WiFi flaky all of a sudden

I am quiet baffled . . . I had WiFi G set-up in my home for months now
and it had always worked wonderfully. I am able to connect all through
out the house and even outside. But just a few days ago, connection has
been sporatic, even though my notebook is in the same room as the
access point not more than 5 feet away. I didn't give it much thought.
But last night, I cannot connect it from anywhere outside that room.
The SSID shows up fine but connection usually fails. Even when it is
able to connect, packet lost is practically 100%. Pinging the access
point in the same room resulted in 50-75% packet loss. If I get lucky,
packets are successfully transfered with decent to high latency.

The only thing I can think of that I changed around the house a few
days ago is that I put up four strings of Christmas lights in the back
patio (this past weekend). They weren't on at the moment I had this
problem. Could the Christmas lights be the source of this problem? It
seems that the chance is so remote, but I can't think of any changes in
the past week.

What do you guys think?

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

Some additional note I forgot to post . . .

I had thought that maybe the access point is now failing (even though
it is a fairly new device with the router portion disabled). So I tried
enabling the WiFi B on my older router with a different SSID on a
different channel. The same exact symptom occurs with the 802.11b
access point. So I'm fairly certain that the device is not bad, but
something else is interferencing with them.

Chieh
--
Hacking Digital Cameras -
http://www.camerahacker.com/books/Ha...gital_Cameras/

Ok. Seems like I keep leaving out information . . .

I have tested with two other notebooks with the same results. Neither
could connect with the WiFi network. So I think that means the built-in
802.11g network card on my notebook is not defective. One of the two
notebooks is 802.11g, while the other is 802.11b. The 802.11b worked
fine at the dining table on Saturday morning.

Your advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

Hi,

You should connect to the router directly with a cat-5 cable. This
will let you get to the router setup. That is assuming its' a wireless
router.
You did not state the equipment(s) type. So to assist you in detail,
you need to include the hardware specifications.

By chance have you added anything wireless? Like a wireless phone,
wireless control unit of some kind for xmas lighting?

What about a neighbor that could have installed a wireless device on
the same channel?

You did not specify which OS you are using. You could search for
available networks!

HTH!

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <(E-Mail Removed) .com> on 6 Dec 2005
09:25:42 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I am quiet baffled . . . I had WiFi G set-up in my home for months now
>and it had always worked wonderfully. I am able to connect all through
>out the house and even outside. But just a few days ago, connection has
>been sporatic, even though my notebook is in the same room as the
>access point not more than 5 feet away. I didn't give it much thought.
>But last night, I cannot connect it from anywhere outside that room.
>The SSID shows up fine but connection usually fails. Even when it is
>able to connect, packet lost is practically 100%. Pinging the access
>point in the same room resulted in 50-75% packet loss. If I get lucky,
>packets are successfully transfered with decent to high latency.
>
>The only thing I can think of that I changed around the house a few
>days ago is that I put up four strings of Christmas lights in the back
>patio (this past weekend). They weren't on at the moment I had this
>problem. Could the Christmas lights be the source of this problem? It
>seems that the chance is so remote, but I can't think of any changes in
>the past week.
>
>What do you guys think?

More likely interference from something else, cordless phone, neighbor, etc.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR ALT.INTERNET.WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FAQ_for_alt.internet.wireless>

John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>>I am quiet baffled . . . I had WiFi G set-up in my home for months now
>>and it had always worked wonderfully. I am able to connect all through
>>out the house and even outside. But just a few days ago, connection has
>>been sporatic, even though my notebook is in the same room as the
>>access point not more than 5 feet away.

>More likely interference from something else, cordless phone, neighbor, etc.

I'm with John, the WiFi stopped working in our family room, and after
hours of troubleshooting my wife's laptop I change the channel and the
problem went away. I suspect my neighbor has an AP with SSID
broadcast turned off...

> By chance have you added anything wireless? Like a wireless phone,
> wireless control unit of some kind for xmas lighting?

