Unstable Wifi

[DocTom]

Experts - advice please!

We have recently taken up TOTs Wifi offer - a free router and half-price for 3 months (the about 600B for a nominal 6 MB/sec.)

The router sits downstairs. Upstairs, a desktop apparently has a good steady signal.

Upstairs the signal to my laptop is weak, so I use it downstairs near the router. The signal then is strong, but I get repeated brief cuts in the connection (I think), but not long enough to interrupt browsing, or to logout of websites that I visit. I do not know how to confirm that a break has occurred.

But downloads are a problem. I cannot view a YouTube video - it continuously fails. I could not download a new version of Advanced System Care for the same reason. I have assumed that these problems are due to breaks or cuts in the connection.

I searched the web for help, but did not get anything that helped (I did unplug the housephone to confirm that its wireless system was not the source of the problem.)

So, please, can anyone offer knowledge on this kind of problem, so that I can fix it?

DocTom.

[Crossy]

Do things work better if you use a wired connection from the lappie to the router? It's quite possible that you have a generally crappy connection and is nothing to do with the Wifi per-se.

[bkkjoe]

Maybe I had a similar problem. I use Smart Zone, I dont know who the actual provider is.

I couldn't determine what was causing this brief break up of signals; the network? wifi system? my laptop?

I took my laptop to a cafe where you can use wifi to determine who/what is causing this. I got the same result, so it must be my PC.

Indeed, if you do a PING, it shows pauses/breakup on the signal. This would drop/timeout? the page.

So I bought an external USB wifi adaptor (cost only 400B) This seems to have cured it.

Not sure your problem is the same.

[Pib]

Try the connection with your laptop hardwired to the Wifi router...if the problem goes away then you may have a laptop wifi chip driver/setup/configuration problem (i.e., Wifi router OK but the chip/circuit inside your laptop is not configured/working properly which causes the connection to drop). I've had this problem off and on over the years with my Toshiba laptops when an updated Wifi chip driver installed automatically and then my wifi connection problem started; reloaded the correct driver and all was fine again.

[Mrjlh]

You need to log into the router and check to see if the "transmitting power" is set high enough. Use your desktop to do this. Enter 192.168.1.1, log on (they should have given you the log on info usually Admin, admin). Check wireless and the menu should show you a power setting. Set it a 100%. Click "save". Go to home page and then check you laptop.

If that all OK, then you need to place your router in a different location. Wireless is great but obstructions interfere with the signals no matter where you live.

[Pib]

The OP mentioned he has used his laptop close to the router but it didn't help. I expect the router's default power setting is 100%. But it's worth a look.

[Mrjlh]

The OP mentioned he has used his laptop close to the router but it didn't help. I expect the router's default power setting is 100%. But it's worth a look.

Of course it works better when he's next to the router with his laptop. He says It doesn't work well when he farther away that's why you check the power output. If he's using his desktop with a wireless board installed, the board has a better antenna than the laptop. So he gets a better signal on it than the laptop. Not all wirelesses antenna's are equal.

[sfokevin]

What is the make, model and age of your laptop?

Edited August 27, 2011 by sfokevin

[DocTom]

Many thanks for advice so far - I have not yet had a chance to try them all, but I will continue when she lets me have some time!

My laptop is about 9 years old, bought in the UK. It is an Acer Travelmate. (I forget the model number and I am away from home, so I cannot check,but it is something like 800CLi or similar). I would like to replace it, but that is another story!

I thought that it was clear in my original post that the laptop is normally situated close to the router, and it is here that I am getting breaks in connection. (More distant, upstairs, the signal is weak, although it seems to be ok for the desktop.)

[Crossy]

It certainly sounds like your lappie wireless is getting tired, try a wired connection. If it's OK a USB Wifi dongle would be a cheap fix.

[muratremix]

9 years old Laptop seems too old to me. Perhaps that is not strong enough to watch Youtube?

[Pib]

Since you say the internet connection seems OK for the desktop, this sure makes it sound like the Wifi conneciton between your laptop and router is the problem, especially if the desktop if hardwired to the router. Could be a laptop Wifi chip driver problem, configuration of your laptop's wifi network connection, etc. Laptop wifi connections can be picky/a pain sometimes since each laptop usually has a specific manufacturer's wifi chip driver....and sometimes that wifi chip driver gets replaced automatically by updated drivers which don't work properly....reloading the manufactuer's specific driver is the only fix many times.

[silverhawk_usa]

I was able to correct a similar problem on a friend's computer (Acer) and it also solved slow connection speeds. My Acer Netbook was getting extremely good speeds on his Wifi system, his was barely operating.

Go to your power saver settings. Work your way through the advanced settings menus and you will find you can set the power saver setting for each device on your computer individually. Set your Wireless Adapter Setting to "Maximum Power". You can find more about this fix through a search. This is MS explanation: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928152

[DocTom]

So I have now tried to make a wired connection to the router.

The router supplied by TOT has four ports at the rear. They look like standard telephone plug sockets, but I suppose that they are ethernet cable sockets. At the other end my Acer Notebook requires an ethernet plug.

So I need an ethernet cable to do the test. (I only have a standard tel. cable.)

I will have to see if I can borrow or buy an ethernet cable.

DocTom.

[DocTom]

Now I have connected to the router with an ethernet cable, as a test.

The connection seems to be steady, with no breaks, as far as I can tell. (And the speed test showed about 6 Mb/sec download, ie 2x the wifi download speed using wifi on my laptop, but only 200kb/sec for upload (same as wifi).)

