Help me diagnose a rubbish wifi connection
Discussion
Typical home network. Good quality linksys router into phone line, one wired pc downstairs and a collection of wifi devices.
Why is my bedroom pc being so slow? It's worked in the past fine but gradually getting slower.
Coonection from router is fine. Even a speedtest on my iPhone gets 4mb downspeed from the other side of the house. Pc takes so long to load the page I haven't even tried.
What's wrong? I've tried all the "physical" things I can think of. Aerial is screwed into back of pc ok. Tried moving powercables away in case of sone interference or something. Really really baffled. Can type this on my iPhone less that a foot away from the pc and get really fast conection.
Help!
ETA - as it goes in fits and bursts - managed to load the speedtest page and run this. Fastest its worked all night... it comes and goes. Iphone speedtest on same network, in same room, gets 4mb down and 512k up.
Why is my bedroom pc being so slow? It's worked in the past fine but gradually getting slower.
Coonection from router is fine. Even a speedtest on my iPhone gets 4mb downspeed from the other side of the house. Pc takes so long to load the page I haven't even tried.
What's wrong? I've tried all the "physical" things I can think of. Aerial is screwed into back of pc ok. Tried moving powercables away in case of sone interference or something. Really really baffled. Can type this on my iPhone less that a foot away from the pc and get really fast conection.
Help!
ETA - as it goes in fits and bursts - managed to load the speedtest page and run this. Fastest its worked all night... it comes and goes. Iphone speedtest on same network, in same room, gets 4mb down and 512k up.
Edited by snotrag on Sunday 14th March 18:54
Edited by snotrag on Sunday 14th March 18:55
Only today I had a similar problem...
My son returned the laptop I'm using now, and when I fired it up the wifi cnx was rubbish, whereas it had been pretty good.
Eventually I tried connecting with my pda. This wasn't good either, my router was only visible with about 2 bars.
On the PDA (windows 5 mobile) the wifi controller shows the signal strength od all the networks it finds, and the channel they are working on. Turns out that the nearest other wifi tx was on the same channel. I then manually changed the channel on my router to a vacant one. Now the signal strength is better, and the throughput much improved.
Problem is, I don't know how to view the channel number on anything other than the mobile device (Windows mobile 5) but you might have a similar channel conflict.
My son returned the laptop I'm using now, and when I fired it up the wifi cnx was rubbish, whereas it had been pretty good.
Eventually I tried connecting with my pda. This wasn't good either, my router was only visible with about 2 bars.
On the PDA (windows 5 mobile) the wifi controller shows the signal strength od all the networks it finds, and the channel they are working on. Turns out that the nearest other wifi tx was on the same channel. I then manually changed the channel on my router to a vacant one. Now the signal strength is better, and the throughput much improved.
Problem is, I don't know how to view the channel number on anything other than the mobile device (Windows mobile 5) but you might have a similar channel conflict.
Edited by Paul Drawmer on Sunday 14th March 20:15
cyberface said:
Is the case of the PC in between the antenna of the wifi card and the router antenna? The PC could be shielding the signal...
Exactly,these have improved my Wi-Fi connection quality in the past Big Time http://www.wifi-antennas.co.uk/index.php?target=ca...The first thing I would recommend is downloading InSSIDer which is a bloody great tool for seeing what is happening on the wifi spectrum out there!
http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Then go from there.
http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Then go from there.
Ordinary_Chap said:
The first thing I would recommend is downloading InSSIDer which is a bloody great tool for seeing what is happening on the wifi spectrum out there!
http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Then go from there.
Ooooh ta!http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Then go from there.
Great rf snooper/analyser.
Paul Drawmer said:
Ordinary_Chap said:
The first thing I would recommend is downloading InSSIDer which is a bloody great tool for seeing what is happening on the wifi spectrum out there!
http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Then go from there.
Ooooh ta!http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Then go from there.
Great rf snooper/analyser.
sgrimshaw said:
Do you have a video sender in the house?
We don't no. I have been trying to think of what could be causing any interference. As i said, I've tried to make sure theres no metal panneling, or power cables or anything blocking the signal. If I put my Iphone in the same place as the desktop I am 5mbps downsped from the same router which is just downstairs and over the hall.Edited by sgrimshaw on Monday 15th March 08:53
I am actually considering covertly running a cable under the carpets up the stairs. will have to do it neatly though so my Mother doesnt notice!
Try pulling the PC out a bit from the wall, and similarly the router.
Have you fitted any new furniture or rearranged the layout recently?
I suspect it's the PC itself (if not it's positioning), if the iPhone and other computers are fine.
If you can move it to another location where another PC or whatever is operating just dandily, then see what its performance is like, that should help narrow things down.
Gradual deterioration suggests hw or sw related to it specifically if nothing's been moved to reduce the signal it can receive.
I'd suggest you clean the insides, and reseat the wifi card, if not inbuilt to the motherboard.
Have you fitted any new furniture or rearranged the layout recently?
I suspect it's the PC itself (if not it's positioning), if the iPhone and other computers are fine.
If you can move it to another location where another PC or whatever is operating just dandily, then see what its performance is like, that should help narrow things down.
Gradual deterioration suggests hw or sw related to it specifically if nothing's been moved to reduce the signal it can receive.
I'd suggest you clean the insides, and reseat the wifi card, if not inbuilt to the motherboard.
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