Netgear wireless network - teething problems

fRostiE · 14 Jun 2007 at 20:47

Hi guys

Being netgear it was typically plug and play, replacing our previous RJ45 only router with a wireless one, followed the instructions and had it up and running wirelessly within 30 mins

Now the problem is, around every 90 minutes the connection drops for around 30-90 seconds and then comes back online, why might this be?

Its not particularly good for me as i play a couple of online games, any help would be really good

Thanks, fRostiE

chrispystix · 14 Jun 2007 at 20:52

is it the wire less dropping or (more likely) the Broadband Sync.

ie does the light go out?

DarkHorizon472 · 14 Jun 2007 at 21:04

Hi,

For gaming I would always use a wired network connection as you don't suffer from interference and signal loss at the worst possible time.

When you say it drops is it your internet dropping or your wireless connection ?

Normally the causes of a wireless signal drop are

- You are too far away. Check the signal strength
- Something else is interfering on and off with the signal. Someone near our house recently went wireless with a very strong wireless signal and it kept dropping out our wireless connection. I changed the channel from the default and it has worked fine ever since.
- Make sure your router has the latest firmware on it and you have the latest driver / firmware for you wireless card.

Hope that helps.

Cyber Hamster · 14 Jun 2007 at 21:13

what kind of signal strength are you getting? also have you updated the routers firmware?
You could also try asking on the netgear forums as well

fRostiE · 14 Jun 2007 at 22:16

the broadband modem lights stay on as per usual

the lights on the modem seem to go out when the connection drop happens

the signal strength is 'good' 4 out of 5 bars (im about 12 foot from the wireless router - through 1 floor)

i have updated the firmware of the router and it is running the most recent ones

im not sure about any other wireless signals but im going to look into changing the signal channel

any more ideas would be appreciated, thanks

fRostiE

SinaiSound · 14 Jun 2007 at 22:51

I had almost exactly the same problem and got fed up with it.

I moved back to a wired connection and all the problems went away.

fRostiE · 15 Jun 2007 at 06:33

hmm thanks, but id prefer to sort them out if at all possible

I've changed the wireless channel so will see if that makes any difference today

SinaiSound · 15 Jun 2007 at 21:43

Sorry for the not so helpful reply

I was using a PCI wireless card, but didn't seem to have much luck with that, so I ended up using a wireless USB dongle, then put this on the end of a 3m USB extension which got it away from the PC interference.

Have you tried out a larger antenna on the Netgear? I got a 5dbi aerial which helped a bit.

Using the .31 firmware?

Changing the wireless channel would certainly help if there were other wireless networks in your area.

My problem was similar in that I was directly in the room above the router; changing the antenna position would help. Remember that the signal emitting from a wireless network device is similar in shape to a doughnut, so being directly above it will not always yield the best results.

My dad got fed up with wireless so he moved over to using powerline, worth a look perhaps?

fRostiE · 15 Jun 2007 at 22:09

thanks i'm using the most recent firmware and have changed the wireless channel, i have the chaps on the netgear forum working on it as well making suggestions to alter the setup etc so im working on it

any more suggestions from here would be good, im not in direct line form the ariel so i would hope its not the ariel, infact theres 2 machines going offline at exactly the same time so i believe its router related

ta, fRostiE

DarkHorizon472 · 15 Jun 2007 at 22:17

One test is to have a PC on wireless and one via a network cable. If they both drop at the same time then your problem is not related to your wireless connection.