WiFi network dropout issues

[athon]

I've just set up in my apartment a wireless network which allows me to use my laptop on one side of the room, with the wireless transmitter near the port on the other side. It's a D-Link wireless set-up, and I'm using a Zy-AIR wireless card.

The connection will be excellent and then, regularly every five minutes or so, it will just drop out. I can reconnect immediately without any problems, but it's the constant dropping out. I suspect it might have something to do with being in an apartment complex with several other competing wireless transmitters around. I'm just not sure how to arrange it so my computer only listens to my transmitter.

Any help on how to go about this?

Athon

[tkingdoll]

No idea but I'm having exactly the same problem in my office so I look forward to reading the replies :D

[Rob Lister]

I've just set up in my apartment a wireless network which allows me to use my laptop on one side of the room, with the wireless transmitter near the port on the other side. It's a D-Link wireless set-up, and I'm using a Zy-AIR wireless card.

The connection will be excellent and then, regularly every five minutes or so, it will just drop out. I can reconnect immediately without any problems, but it's the constant dropping out. I suspect it might have something to do with being in an apartment complex with several other competing wireless transmitters around. I'm just not sure how to arrange it so my computer only listens to my transmitter.

Any help on how to go about this?

Athon

Other wifi hot spots won't [generally] be the problem. cordless phones may well be. No solution exists.

[chulbert]

Anything transmitting in the 2.4GHz frequency range can cause problems and this includes other wireless networks. For example, from my office I detect TEN other wireless networks and my connection is horrible unless I perform the steps described below.

Try changing the channel used by your wireless router to something other than 6 or 11 (which are the most common). Further, you should be able to find software that will tell you which channels are in use by nearby networks so that you can claim one that's unused. Of those ten networks I can reach from my office, six of them use either channel 6 or 11.

There are also settings, either on your router or computer, that can help with interference. On my Mac it's called "Interference Robustness" and it works like a champ (at the expense of some throughput).

[athon]

Mine is set to channel 6, as is one other network nearby (which is distant enough to only have low strength). I'll try changing it.

Could anything else be making it drop out? I'm assuming interference, but to be honest I really don't have a clue. Could it be anything conflicting on my laptop?

Athon

[ingoa]

I have a similar problem with my wireless. But I traced it to the laptop (I believe).
Desktop: no problem.
Laptop with dockingstation: no problem.
Bare laptop: I have to reestablish connection every five minutes.

No competing networks. Transmission strenght optimal.

I think there might be a hidden parameter in the network card (or somewhere else) of the laptop that does it to conserve power. The laptop set set up (DELL QuickSet) so that it has max performance while being docked and max energy efficiency while undocked.

[bruto]

I had a similar problem, or what looked like a similar problem, when I set up my wifi here. I had had a direct connection through the DSL modem, and retained that connection in the computer setup. Occasionally, the router's signal (or the wireless to the laptop) would appear to have dropped out, and I'd get the logon screen for the old connection. If I canceled, I'd find I still had my router connection. It appears in this case that certain websites appear at least momentarily to have dropped out when they have not. I have no idea what the technological explanation for this is, but I solved the problem by deleting the old connections from the computers. If there is no other connection on the list, it never drops out.

I would try other channels, though. All sorts of things share this band, it seems. When I first set up my wifi, the default channel would turn my stereo receiver on and off! It seems my late-80's vintage NAD receiver uses RF rather than infrared for its remote.

[athon]

Ok, sweet.

How do I change channels?

Athon

[bruto]

Ok, sweet.

How do I change channels?

Athon

Usually you would go to the IP address of the router itself. Somewhere in your router's instructions should be an IP number which, if you enter it in a browser, will actually talk to the router as if it were a website, and allow you to alter things like channels, passwords, encoding, etc. Mine, for example, is 192.168.2.1.

[Reclaimer]

You have to access your router's control panel settings to change the channel. I believe channel 6 is the default channel that most routers are set to. The last 3 I had from different vendors defaulted to 6. Anyway, try changing the channel to either 1 or 11 to try to get away from some interference since 6 is dropping out.

You can always try to update the firmware on your router and your wi-fi card too.

As of right now, I'm in the middle of moving to a new apartment that's downstairs and a little bit away from the apartment I was in before. Even though my ISP won't come till next week to move my service.. (what B.S.!) I'm leeching off my network. My old apartment is still mine for a few more days so I left my modem and router running on the floor as close to the closest wall as possible to mine and I'm getting a great signal for all my wireless toys.