Home Wifi Problem

hoftwi

hoftwi

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Hi,

There is a problem regarding the home wifi that bugging me for a while and hope I would get some advise from you. Using Sky fibre boardband at the moment, we have got 2 desktops and 2 laptops. My dell laptop can connect to the wifi but the speed is ridiculous, I mean it takes mintues to download a webpage or sometimes can't even load a page so I bought a wireless booster thing that one plugs in the sky hub and one plugs in my laptop, it works better but still not very fast and line drops occasionally. Basically the wifi doesn't work if I don't use the wifi booster thingy. This situation happens to my husband's desktop as well but works perfectly fine on his laptop. I am wondering whether it's the problem of sky that I should contact them or anything else I can do to improve?

p.s. we are using the internet as steaming and normal web browse only.

Thanks in advance and hope I can solve this problem soon, it is bloody ignoring!!!!!!
 
Hi
Do the laptops work fine connected to the router? Does it make any difference is you are close to the router when on WiFi?

Thanks
 
1st step would be to try changing the wireless channel on the router
 
No. The first step in diagnosing this type of problem is determining where the problem lies.
Is it the internet connection or is it the wireless network? These are two distinct things joined by a router in the middle.

Do all the PCs behave the same way? Are the desktops any better? Have you tried taking an ethernet cable (cat 5e or cat 6 - has something that resembles a telephone connector each end) and connecting one of the computers directly to the modem/router, with it's wireless switched off?
 
sep9001 said:
Hi
Do the laptops work fine connected to the router? Does it make any difference is you are close to the router when on WiFi?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Thanks Kev for the reply:) The laptop works slightly better when connects but still lagging. It doesn't make much of the different while I get closer to the router. The wifi connection seems getting worse but the laptop was just one year old. I am not quite sure it's the problem of the laptop or sky, as husband's and my desktop arr having the same problem.
 
hoftwi said:
Thanks Jim for the reply:) May you please advise how do I change the wireless channel on the router?
Click to expand...
Lets no do that yet b/c it's jumping to conclusions about what the problem might be. It's good to try and diagnose the problem first and then apply the right cure! :)
 
Can I suggest two things.

First I would download a free programme called Insidder. Install this on a laptop and check it in various locations around the house. This will show you what channel your wifi is on and also show you if you have any neighbours with competing devices. If you leave it running it will suggest an alternative channel if you have interference from neighbours.

Secondly I would connect one of your machines to the router with a cat5 5 cable and go to http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ where you can check your down/upload speeds. Do the same thing with your wifi devices and compare the difference. Post the results here and we can perhaps assess what to do next. :)

Gerry
 
if you don't have a network cable, you can get a 10 metre one from Kennable for £4.65
http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22_122_49&products_id=5332

We will probably all at some point have issues with either Wi-Fi or Internet connections at one time or another, so it's always useful to have a network cable handy. Also useful for transferring bulk amounts of data between computers.

You can run a broadband speed test, firstly over wi-fi and then with the wi-fi on the computer switched off and the network cable plugged in:
http://www.speedtest.net/ (be careful not to click on any links - that page is a bit busy)

That should start to give an indication of where the problem lies, whether it's the internet connection or the Wireless network.

Best not to get to obsessed with signal strengths, channels, boosters, wi-fi analysers etc. until that's confirmed as being the actual problem.
 
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afasoas said:
Lets no do that yet b/c it's jumping to conclusions about what the problem might be. It's good to try and diagnose the problem first and then apply the right cure! :)
Click to expand...
Agreed. Don't start changing stuff until you've eliminated other more common causes. You may well end up introducing other issues.

Wired connection then speed test the broadband connection.

If that's fine, you've eliminated the physical connection between router and the exchange.

If you get great speeds on the download tests, but websites still take an age before they load, check your DNS settings. Relatively common issue - takes ages to start loading a webpage, but once your in, it works fine.

Slow network speeds can also be caused due to faulty devices. If wired and still slow, it could be something on your network is spewing out millions of error packets and swamping the whole thing. You can test this by unplugging/turning all other devices off.

