Strange wireless networkng issue, internet drops sporadically

shmokeh · 12 Sep 2012 at 15:04

Hiya,
This is my current setup:
Asus Z77 P-LX
Corsair 4gb ram 1333mhz x2
Intel i5 3570k at stock speeds,
Sapphire radeon 7870 Ghz edition,
Intel 520 120gb SSD
Phantom full tower case,
TP Link TL-WN781ND

The problem is internet is very sporadic, usually at night.
Ill have a steady connection in the morning with decent speeds, in the evening it will sometimes dissconect and reconnect but at night it seems to drop indefinatly and cant reconnect for an hour or two.
Ive no idea what the issue is, ive tried another card (an oldish belkin one, cant pick up the signal) and a wireless N usb stick (finds connection but cant connect at all) Ive also tried various drivers and changing the position of the antena witch sometimes enables it to reconnect.
Ive moved the modem around different places in my house, hard reset it and upgraded firmware, all with no sucess, my modem is a EchoLife HG520b.
I constantly get 1-2 bars of signal, it suddenly increases too 5 usually before it drops.
My iphone 4s has similar problems, however we have a computer plugged in via ethernet that doesnt have this problem and 2 laptops that connect fine wirelelssly regardless of location.
My computer is backed up near a wall, ive moved it forward but had little difference.
Any help would be appreciated as its driving me crazy at the moment, I dont want to fork out money on random things too see if it will fix it but it seems the only option at the moment.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Shmoke
This is driving me crazy at the moment

tezabeza · 12 Sep 2012 at 15:45

Sounds very much like interference from other Wireless AP's or could be Wireless Phones, Microwave Oven's heck it could be anything in the 2.4Ghz Band thats causing problem, in fact do you have a wireless Keyboard and mouse that uses a USB dongle? This could be it I have a Microsoft Wireless Keyboard amd mouse (800 Desktop) and this uses the exact thing just mentioned and that runs on channel 1 on the Wireless band, caused me some real dropouts till I got the Spectrum Analyser out on the job and that pinpointed it straight away. Went to a GIGABIT LAN connection instead of wireless!!!

For the AP interference run inSSIDer program its free and will show what other SSID's are visible on the band that the PC is also picking up aswell as your own.

Let it run for a day and see what you the Wireless card pick's up then pick the best channel with the fewest on and change the Wireless channel on your router to that.

Hope this helps.

shmokeh · 12 Sep 2012 at 16:12

Thanks tezabeza,
Ive downloaded it and will leave it running the next few days, I take it Dbm equals a stronger signal?
All my components are wired, heck id even wire my pc via ethernet, unfortunatly theres no phone sockets upstairs and moving it isnt an option.
Talking about interfearance Ive got a funny feeling next door could be effecting it, the room beyond this one this kid loves gaming online via xbox, I can pick up about 4 seperate BTwifi signals too with inSSIDer, maybe its related?

tezabeza · 12 Sep 2012 at 16:43

shmokeh said:
Thanks tezabeza,
Ive downloaded it and will leave it running the next few days, I take it Dbm equals a stronger signal?
All my components are wired, heck id even wire my pc via ethernet, unfortunatly theres no phone sockets upstairs and moving it isnt an option.
Talking about interfearance Ive got a funny feeling next door could be effecting it, the room beyond this one this kid loves gaming online via xbox, I can pick up about 4 seperate BTwifi signals too with inSSIDer, maybe its related?

With the signal nearer to the 0dBm line at the top of the window then the stronger that signal is.

This is good if its your own SSID thats the strongest if others are as strong or stronger then this is were the problem arises.

Is there external antennas on your router shmokeh?? If so you will be able to inprove the strength by fitting higher gain antennas, I have a Billion 7800N and I use 3 TP-LINK 8dBi verticals on there instead of the standard 2dBi small antennas, incresses the signal on wireless from 30m away in a workshop outside from -67dBm to -55dBm, I then built 2 BOW-TIE QUAD antennas for the workshop PC and this then went from -55dBm to -20dBm this gave me a full signal and a sync speed of 300Mbps. Used to get 37DL/8UL on wireless.

The replacement antennas made a huge difference to the WiFi BUT due to more and more people getting WiFi on the street it just became a complete pain with it getting like you in the evening when people turn there PC's and internet on slower and slower. Hence now I have added a 8 port GIGABIT NETGEAR switch and ran LAN cables to all the devices in the home and workshop. Problem solved.

Don't forget that even if you only have one ceiling/floor to get through that dependant on the placing of the router and PC that ceiling/wall could look like a 4 foot thick ceiling/floor this attenuates the signal by a huge amount!!

shmokeh · 13 Sep 2012 at 00:46

Mines averaging around -90Dba, I assume thats bad

Theres no antennas at all, its a flat modem that came bundled with Talktalk.
Thanks to you I know for definate its the modem, I couldnt understand why the laptops seem to connect fine, however theres a lot less interferance around them!
Think its worth upgrading? Possibly for another thread, I only want internet access and not inrerested in networking etc and am new to modems.
How did you get round the problem of ethernet wires trailing everywhere? Surely its not cheap or practical having a cable run upstairs?

tezabeza · 13 Sep 2012 at 15:39

Well shmokeh with a -90dBm signal its a wonder that you are getting a network connection at all as you are on the bare minimum signal end of the scale hence why its dropping all the time.

If you are looking for a reliable connection then yes I would look at upgrading the Modem/Router as the better ones offer external fitting antennas (BILLION 7800N) that can make it easier to improve the wireless signal. The thing that you have to remember is that you have got to make your own AP's signal stronger than the SSID's signal thats causing the interference which can be a bit hit and miss

Regarding the Wired LAN then it depends on how you do it, I bought a 100m coil from a trade supplier and some RJ-45 Wall Mount sockets and routed the cables in the floor joists up stairs in to the son's bedrooms and outside too into my Workshop and Office. now if you have only one PC up stairs then you could do it easily as you only have ONE cable to run up stairs. AND if you ever need more LAN ports in your room just add a switch.

The cable you cab buy with RJ Plugs fitted these are PATCH CABLES OR you can do like I did and buy the cable and the fittings which are just a IDC type, Oh and if you go that route you need SOLID SINGLE STRAND 4 PAIR CAT5E cable. This is good upto the GIGABIT level upto 300ft in length.

A lot of people may say just go with Power Line boxes but as I use all kinds of Radio gear for both work and hobby then these were not even considered due to the high levels of interference they produce on the radio spectrum.

Hope this has Helped.