Home wireless network problems

I've got a wireless network at my house that's been working fine until
the last several weeks, and I hope that somebody here can shed light
on what I should do to fix it.

I've got a Netgear MR814 wireless router hooked up to my DSL line, my
HP Pavillion desktop (wired), and my HP 2510 printer/scanner (wired or
wireless). These all work fine. I've also got a Compaq Evo N610c
laptop with integrated 802.11b.

Much of the time, I get "very good" to "excellent" coverage throughout
my entire house (two floors). Occasionally, most often during the
day, I can only see the WAP if I'm in the same room or perhaps a foot
or two outside the door. Putting the laptop on the windowsill of my
bedroom (line-of-sight to the window of the room with the router)
establishes the connection, but moving it even a foot off breaks it.

This will last from a few minutes to several hours, sometimes the
whole working day. Often, when I'm not getting anything, the laptop
will still act as though it "thinks" it's connected, displaying
several bars on the status display, but if I access the router from
the other computer, it doesn't think the laptop is connected.

There are several other wireless networks that my laptop sees
(sometimes changing as I move through the house) so I suspect that
there's some interference. I've tried moving the router further from
equipment (it was next to the printer) and closer to the wall with the
room I typically work in, but it didn't help. I've tried changing the
channel, but that didn't seem to change anything.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any easy way of telling whether
this is a problem with my router or with my laptop, so I'm hoping that
somebody here can give me some pointers. I'm prepared to buy a
different router (or a different antenna for this one) if that will
help.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |There is something fascinating
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |about science. One gets such
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |wholesale returns of conjecture out
|of such a trifling investment of
(E-Mail Removed) |fact.
(650)857-7572 | Mark Twain

http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

"Evan Kirshenbaum" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I've got a wireless network at my house that's been working fine until
> the last several weeks, and I hope that somebody here can shed light
> on what I should do to fix it.
>
> I've got a Netgear MR814 wireless router hooked up to my DSL line, my
> HP Pavillion desktop (wired), and my HP 2510 printer/scanner (wired or
> wireless). These all work fine. I've also got a Compaq Evo N610c
> laptop with integrated 802.11b.
>
> Much of the time, I get "very good" to "excellent" coverage throughout
> my entire house (two floors). Occasionally, most often during the
> day, I can only see the WAP if I'm in the same room or perhaps a foot
> or two outside the door. Putting the laptop on the windowsill of my
> bedroom (line-of-sight to the window of the room with the router)
> establishes the connection, but moving it even a foot off breaks it.
>
> This will last from a few minutes to several hours, sometimes the
> whole working day. Often, when I'm not getting anything, the laptop
> will still act as though it "thinks" it's connected, displaying
> several bars on the status display, but if I access the router from
> the other computer, it doesn't think the laptop is connected.
>
> There are several other wireless networks that my laptop sees
> (sometimes changing as I move through the house) so I suspect that
> there's some interference. I've tried moving the router further from
> equipment (it was next to the printer) and closer to the wall with the
> room I typically work in, but it didn't help. I've tried changing the
> channel, but that didn't seem to change anything.
>
> Unfortunately, I don't think I have any easy way of telling whether
> this is a problem with my router or with my laptop, so I'm hoping that
> somebody here can give me some pointers. I'm prepared to buy a
> different router (or a different antenna for this one) if that will
> help.
>
> --
> Evan Kirshenbaum
+------------------------------------
> HP Laboratories |There is something fascinating
> 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |about science. One gets such
> Palo Alto, CA 94304 |wholesale returns of conjecture
out
> |of such a trifling investment of
> (E-Mail Removed) |fact.
> (650)857-7572 | Mark Twain
>
> http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

Have you tried a non-overlapping channel. The only non-overlapping channels
are 1,6,11. Try those.

--
Bob Alston

bobalston9 AT aol DOT com


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Evan Kirshenbaum <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Much of the time, I get "very good" to "excellent" coverage throughout
> my entire house (two floors). Occasionally, most often during the
> day, I can only see the WAP if I'm in the same room or perhaps a foot
> or two outside the door. Putting the laptop on the windowsill of my
> bedroom (line-of-sight to the window of the room with the router)
> establishes the connection, but moving it even a foot off breaks it.
>
> This will last from a few minutes to several hours, sometimes the
> whole working day. Often, when I'm not getting anything, the laptop
> will still act as though it "thinks" it's connected, displaying
> several bars on the status display, but if I access the router from
> the other computer, it doesn't think the laptop is connected.
>
> There are several other wireless networks that my laptop sees
> (sometimes changing as I move through the house) so I suspect that
> there's some interference. I've tried moving the router further from
> equipment (it was next to the printer) and closer to the wall with the
> room I typically work in, but it didn't help. I've tried changing the
> channel, but that didn't seem to change anything.

Use a "stumbler" application to find the channels and signal strengths
of the other wireless networks in your neighborhood. You'll need to let
it collect data for a while, as some people switch their wireless
equipment off when they're not using it. (If somebody in your
neighborhood has disabled SSID broadcasting, that presents yet another
difficulty.) Keeping in mind that each 802.11b/g channel overlaps the
two above and below it, pick a channel that's not being used by somebody
else and that's the farthest from the strongest signals.

It's also possible that the interference is coming from something that
isn't a wireless data device at all, such as a 2.4GHz cordless phone or
a microwave oven. (Editorial comment: shared spectrum sucks.)

(E-Mail Removed) (Neill Massello) wrote in
news:1gj37ne.chtj14pxmetwN%neillmassello@earthlink .net:

> (Editorial comment: shared spectrum sucks.)

Im still a novice at wireless networking. But considering that there are
only a few channels, and more and more people are getting into it, how is
this problem resolved if, say, a computer can pick up 7 or 8 networks in
the neiborhood? The owners can also change their channels.

Theo wrote:

> (E-Mail Removed) (Neill Massello) wrote in
> news:1gj37ne.chtj14pxmetwN%neillmassello@earthlink .net:
>
>> (Editorial comment: shared spectrum sucks.)
>
> Im still a novice at wireless networking. But considering that there are
> only a few channels, and more and more people are getting into it, how is
> this problem resolved if, say, a computer can pick up 7 or 8 networks in
> the neighborhood? The owners can also change their channels.

Reminds me of the evolution of citizen's band radio thirty years ago.
Everybody bought one. The band filled up. And then high-gain antennas and
amplifiers became popular.

CB radio required a license, but enforcement was impossible so it became a
free-for-all.

Roby