals, right? Where is the Linksys wireless/router located in the house, in relation to your laptop? Get one of the other people in the house to try their computer at the location you're using, and see if they get weak signals too.

Maybe the antennas on the Linksys are not orientated for best communications with your part of the house. Some Linksys wireless systems offer different power output levels, or maybe you're just too far away from this Access Point.

It is possible to still have a consistent connection even with a weak signal. However, under these circumstances other devices using the 2.4GHz frequency band may cause interference which could result in a dropped connection for you, i.e. closely located microwave oven, some cordless phones, even another WiFi network on an adjacent channel etc.

Need more info on distances between A.P. and your laptop, and what's in between, like walls, floors, concrete screen etc. Does your laptop see any other WiFi networks, say belonging to a neighbour? If so, what channel(s), and what channel are you using?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[frkitten99]

Thanks for getting back to me.

My laptop does, in fact, see other networks.

Yesterday, I installed Net Stumbler. From what I can tell, I use channel 6. It doesn't matter where I am in the house in relation to the router - I've been 5 feet away and two floors away with the same results (<=2 bars with interruptions).

After I installed this software, I appeared to be have a steady connection, though still weak (<=2 bars). My roommates, whose bedrooms are on the same floor as me (one floor above the router) all get a stronger signal (all four bars) and NEVER have this problem. Our floors are wood.

Also, our SSID is the default - "linksys". I noticed last night when watching Net Stumbler that my connection seems to be teetering between two networks called "linksys"...every few minutes one would disconnect with the "vendor" value being "fake" and the other would flip back on with "vendor" being "linksys". Their MAC addresses stay static and don't change when this flipping happens.

Any idea what the problem could be? How can I get a stronger signal, like my roommates? I'd also like to get a consistent connection without having to use Net Stumbler all the time.

 

[G0AOZ]

You implied earlier that connection away from the house "...is solid and consistent...". You've told us the best you get is 2 bars even when 5ft from the router at the house. Do I take it you can get 4 or 5 bars (or more) up when you're connecting to other networks away from the house? (Office, Uni, etc.)

You've also told us your laptop sees other networks. What channels are they on? Also, good idea to confirm with your housemates that they are indeed connecting on channel 6.

Not sure what you mean by "Their MAC addresses stay static and don't change when this flipping happens." I'm not aware that MAC addresses ever change...??

It might be a good idea to change your router's SSID to something hopefully unique to your house. And change any settings on your laptop so it ignores networks other than your own.

Look at those other networks and maybe change your router's channel number so you have maximum separation between them and yours. So, if they're running on Chs. 1, 2 and 7 for instance, you should choose Ch. 12 or higher.

However, it seems to me that there may be some sort of incompatibility between your Dell WiFi card and the Linksys router.


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[JoshT976]

Definately change your SSID from the default SSID!!!!!!

If there is any interfernce changing your channel should help out. G0AOZ is absolultely correct with this!!

Since your at 6, I would recommended the two farthest channels, 1 & 11. See if that helps.

Joshua