Wireless Gurus Help

[Mario]

Ok so the wireless at the house here will barely hold a stable connection. It'll last anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes and anywhere inbetween. It'll just start losing connection and drop. We've had this with 3 routers and 2 ISP's so far... any ideas are greatly appreciated. :(

[LeonZ]

What kinda wireless? G? What equipment are you using - access points, bridges, etc? What is the distance, signal strength, are there any devices that cause interference? Explain your shit better.

[Mario]

Linksys wireless B router and that's it. WEP enabled, one computer is 15ft from it, the other is about 5. Signal strength is 100%, no devices that would cause interference. :(

[smithz]

Do you have any 2.4GHz wireless phones in the house? Do your neighbors? I know I had to get 5.8GHz phones because my old ones would kill the connection every time...

802.11b/g use the same 2.4GHz frequency band as the phones do, and they do interfere with one another.

[Mario]

Pretty sure there aren't any wireless phones in the house but I will check.

[stu]

Look behind the couch, that's where mine always were.

[Mario]

:rofl: thanks Stu I'll check.

[ryanman]

Look behind the couch, that's where mine always were.
:rofl:

[Kwando]

change the channel... i had the same problem until justin changed the channel... and i haven't had a problem since.

[Aracheon]

I'll need your street address and your WEP key. :D

[Mario]

Unplugged all the phones... changed the channels, and completely removed WEP... we'll see how it goes haha.

[smithz]

Who needs WEP keys? 99% of every person that buys a wireless router has no clue how to secure it. When I first bought my laptop, I found 3 unsecure connections I could have mooched off of if I didn't already have bb. Companies selling wireless routers should have that described in detail in the basic setup proceedures so that laymen can do it. Keep the script kiddies in line...

[Aracheon]

I had a discussion with a co-worker about that at work last week. I had to make a basic writeup for her as to how to secure her Linksys / Cisco wireless router at home.

[Mario]

Still drops. :(

[Nightfall]

Try managing the wireless NIC's with their manufacturers utilities - make sure you have the latest drivers from their website.

Try disabling the wireless zero service. (Right click my computer > manage > services and applications > services > scroll down to bottom where it says wireless zero configuration > double click it > stop the service > switch it to disabled)

There may be another WAP (one of your neighbors) in your area and you may be recieving an extremely weak signal from it. Your wireless NIC might be trying to connect to it, dropping the connection to the WAP in your house in the process.

Grab a copy of netstumbler http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads and see if there are any other WAP's in your area. If there are change the channel on your WAP to something other than what your neighbors is (Netstumbler will tell you what channel the WAP's in the area are running on).

[Nate]

In the properties somewhere of wireless connections (network connections - right click your wireless connection and look around) there is a setting for enable ieee something authentication. Turn that off if it is enabled. I've had that cause dropped connections sometimes. I don't have a laptop in front of me to tell you the exact location of the setting, sorry.

For the post above me, you should be able to tell which is yours by the name of the connection just to ensure you are attempting to connect to the right one.

[sbiggi]

In the properties somewhere of wireless connections (network connections - right click your wireless connection and look around) there is a setting for enable ieee something authentication. Turn that off if it is enabled. I've had that cause dropped connections sometimes. I don't have a laptop in front of me to tell you the exact location of the setting, sorry.

For the post above me, you should be able to tell which is yours by the name of the connection just to ensure you are attempting to connect to the right one.

Go to the properties on the wireless connection.
Go to wireless networks tab.
In the preferd networks box, click your connection and then selelct properties.
Click on the authentication tab and uncheck IEEE authentication.


That off the top of my head, so the actual tab names are probabaly a little different.

[Aracheon]

In the properties somewhere of wireless connections (network connections - right click your wireless connection and look around) there is a setting for enable ieee something authentication. Turn that off if it is enabled. I've had that cause dropped connections sometimes. I don't have a laptop in front of me to tell you the exact location of the setting, sorry.

For the post above me, you should be able to tell which is yours by the name of the connection just to ensure you are attempting to connect to the right one.



802.1x authentication is what you're referring to.

