WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
dezyndiva
Enthusiast - Level 2

1 computer using wireless connection to router.  Nothing has changed on my end.  Began about 1 month ago,

knocks me off then reconnects several times a day.  Is my router going out? Had it a while

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Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
Hubrisnxs
Legend

If your trouble is wireless, like the OP, then you probably either have the router located in a spot that doesn't get very good reception, and it may never until you move it.    OR you have wireless Interference.

This article gives great tips about wireless, especially with regards to router placement.


Extend WiFi Signal Area with Better Placement of Router

One of the most important things to think when designing a wireless network is to decide where to keep the router. You would want all corners of your house or office covered so that people can use it from anywhere. For that, you have to check the optimal place for the router. To do this, draw a rough layout of your house on paper. See where and how many walls and other things act as obstructions.

If your router is placed in an inside room and you want to use it outside in the porch, you may not get the wireless signals as the waves are killed by all those walls and furniture etc. between the router and your porch.

How to extend wifi range Image 1 400x276 Increase WiFi Speed and Signal strength and coverage area

Check out the above image to understand it better. The red dot is router and all rooms are marked with alphabets. You can see how the walls and placement create a problem. The layout also shows how to select optimal position for router: a place that is almost equidistant from all of your rooms and other areas that you wish covered by WiFi. Just think of the entire coverage area you want and figure out what is the central position which allows proper flow of signals in all directions, to extend the WiFi network range.

Adjust Obstacles for Flow of Signal Strength

Other than wall, things like your almirahs, water coolers and mirrors etc. weakens and even kill the WiFi signals moving that way. Almirahs are mostly metals that may prevent signals from crossing over through the unit. Water dampens signals of 2.4GHz for some reasons. This is the usual frequency used by wireless routers and even other wireless things at your home. Mirrors have a special coating towards the back that absorb signals of that frequency (2.4GHz).

Just check out if they can be removed from the invisible straight line between your router and the place you wish to use a WiFi device. If yes, you can adjust the items to make it clearer and easier for the wireless signals to pass through. Breaking down walls will further ease signal flow but I won’t suggest doing that to increase signal range! Instead, we’ll talk about repeaters to provide for signal strength loss when they travel through walls.

Use A High Gain Antenna

The default antenna that comes with different router models are omni-directional. This means that they send signals into all the directions. In such cases, if your router is placed towards the outer walls, half the signals go outside the home. If it is a detachable antenna, replace it with high gain antenna to improve wireless signal. A high gain antenna allows you to focus the signals at the angles you want.

Improve Wireless Signal High Gain Antenna How To Improve Wireless Network Signal On Windows 7


Also see the following article as well.

In terms of interference, Verizon has a Auto Correct Wifi Tool built into it's in home agent software that does a respectable job.  You can download install and run it for free by going to www.verizon.com/connect

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Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
eljefe2
Master - Level 1

Flakey wireless connections can be hard to diagnose.  It would help if you had more than one device connected so you could start by determining if the problem was with your router or your computer.

Also, WiFi signals are subject to interference from many sources, including other WiFi devices.  As a start to troubleshooting, you might try using a program like inSSIDer to see if the same channel you're using is in use by another nearby network.

There's a later version, v3, available for inSSIDer, but I still prefer v2, which you can get here:

http://inssider.en.softonic.com/

As channel 6 is the default channel for many WiFi access devices, I avoid channel 6 and use a channel as close to 1 or 11 as I can.  

You can manually set the channel  on your  router, assuming it's an Actiontec, by going to the Actiontec's setup page, then Wireless Settings > Basic Security Settings > Channel.   Select a channel that's different from the one your using now and check "Keep my channel selection during power cycle."

That will at least be a place to start trying to find your problem.

Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
cavalla25
Newbie

This has been happening to me as well. I am currently on my third replacement router from Verizon and my internet STILL constantly drops and reconnects repeatedly. Did you ever find out why your internet dropped?

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Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
Hubrisnxs
Legend

If your trouble is wireless, like the OP, then you probably either have the router located in a spot that doesn't get very good reception, and it may never until you move it.    OR you have wireless Interference.

This article gives great tips about wireless, especially with regards to router placement.


Extend WiFi Signal Area with Better Placement of Router

One of the most important things to think when designing a wireless network is to decide where to keep the router. You would want all corners of your house or office covered so that people can use it from anywhere. For that, you have to check the optimal place for the router. To do this, draw a rough layout of your house on paper. See where and how many walls and other things act as obstructions.

If your router is placed in an inside room and you want to use it outside in the porch, you may not get the wireless signals as the waves are killed by all those walls and furniture etc. between the router and your porch.

How to extend wifi range Image 1 400x276 Increase WiFi Speed and Signal strength and coverage area

Check out the above image to understand it better. The red dot is router and all rooms are marked with alphabets. You can see how the walls and placement create a problem. The layout also shows how to select optimal position for router: a place that is almost equidistant from all of your rooms and other areas that you wish covered by WiFi. Just think of the entire coverage area you want and figure out what is the central position which allows proper flow of signals in all directions, to extend the WiFi network range.

Adjust Obstacles for Flow of Signal Strength

Other than wall, things like your almirahs, water coolers and mirrors etc. weakens and even kill the WiFi signals moving that way. Almirahs are mostly metals that may prevent signals from crossing over through the unit. Water dampens signals of 2.4GHz for some reasons. This is the usual frequency used by wireless routers and even other wireless things at your home. Mirrors have a special coating towards the back that absorb signals of that frequency (2.4GHz).

Just check out if they can be removed from the invisible straight line between your router and the place you wish to use a WiFi device. If yes, you can adjust the items to make it clearer and easier for the wireless signals to pass through. Breaking down walls will further ease signal flow but I won’t suggest doing that to increase signal range! Instead, we’ll talk about repeaters to provide for signal strength loss when they travel through walls.

Use A High Gain Antenna

The default antenna that comes with different router models are omni-directional. This means that they send signals into all the directions. In such cases, if your router is placed towards the outer walls, half the signals go outside the home. If it is a detachable antenna, replace it with high gain antenna to improve wireless signal. A high gain antenna allows you to focus the signals at the angles you want.

Improve Wireless Signal High Gain Antenna How To Improve Wireless Network Signal On Windows 7


Also see the following article as well.

In terms of interference, Verizon has a Auto Correct Wifi Tool built into it's in home agent software that does a respectable job.  You can download install and run it for free by going to www.verizon.com/connect

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Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
Hubrisnxs
Legend

Eljefe, you should try this, and see if you like it better than InSSider. 

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Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
eljefe2
Master - Level 1

Interesting utility Hubrisnxs.  I'll have to use it a while longer to be able to say if I find any reason to like it better than inSSIDer, but on first glance it seems that either of the two utilities will reveal which channels are cluttered and which are free at a given location.

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Re: WIFI Internet wireless connection randomly drops
LawrenceC
Moderator Emeritus

As this thread is now over six years old, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

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