And so on.

Do a few tests, post the results and we'll try to point you in the right direction.
 
afasoas said:
if you don't have a network cable, you can get a 10 metre one from Kennable for £4.65
http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22_122_49&products_id=5332

We will probably all at some point have issues with either Wi-Fi or Internet connections at one time or another, so it's always useful to have a network cable handy. Also useful for transferring bulk amounts of data between computers.

You can run a broadband speed test, firstly over wi-fi and then with the wi-fi on the computer switched off and the network cable plugged in:
http://www.speedtest.net/ (be careful not to click on any links - that page is a bit busy)

That should start to give an indication of where the problem lies, whether it's the internet connection or the Wireless network.

Best not to get to obsessed with signal strengths, channels, boosters, wi-fi analysers etc. until that's confirmed as being the actual problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks afasoas so much for the advise:) Just plug in the cable to the router and laptop, the speed test is : Ping 15ms,D/L 37.44 Mbps,U/L 7.22Mbps

then use wifi to do the test, nest to the router, Ping:13ms, D/l 27.93,U/l 7.19

Tried to do the speed test back to the study with wifi, it connected but failed to run the test as internet was way too slow.

does it mean this is the problem of where my room is? it is not far away from where the router is. thanks again for the suggestion and help.
 
hoftwi said:
Thanks afasoas so much for the advise:) Just plug in the cable to the router and laptop, the speed test is : Ping 15ms,D/L 37.44 Mbps,U/L 7.22Mbps

then use wifi to do the test, nest to the router, Ping:13ms, D/l 27.93,U/l 7.19

Tried to do the speed test back to the study with wifi, it connected but failed to run the test as internet was way too slow.

does it mean this is the problem of where my room is? it is not far away from where the router is. thanks again for the suggestion and help.
Click to expand...
Same laptop for all three tests?
 
gerryrys said:
Can I suggest two things.

First I would download a free programme called Insidder. Install this on a laptop and check it in various locations around the house. This will show you what channel your wifi is on and also show you if you have any neighbours with competing devices. If you leave it running it will suggest an alternative channel if you have interference from neighbours.

Secondly I would connect one of your machines to the router with a cat5 5 cable and go to http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ where you can check your down/upload speeds. Do the same thing with your wifi devices and compare the difference. Post the results here and we can perhaps assess what to do next. :)

Gerry
Click to expand...

Thanks Gerry for the advise and help:) have just done the speed test with cable connected as posted on the last post.

Furtim said:
Agreed. Don't start changing stuff until you've eliminated other more common causes. You may well end up introducing other issues.

Wired connection then speed test the broadband connection.

If that's fine, you've eliminated the physical connection between router and the exchange.

If you get great speeds on the download tests, but websites still take an age before they load, check your DNS settings. Relatively common issue - takes ages to start loading a webpage, but once your in, it works fine.

Slow network speeds can also be caused due to faulty devices. If wired and still slow, it could be something on your network is spewing out millions of error packets and swamping the whole thing. You can test this by unplugging/turning all other devices off.

And so on.

Do a few tests, post the results and we'll try to point you in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Thanks David for the help:) Hope I can solve this problem and get a better connection. May need your advise later regarding DNS settings tho.
 
Okay we know your getting plenty of megabits from your actual physical internet connection. It's a Wi-Fi problem.

Wi-Fi problems can actually be trickier to diagnose, as Wi-Fi performance can be affected by many environmental factors.

Do you have a smart phone?
 
hoftwi said:
yes, same laptop for all 3 tests.
Click to expand...

On that basis, you've eliminated the DNS issues I mentioned. Your broadband connection itself looks fine, as is your basic wireless config (as it worked near the router)

Is the dodgy room an extension to the house? Do you have a wireless phone base station next to the router? Was someone co-incidentally microwaving a pizza when you tested in the room (I kid you not!)

Is your network name something unique? I've had an issue in the last where someone was using a default name ('netgear' in his case) and in some rooms it was picking his neighbours identically named network and 'dropping the connection'.

