Need help on wireless network

[reveal]

I am completely stumped. We've had our wireless network running for the past year. Tonight, all 4 wireless devices couldn't find the signal. So I thought I'd reset the router. Didn't work. Now my wireless devices are all upstairs and my router is downstairs so I thought maybe the signal was just weak. So after a little bit of trial and error (it's not the WEP key, it's not the signal strength, it's not the wrong channel, etc) here's what it is: Something upstairs is interrupting the signal.

I have a laptop with wireless, so I took it downstairs to test it out after I moved the router up the stairs so it's, literally, 6 feet away from a PC with wireless. My laptop gets the signal and holds it just find downstairs. But when I get to the top of the stairs, the signal dies. What the heck is it? It has got to be outside interferance but, for the life of me, I can't figure out what's causing it. I'm going nuts and have had to jury-rig a wired connection just to type this.

 

[Hatchling Dragon]

Well step one is always: Figure out what's changed recently that might have anything to do with your problem. Have you added anything to the house recently, most notably upstairs? Have they put up a new tower or some-such nearby, even power lines? Something changed and started interfering, it's a matter of finding out what. Once you know what is causing the problem you can work on finding a way around it.

Maybe someone else recently set up a Wireless Network in the neighborhood and it's on the same settings you have, causing your systems upstairs to try and connect to the wrong network? Have you tried altering channel and/or other settings to see if you can get a clean signal? I'm guessing from what you've already said that you have tried, but it never hurts to ask.

Hatchling Dragon

 

[reveal]

Well step one is always: Figure out what's changed recently that might have anything to do with your problem. Have you added anything to the house recently, most notably upstairs? Have they put up a new tower or some-such nearby, even power lines? Something changed and started interfering, it's a matter of finding out what. Once you know what is causing the problem you can work on finding a way around it.

Maybe someone else recently set up a Wireless Network in the neighborhood and it's on the same settings you have, causing your systems upstairs to try and connect to the wrong network? Have you tried altering channel and/or other settings to see if you can get a clean signal? I'm guessing from what you've already said that you have tried, but it never hurts to ask.

Hatchling Dragon

I didn't think about changing the channel number. I just did and here's what happened: My laptop in one corner of the room gets a very strong signal. The other two computers, not in the corner, get signals that constantly fade in and out. I tried moving my router to the middle of the room and all computers now have signals fading in and out.

I have no idea what's new in the area but it's pissing me off.

 

[IronWolf]

Are in you in a house or townhome? Nearby neighbors? I know when I lived in a townhome that on some nights I would experience similar issues. Nothing had changed in our home, so I am thinking something different was happening next door on those nights.

No changes at all in your home recently? Cordless phone base station moved? New appliance? Moved and existing appliance? Just trying to throw out some ideas to see if it will trigger something.

 

[reveal]

It seems the changed channel did, in fact, work. I have 2 wireless connections telling me there's no signal but they are actually connected to my home network. Weird. So I guess it was a new network in town using the same channel #. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Setanta]

It's not necessarily a new network. It could be a neighbour's cordless phone or baby monitor. Baby monitors in particular are notorious for jumping around channels and wreaking havoc on nearby wi-fi networks. It's one advantage 802.11a has on b/g- it runs in the 5.0 MHz range where there are fewer consumer products, whereas b/g runs in the crowded 2.4 GHz range.

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

Another thing to consider, did you give your wireless router a unique name or is it still the default that it had out-of-the-box (ie, "linksys")?

It could be that your are latching onto a neighbor's signal who has a box with the same name, and you are getting the weaker signal...

 

[IronWolf]

Baby monitors in particular are notorious for jumping around channels and wreaking havoc on nearby wi-fi networks.

Unless when you shopped for baby monitors you made sure to get a set in the 900MHz range!

 

[Setanta]

Unless when you shopped for baby monitors you made sure to get a set in the 900MHz range!

That's certainly the thing to do if you need a baby monitor and a wireless network in the same house. However, if you have a b/g network, and a neighbour buys a baby monitor, they're probably not going to care about your wireless network, so they'll buy the 2.4 GHz model because the salesperson is usually going to tell them it's "better" without knowing why or if it's even true.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

That's certainly the thing to do if you need a baby monitor and a wireless network in the same house. However, if you have a b/g network, and a neighbour buys a baby monitor, they're probably not going to care about your wireless network, so they'll buy the 2.4 GHz model because the salesperson is usually going to tell them it's "better" without knowing why or if it's even true.

Only thing you can do then is buy your own baby monitor and whisper in its ear while it sleeps.