[SOLVED] Wifi Problems

[golgoj4]

Is anyone experiencing frequent wifi drops on phones / tablets / laptops?

Just curious as I have experienced this with two different kinds of AP's

golgoj4.

[Marie.O]

Turn off your microwave, cordless phones and baby phone... or check if your mobile equipment supports 5Ghz Wifi and get APs supporting that.

[golgoj4]

Turn off your microwave, cordless phones and baby phone... or check if your mobile equipment supports 5Ghz Wifi and get APs supporting that.

1 microwave not used much.
Only cell phones
No baby monitor
Wifi ap's do support 5ghz

but damn the luck, no 5ghz devices.

[mkbrown69]

golgoj4,

Do you have a Wi-Fi laptop (or AP) with software that can do a wireless site survey?

You may have a lot of nearby devices running on the same channels as you're trying to operate on.  Many people leave their AP's on the default channels, and you can get a lot of congestion on those channels, depending on how close your neighbors are.  Changing the channel on your AP can make a big difference.

Some of the better site survey software will do signal to noise, RSSI, and other quality indicators.  Those can help determine if you have other noise sources around.  Look for poor S/N or low RSSI values, even if the "bars" are high.

Relocating the AP may also help, if you have lots of metal or concrete around it.

Hope that helps!

/Mike

[Marie.O]

1 microwave not used much.
Only cell phones
No baby monitor
Wifi ap's do support 5ghz

but damn the luck, no 5ghz devices.

Check other radio devices, if disabling them helps. The site survey idea isn't a bad one, but I would assume more constant issues with other APs on the same channel.

Another thing to try is, to limit the AP to 802.11g instead of N, and see if that helps the consistency.

[golgoj4]

golgoj4,

Do you have a Wi-Fi laptop (or AP) with software that can do a wireless site survey?

You may have a lot of nearby devices running on the same channels as you're trying to operate on.  Many people leave their AP's on the default channels, and you can get a lot of congestion on those channels, depending on how close your neighbors are.  Changing the channel on your AP can make a big difference.

Some of the better site survey software will do signal to noise, RSSI, and other quality indicators.  Those can help determine if you have other noise sources around.  Look for poor S/N or low RSSI values, even if the "bars" are high.

Relocating the AP may also help, if you have lots of metal or concrete around it.

Hope that helps!

/Mike

Yeah ive actually installed a few tools in addition to the ones that come with the wireless ap's.
*They have a built in site-survey feature which i initially used to check the different channels and how full they were
*Android app on table to basically do the same (Wifi Analyzer)

I will investigate the results more, maybe there is something im missing.

FYI - These are the devices im using http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EVBTHRG/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the tips

[golgoj4]

Check other radio devices, if disabling them helps. The site survey idea isn't a bad one, but I would assume more constant issues with other APs on the same channel.

Another thing to try is, to limit the AP to 802.11g instead of N, and see if that helps the consistency.

The only other radio's i have going are zwave!

Technically, the hue also counts as zwave...kinda. or zigbee...

I dont think i can turn off the N... but ill see.

Thanks

[mkbrown69]

Hi golgoj4!

Z-wave operates around 900 MHz, so no chance of interference there.  Zigbee (the Hues) operate around 900 MHz in the US, 868 MHz in Europe, and 2.4 GHz in the rest of the world.  So, depending on where you live, the Hues could be a factor.

Also, if you're using WDS (multiple APs with the same SSID), that may also play a factor.  The drops may come from improper handoff between the APs.  If you can get logs or syslog traffic off the APs, that may point towards a cause on that front.

Hope that helps!

/Mike

[golgoj4]

So it looks like the problem was DNS related.

I went into the network settings on the router
changed the external NIC to static ip
changed the name servers to use open dns servers.
Commenced streaming music and netflix.

 No drops for over an hour

golgoj4

[Marie.O]

Interesting, and congrats!