Wireless network disappears

[dparm]

I'm starting to get pretty mad because I'm having wireless issues at my apartment. I have a Netgear WGR614v4 802.11g wireless router. My laptop has an Intel PRO Wireless 2200BG internal wireless card. Lately, my roommates and I have noticed that the wireless network straight-up disappears. None of our machines can see it (and hence can't connect).

The network seems to disappear for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour or more. The reset button the router doesn't fix the problem unless you hold it in to do a full reset of the router settings.

I can still connect the router to my laptop with a cable and verify nothing has been changed.

I've tried switching to different encryption schemes, changing channels, and even switching to G-only mode. Same issue arises. Even tried changing the beacon intervals. Doesn't work.

I'm thinking it may be caused by interference; just in my building alone I can see 6 other wireless routers (all using default names, no encryption). I've tried selecting channels they are NOT using but this doesn't seem to fix the problem.

Don't know if this is relevant, but I checked the advanced statistics in the Intel app and I seem to miss about 2% of the beacons and have about 2% transmit errors.

Suggestions?

[amccabe]

You should get your hands on another wireless router and see if it exhibits the same behavior. I would even set-up both at the same time but on different channels.

If the second router goes down at the same times, it is interference. If the second one never goes down, then it is a hardware issue and you should just replace it.

[dparm]

That was my next step. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't overlooked something.

BTW our apartment does have a 5.8GHz Uniden phone system, but I've personally never found these to interfere with the connection, even when they're in use.

[powellm]

Dan,
I've had similar problems with Netgear wireless devices. I have a spare Linksys 802.11b router that I'd be happy to lend you to test.

[dparm]

I'll take it for the weekend, if you don't mind.

Maybe I'll just go splurge on a Pre-N. :-p

[jmcgon]

Being in an apartment, there are probably a ton of other wireless networks in addition to yours fighting to exist. Add in microwaves, phones, and all the other electronics on the 2.4ghz frequency and you've got one big bowl of mashed potatos. :(

[dparm]

Matt's router seemed to do a bit better, but it has two antennas compared to my Netgear's one. I may wait until the Linksys WRT54G goes below $50 after rebates and buy it.

It's odd, because the WGR614v4 is rated nearly as well as the WRT54G in terms of signal strength (by most magazines).

But yeah, unless I go to A or Pre-N (MIMO) I probably will not experience a huge benefit from getting a different brand.

[Unregistered]

I have the same problem with my WRT54G. There is about 10 other wireless networks in my neighbourhood and I never know when my own network goes down :P And belive me, my Internet connection goes down always when I need it the most.

[Unregistered]

Sorry for any language mistakes... I have just join my esl english class

[Picchioni]

I personally stay clear of all netgear products, the couple of times I've used them, the have given me nothing but headaches and thoughts of throwing them out my window :). If you are looking for a decent router pick up a linksys like others have stated, I just bought the Linksys router that has SRS400 (MIMO Technology) and I love it except for the fact it doesn't support static DHCP and from what I've herd not many linksys routers do, but if you can live without that Linksys is the way to go and is worth the extra cost.

[Picchioni]

Oh, I also forgot to mention, if you have tons of wireless networks in range of your router linksys firmware can compensate for this, in the advanced settings you can choose how dense your network density is (how many wireless networks are in the area) and the router will compensate accordingly.

But hey, if you know your neighbors that have wireless networks and have close to the same internet speed as you do, come up with a universal SSID and Channel to use and I believe your wireless card will route to the fastest/closest connection (which should 99% of the time be the one in your appartment)

[dparm]

Just to update everyone, this problem seems to come and go depending on what my neighbors do. Whenever they flip their routers on, my signal quality drops and everything slows down. There are just too many networks and too few channels to operate on, making it a total crap-shoot.

This is the downside to living in a large apartment building, I suppose.

[dcv]

Sounds like you should go with some 802.11n - a great speed boost (supposedly faster than wired ethernet), and as an added bonus, you'll be the one stepping on your neighbor's signal, and not the other way around.

[Unregistered]

802.11n would work, you can also try 802.11a. That's on the 5.8ghz frequency. It's also 54mbit so you shouldn't loose any speed between the computers in your network.