There are lots of options to fix still.
 
Furtim said:
On that basis, you've eliminated the DNS issues I mentioned. Your broadband connection itself looks fine, as is your basic wireless config (as it worked near the router)

Is the dodgy room an extension to the house? Do you have a wireless phone base station next to the router? Was someone co-incidentally microwaving a pizza when you tested in the room (I kid you not!)

Is your network name something unique? I've had an issue in the last where someone was using a default name ('netgear' in his case) and in some rooms it was picking his neighbours identically named network and 'dropping the connection'.

There are lots of options to fix still.
Click to expand...

Thanks David again:) it's not an extension to the house, no wireless stuff next to the router, no microwave in my study but have a kettle:p network name is unique, i think as it is like sky123456.
 
hoftwi said:
yes, smart phone in hand and always works fine.
Click to expand...

Okay, I want you to search for an app called "Wifi Analyzer" - it's free of charge. It's like the previously suggested Inssider, but it's more convenient walking around the house holding a phone rather than a laptop! :)
 
hoftwi said:
Thanks David again:) it's not an extension to the house, no wireless stuff next to the router, no microwave in my study but have a kettle:p network name is unique, i think as it is like sky123456.
Click to expand...

Reading the other replies, if other laptop and phone etc works fine in there, just not yours, it could be as simple as yours having an inferior or faulty antenna.

If your laptop works fine at similar distances in other parts of the house, that's probably not the issue.

If it's affecting all devices in there then there must be some local interference. Could be from a faulty power transformer, mobile phone charger, you name it - could be anything local to that room.
 
afasoas said:
Okay, I want you to search for an app called "Wifi Analyzer" - it's free of charge. It's like the previously suggested Inssider, but it's more convenient walking around the house holding a phone rather than a laptop! :)
Click to expand...

Done the wifi analyzer test on my phone,the wifi signal seems fine everywhere in the house, tho slightly slower in the kitchen,still very well performs. it looks fine in my study but only my laptop and 2 desktops have suffered the wifi problems. thanks again to guide me through the test.
 
Okay that's good.

Have you looked at the channel graph? You should see a curve that peaks on the channel that your wireless access point is currently using. As you walk around the house, do you see any other wireless networks that overlap with yours?
 
Quick question, I had a similar issue, I had a power pack next to my router causing intermittent interference

So worth checking
 
You have a kettie on your network? wow, do you get ethernetea?:)
have you done a virus scan and a malware scan?
when you tried your phone was the mobile data turned off?
Pete
 
hoftwi said:
Thanks Gerry for the advise and help:) have just done the speed test with cable connected as posted on the last post.

Have you tried Insidder yet? Installed on a laptop this will show you the relative strength of your wifi as you walk around the house thus identifying any poor areas. If your study is in one such area it may just be a question of installing a cheap range extender.

Good luck.

Gerry
Click to expand...
 
Sorry guys that I went off last night in the middle of testing as husband came home from work so had to runnung after him:)


afasoas said:
Okay that's good.

Have you looked at the channel graph? You should see a curve that peaks on the channel that your wireless access point is currently using. As you walk around the house, do you see any other wireless networks that overlap with yours?
Click to expand...

As I walked around the house, I saw a wireless network that overlap with mine, I presume it was my desktop but not sure.

Bullysrus said:
Quick question, I had a similar issue, I had a power pack next to my router causing intermittent interference

So worth checking
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advise Pete:) apart from a normal house phone on a dock,nothing else is next to the router.

PeterTheJet said:
You have a kettie on your network? wow, do you get ethernetea?:)
have you done a virus scan and a malware scan?
when you tried your phone was the mobile data turned off?
Pete
Click to expand...

Virus and malware scan regualarly and it's all clean. and yes, mobile data was off while I was testing with my phone.


Thanks Gerry again, will try that tonight.

neil_g said:
what dell laptop is it?

what router have sky given you?
Click to expand...