So I conclude from this and the fact that the desktop upstairs has a steady, fast (about 5-6 Mb/s) wifi connection, that the problem lies in my laptop wifi . I did update the wifi adaptor driver, to no effect that I can tell.

Perhaps I just have to accept this until I get a new laptop?

Thanks for all your help,

DocTom.

[Pib]

Be sure you have the correct Wifi chip driver loaded for your computer, especially for a laptop as laptops can be very, very picky about their drivers. Just because a newer driver loads and the operating system says the driver is working properly does not mean everything is OK. It's that way with my almost 5 year old Toshiba laptop...if will indeed load a Wifi chip driver that is part of Windows 7...a 2011 driver...and Windows indicates it loaded properly and it working OK; however, I get intermittent internet connections...sometimes I will go for days with the laptop maintaining an internet connections....then other times it was dropping the IP/internet connection every 15 minutes or so. I would maintain the basic connection between the wifi router and laptop but lose the IP address which means you've just lost your internet connection.

But reload the latest wifi chip driver specially made for my laptop (downloaded from the Toshiba website...a driver dated 20 Dec 2007), and the wifi internet connection goes away....rock solid. Well, it's rock solid as long as I also have the correct driver loaded for my built-in bluetooth chip....the wifi driver and bluetooth driver and their associated circuits apparently interface with each other to a degree....wrong driver for either circuit and I have Wifi internet connection problems. And in those cases where I was having Wifi/internet driver problems, I could always do an Ethernet/hardwire connection between the laptop and router/modem and have a rock stead internet connection because the laptop uses a completely different circuit/driver for an Ethernet connection.

You may want to checkout the Wifi driver angle....go to your laptops manufacturers web site, see what the latest wifi chip driver is, download and install it. It just may fix your problems. Good luck.

[DocTom]

Many thanks for your advice. I tried without success to get a driver update from both the Windows facility and from Acer, the laptop manufacturer. Despite persevering I was unable to get a driver update. Perhaps at nearly 10 years my laptop is just too old?

Be sure you have the correct Wifi chip driver loaded for your computer, especially for a laptop as laptops can be very, very picky about their drivers. Just because a newer driver loads and the operating system says the driver is working properly does not mean everything is OK. It's that way with my almost 5 year old Toshiba laptop...if will indeed load a Wifi chip driver that is part of Windows 7...a 2011 driver...and Windows indicates it loaded properly and it working OK; however, I get intermittent internet connections...sometimes I will go for days with the laptop maintaining an internet connections....then other times it was dropping the IP/internet connection every 15 minutes or so. I would maintain the basic connection between the wifi router and laptop but lose the IP address which means you've just lost your internet connection.

But reload the latest wifi chip driver specially made for my laptop (downloaded from the Toshiba website...a driver dated 20 Dec 2007), and the wifi internet connection goes away....rock solid. Well, it's rock solid as long as I also have the correct driver loaded for my built-in bluetooth chip....the wifi driver and bluetooth driver and their associated circuits apparently interface with each other to a degree....wrong driver for either circuit and I have Wifi internet connection problems. And in those cases where I was having Wifi/internet driver problems, I could always do an Ethernet/hardwire connection between the laptop and router/modem and have a rock stead internet connection because the laptop uses a completely different circuit/driver for an Ethernet connection.

You may want to checkout the Wifi driver angle....go to your laptops manufacturers web site, see what the latest wifi chip driver is, download and install it. It just may fix your problems. Good luck.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Many thanks for your advice. I tried without success to get a driver update from both the Windows facility and from Acer, the laptop manufacturer. Despite persevering I was unable to get a driver update. Perhaps at nearly 10 years my laptop is just too old?

Be sure you have the correct Wifi chip driver loaded for your computer, especially for a laptop as laptops can be very, very picky about their drivers. Just because a newer driver loads and the operating system says the driver is working properly does not mean everything is OK. It's that way with my almost 5 year old Toshiba laptop...if will indeed load a Wifi chip driver that is part of Windows 7...a 2011 driver...and Windows indicates it loaded properly and it working OK; however, I get intermittent internet connections...sometimes I will go for days with the laptop maintaining an internet connections....then other times it was dropping the IP/internet connection every 15 minutes or so. I would maintain the basic connection between the wifi router and laptop but lose the IP address which means you've just lost your internet connection.

But reload the latest wifi chip driver specially made for my laptop (downloaded from the Toshiba website...a driver dated 20 Dec 2007), and the wifi internet connection goes away....rock solid. Well, it's rock solid as long as I also have the correct driver loaded for my built-in bluetooth chip....the wifi driver and bluetooth driver and their associated circuits apparently interface with each other to a degree....wrong driver for either circuit and I have Wifi internet connection problems. And in those cases where I was having Wifi/internet driver problems, I could always do an Ethernet/hardwire connection between the laptop and router/modem and have a rock stead internet connection because the laptop uses a completely different circuit/driver for an Ethernet connection.

You may want to checkout the Wifi driver angle....go to your laptops manufacturers web site, see what the latest wifi chip driver is, download and install it. It just may fix your problems. Good luck.

What are the full model details of your machine?

Ten years old is a bit too old, but you can still upgrade your WiFi. Either by using a PCMCIA card or a USB adapter. Let us look at your machine specification....and get rid of that nonsense Advanced System Care...