Nope. Just basic el cheapo Christmas lights. No new wireless devices.

> What about a neighbor that could have installed a wireless device on
> the same channel?

That's possible that a neighbor could have installed an AP. There are
quite a few APs in my neighborhood, but unfortunately, I didn't keep
track of them.

> You did not specify which OS you are using. You could search for
> available networks!

I have both Linux and Windows. But I'm primarily using wireless with
Windows XP and 98. I have tried NetStumbler and quite a few AP's showed
up. My G router has the highest signal.

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

> >More likely interference from something else, cordless phone, neighbor, etc.
>
> I'm with John, the WiFi stopped working in our family room, and after
> hours of troubleshooting my wife's laptop I change the channel and the
> problem went away. I suspect my neighbor has an AP with SSID
> broadcast turned off...

You guys are right to a certain extent.

I used NetStumbler to find all of the channels that my neighbors are
using. I finally picked channel 1 for my own network. Now I can get on
the network from all around my house again. The only problem is that
the throughput is still not as high as it was before all this problems
started. Instead of getting 54 Mbps like I use to get, both my wife and
my notebook gets 48 Mbps. It could drop down to 24 Mbps in other rooms.
But at least it's bearable and there are virtually no packet drops.

Last night, we turned on the computers, my wife couldn't get onto the
network with her notebook. She couldn't even see the SSID. On a hunch,
I unplugged the Christmas Lights that we lit in our backyard patio. (I
was a little too lazy to pull the whole Christmas light off to test.
Plus my wife would be disappointed if I don't put them back.) And whoa,
her notebook found the SSID immediately and was able to connect at 48
Mbps. I also tested it with my 802.11b router, and the SSID wouldn't
show up with the Christmas lights on or off, even when it is only 5
feet away from the notebooks. (As I said before the 802.11b worked in
every room before.)

Even though I can't guarantee it is the Christmas lights. I now
strongly believe that the Christmas lights are interfering with my
wireless network whether they are on or off. It's obviously worse when
they are on.

Chieh
--
Camera Hacker - http://www.CameraHacker.com/

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>> More likely interference from something else, cordless phone,
>>> neighbor, etc.
>>
>> I'm with John, the WiFi stopped working in our family room, and after
>> hours of troubleshooting my wife's laptop I change the channel and
>> the problem went away. I suspect my neighbor has an AP with SSID
>> broadcast turned off...
>
> You guys are right to a certain extent.
>
> I used NetStumbler to find all of the channels that my neighbors are
> using. I finally picked channel 1 for my own network. Now I can get on
> the network from all around my house again. The only problem is that
> the throughput is still not as high as it was before all this problems
> started. Instead of getting 54 Mbps like I use to get, both my wife
> and my notebook gets 48 Mbps. It could drop down to 24 Mbps in other
> rooms. But at least it's bearable and there are virtually no packet
> drops.
>
> Last night, we turned on the computers, my wife couldn't get onto the
> network with her notebook. She couldn't even see the SSID. On a hunch,
> I unplugged the Christmas Lights that we lit in our backyard patio. (I
> was a little too lazy to pull the whole Christmas light off to test.
> Plus my wife would be disappointed if I don't put them back.) And
> whoa, her notebook found the SSID immediately and was able to connect
> at 48 Mbps. I also tested it with my 802.11b router, and the SSID
> wouldn't show up with the Christmas lights on or off, even when it is
> only 5 feet away from the notebooks. (As I said before the 802.11b
> worked in every room before.)
>
> Even though I can't guarantee it is the Christmas lights. I now
> strongly believe that the Christmas lights are interfering with my
> wireless network whether they are on or off. It's obviously worse when
> they are on.
>
> Chieh

The speed changes you see were likely always there. Your thorough
investigation just shows the nature of wireless transmission. These
speed changes are what happens when the signal goes from Excellent to
Very Good and surely do not impact your intenet connection speeds.
Wirless antenna orientation and shielding (especially for laptops) is
the culprit, IMO.

Q