Thanks Neil for the help:) It's a Inspiron14 5000 series. the sky router is http://help.sky.com/articles/broadband-set-up-checklist
 
having a quick look the inspiron 14 5000 has an 802.11ac adapter which is supposed to be pretty good for range. although the sky hub 2 is only 802.11n which is not as good.

so in theory the laptop should get good signal if the other devices do. which suggests (as someone else said) either a poor or faulty aerial in the laptop.

you could try going to the dell support pages, entering the service tag of the laptop (see sticker on underside) and using the driver auto detect program to update the wireless driver.
 
hoftwi said:
Sorry guys that I went off last night in the middle of testing as husband came home from work so had to runnung after him:)
As I walked around the house, I saw a wireless network that overlap with mine, I presume it was my desktop but not sure.
Click to expand...

No that will be a neighbouring network, most likely. Probably useful if you could take a screen capture of Wi-Fi analyser and post it up.
In the channel view, as you walk around the house, are there any channels with no networks already using them?
 
afasoas said:
No that will be a neighbouring network, most likely. Probably useful if you could take a screen capture of Wi-Fi analyser and post it up.
In the channel view, as you walk around the house, are there any channels with no networks already using them?
Click to expand...

this is the one i did in my study



this is the one i did near the router


channel view


i hope these will help.thanks
 
Did you say the problem is the same on the desktops? and are those cabled in not wireless?
 
Ok first thing i would try is clearing your internet history and cache on the laptop and see if that helps for the laptop(be aware this will make you lose your saved password and auto fill data) however if all devices are running slowly the router is the issue more than likely, if you phone sky they can take a look for you they should not have to come to your house to do this. I had the same issue on virgin media and they had to replace the router twice before it was fixed. Dont worry about your channels on the router too much i look after the Wifi at work we have about 25 other wireless overlapping ours from other companys nearby (city centre) and doesnt cause a major issue speed loss is minimal.
 
Thanks for posting the screen captures.
The signal in the study is, according to that, only just in the realm of being usable for a data connection.

It looks like there is a network on the same channel as yours with a hidden SSID. I find it quite odd that it's signal strength is almost on a par with your own signal when you're near the router.
In any case, it sounds like it may be work switching your wireless network onto channel 5. You will need to log-in to your router/hub's web administration website to do this.

Before we can do that, we need to find the IP address for your router. To do that...

1. Press and hold the windows key on the keyboard, then at the same time press 'R' and then let them both go. This will open the "run" dialog box
2. Into the dialog box type "cmd" and then press the enter key. A black box will pop up giving us access to something called the "command shell" or "cmd shell"
3. At the prompt in the command shell type "ipconfig" and then press the enter key. You will get some text output returned with names or descriptions on the left and variables on the right.
4. Scan through the output, we are looking for something called "Default Gateway" and it should have a value likes "192.168.1.1", or "192.168.1.254" or even "10.2.1.1" etc.

Once we have that value, we can type it as an address into an internet browser.

Your wi-fi box should also have a sticker on it with an administration username and/or password. (Not the Wireless SSID/Wireless Key). If it's not there, then the username and password might both be "admin".

Once we've got those details together, I will talk you through the next step.
 
I'm not holding my breath that changing the channel will resolve this problem - I think both networks are coming from the same access point. Or another device near the access point that acts as both a client and an access point on the same network - I have actually that situation here courtesy of two Rokus.

If changing channel doesn't improve signal strength in the study, devices with low gain antennae will struggle to maintain a decent connection.

It's good to be informed rather than blindly channel hopping.
 
afasoas said:
I'm not holding my breath that changing the channel will resolve this problem - I think both networks are coming from the same access point. Or another device near the access point that acts as both a client and an access point on the same network - I have actually that situation here courtesy of two Rokus.

If changing channel doesn't improve signal strength in the study, devices with low gain antennae will struggle to maintain a decent connection.

It's good to be informed rather than blindly channel hopping.
Click to expand...

I have changed the channel to 5 and it seems working better,still very slow speed but at least I can load a page.

thanks for your help again .
 