[-=[Juztin]=-]

I'm having a similar issue with my WAP. (Linksys A,B,G) and my linksys WPC55AG (A,B,G). I've been a bit to lazy to sit down and diagnose it but I have similar instances where I will loose connectivity to my WAP completely (can't ping it's IP addy). I've had issues before with utilities that install a deterministic network enhancer enterface (ie Norton, McAffee, Cisco) that has caused issues while th network "device" was enabled. If I were you i'd check your network interface properties and see if you have any kind of deterministic enhancer enabled and if so, disable it.

I think my problem may be attributed to environment interference as I am in a apartment complex with a multitude of networks and wireless phones. But I've tried switch my channels twice to no avail, but you should also try switching a channel a day to see if that help remedy the problem (till you find a channel that possibly doesn't boot you off of course, if you find one then just keep it there obviously). I wouldn't attribute your issue to wep, as wep's simply a means of encrypting the traffic which is not that cpu intensive on these WAP's less you have a really cheap ass one that doesn't have an ASIC, or matured encryption/decryption engine. WEP's a static algorithm that you really can't screw up less you don't have a stable OS that will crap under general bandwidth usage. I havent seen a Linksys to ever really display stability issues. That brings up a thought that you may want to try upgrading your firmware on your WAP as well in case there's a newer version (but read the fixes first to see if it's not a waste of your time) I've used my WEP just fine previously with no issues what-so-ever when I lived in a house w/ only 1 WAP and a wirless phone w/ the channels being set outside of each other.

But like I said, you may want to check your network interface modules applied to the interface, or your environment and try the channel a day remedies all your wireless worries away workaround...

[smithz]

If you are in an apartment complex, the chances of people around you having 2.4GHz phones is pretty high. They will cause drop outs. I know when I still had mine, when I answered the phone, the laptop would lose its connection. As soon as I hung up, it came back. The range on 2.4GHz phones is pretty decent, so if your neighbors have one, you are kinda at the mercy of them. Buy them 5.8GHz phones to solve the problem... :D

[forum]

Out of curiousity what brand is your WAP? I've yet to have a problem with connectivity with my linksys(maybe I'm just lucky) but I've seen a few different netgear routers that caused major issues.

[Bedlam]

Out of curiousity what brand is your WAP? I've yet to have a problem with connectivity with my linksys(maybe I'm just lucky) but I've seen a few different netgear routers that caused major issues.

Its because netgear = the devil...and linksys is cisco now.. :)

-Bedlam

[Mario]

It was a linksys router. Got a new router yesterday... d-link g router. Seems to be working better so far I'm keeping my fingers crossed. :(

[Aracheon]

Its because netgear = the devil...and linksys is cisco now.. :)

-Bedlam


I think that depends on which Netgear product you're using. I've had numerous Netgear 4-port switches and hubs go out on me in the school district I work in.. and on that same token, I've got a 20-port switch with a fiber module that I have feeding into a patch panel that hasn't given me a single problem in the near 360 days I've been using it. *Knock on wood*

I have a Linksys / Cisco router at home that I use, and have had nothing but good luck with it.

[smithz]

My old linksys router died about 15 seconds after the warranty expired. I replaced it with a netgear router because at least it had a 3 year warranty instead of just 1. Fortunately it works pretty good 98% of the time, every now and then I have to power cycle it for some reason...

[LeonZ]

Cisco makes some good shit. And it's made for people who know their shit...

[Nightfall]

Cisco makes some good shit.
:werd:

[Nate]

en
config t

[smithz]

I think the linksys I had was before cisco aquired them... when did that happen?

[Nate]

when did that happen?

A while ago (google comment here), but in reality it doesn't make linksys = cisco quality. Just cause Aston Martin is owned by Ford doesn't mean Ford's are of the same quality. Linksys is for the most part what Linksys always has been, cheap, simple, home networking stuff. Cisco just wanted in on the cheap home wireless market and to get rid of a potential competitor at the same time.

[smithz]

Makes sense...

I still wasn't bashing it. It was the only Linksys thing I had ever owned... bad first impression I guess. I just figured with a 3 year warranty, at least with the netgear I would have to buy another for awhile...