Are we still with this?

In your original post you refer to a signal booster "I bought a wireless booster thing that one plugs in the sky hub and one plugs in my laptop". I have looked at the screengrabs from the wifi analyser. I think the second signal that overlaps yours is created by this booster. Are you able to tell us the make and brand of the booster? I think it is possible that the device plugged in to your Sky hub, once married to the hub, should be detached and moved to the bad signal area. Left attached to the hub it may not actually be helping. :(

BTW, just looked at some of your bug pics. Very nice. :)

Gerry
 
gerryrys said:
Are we still with this?

In your original post you refer to a signal booster "I bought a wireless booster thing that one plugs in the sky hub and one plugs in my laptop". I have looked at the screengrabs from the wifi analyser. I think the second signal that overlaps yours is created by this booster. Are you able to tell us the make and brand of the booster? I think it is possible that the device plugged in to your Sky hub, once married to the hub, should be detached and moved to the bad signal area. Left attached to the hub it may not actually be helping. :(

BTW, just looked at some of your bug pics. Very nice. :)

Gerry
Click to expand...

Thanks Gerry for the reply:) I am using a BT Broadband Extender 200 Kit.

I don't know how to solve this problem. using desktop at the moment,either with or without the booster,the interet drops every now and again .

thanks for your comment about my bugs pics:D unfortunately,it's winter now,hard to find bugs to photograph:(
 
A good Wi-Fi signal is around -50 db
After about -70 db it becomes almost unusable.

The signal in the study doesn't seem to be very strong. I don't know where you have the wi-fi booster plugged in, but if as Gerry says the red network is the booster, then that's even weaker in the study. Is there somewhere you could plug the booster in that's halfway between the hub/router and the study?
I'm assuming you don't see your internet dropping out at all when you have the laptop in fairly close proximity to the hub/router?

Assuming that the issue is with the wi-fi signal strength, there are a few options.
1) You could replace your hub/router with a better one - generally, those supplied by internet service providers are mediocre. Using a replacement that has external antennae gives an added advantage of being able swap the antennae for higher gain variants - The only problem is that these tend to make the signal more directional, thus you could get a better signal on the ground floor of your home (assuming your hub/router is on the ground floor) but a weaker signal on the first floor.
2) You could try using a Wi-Fi dongle with your laptops/desktops to which you can attach an external antenna - I have one of these with two antennas - a +5db antenna that it came with and a +10db antenna I bought separately. With the 10 db antenna attached, I'm able to see many more wireless networks - but as yet I've not really roadtested it. If it's an option you are interested in, then I'll happily do some tests to see in real terms what difference it makes.
3) You could try getting a second wireless access point - almost any router will do - you can pop it in your study or somewhere nearer to your study and then connect it to the first access point using a network (cat 5e/6) cable. That way, when you are in your study, devices can be connected to the nearer wi-fi access point. If cabling is an issue, you could always try power over ethernet adapters. Again, they have their issues - they work best where both adapters are connected on the same mains ring. Sometimes other electric devices cause noise or interference which impairs them. There are also privacy concerns too - the network traffic between the power over ethernet adapters is generally unencrypted and if you happen to live next door to an avid computer hacker, they can buy a similar device and use it to sniff your network traffic. Despite the shortfalls, plenty of people swear by them.
4) Use network cables. In an ideal world houses would come with network cables and sockets chased into the walls. You might be able to run a cable under the carpets or perhaps neatly around the exterior of your home. Essentially, it's the one sure fire way of being able to always guarantee network connectivity without wireless issues - or running multiple access points connected via cable so that wi-fi just works better. But it also requires the most thought and investment. At home I have ethernet cables connecting a network switch in my garage to a network switch in my living room, and network cables connecting the "modem" to the firewall. Then other devices are either plugged into the switches or connected by the wireless access point that's plugged into the living room switch. As we redecorate, I'm planning to install more network cables so that hopefully, eventually, there's a network socket in nearly every room.

Finally, has the Wi-Fi/Internet actually ever been any better than this?
 
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