Wifi Performance Degrading

[DeafBrad]

Hi Everyone,

I have DSL with wifi. I am having trouble with my wifi signal degrading after about 6 months. When my current modem/wifi was new, I got a strong signal through all parts of the house. Now the signal only reaches 2/3 of the house. I have had similar problems in the past,and buying a new router takes care of the weak wireless signal.

In the past I had several Belkins wireless routers, and currently I have a Netgear n600 wireless modem/router. Any idea what my problem could be? Do routers wear out? Any suggestions?

One warning: I am not technical with wireless stuff.

Brad

 

[Pablo]

Rebooting my router and modem every so often picks them right up. I'm not an expert either, but I think there is some buffers that fill up and stuff. Most people just let them run day and night. I just shut everything down every couple months. Just leave it off for a few minutes, and it should come up all refreshed.

 

[The_Jeff]

If you are using an all-in-one modem and wifi that is generally frowned upon. Let the modem get your internet and the wifi distribute it.

I have a pair of these: https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR740N-Wireless-Router-150Mpbs/dp/B002WBX7TQ They run DD-WRT, are cheap and reliable.

Then 2nd one is connected via cat 5 to the first one. SSIDs are the same so devices get service the whole house. Only flaw is if one travels from one end to the other and have "one bar" of service from the far antenna they get hung on the "wrong" one. But it isn't annoying.

I have heard that you can "wear out" the transistors or whatever makes RF if run at full power. I can imagine a "clean" digital signal getting "muddied" if something drifts out of spec. I have no citation at all for this! You are better, way better, locating the router cleverly vs going for higher RF power.

 

[bdcardinal]

I am also an advocate of rebooting my modem and router every so often. Also I refuse to use combo modem/routers. I only use Netgear routers, currently have a Nighthawk R8000 fro the house with an Arris modem. I have been pleased with both for over 2 years now.

 

[sleddriver]

How big is the house? One/two/three stories? Basement?

If all was fine before and now is not, then something changed. Something external could also be affecting your signal.

I posted a FH article recently about doing residential wireless right.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I would go wired connections if possible. I'm not a fan of RF being transmitted throughout the house.

 

[knerml]

I would take these steps:
1. Reboot all devices
2. Disconnect computer from the wifi
3. Reconnect computer to the wifi

 

[DBMaster]

Have you added any new electronic devices in the home, including a new microwave oven? Have there been any changes to the local utilities such as new wire runs, additional cell towers, weather monitoring equipment, etc? If you current router operates only on the 2.4GHz band it might pay to get one that operates on the 5GHz band as well, assuming your devices operate on that band as well.

 

[OVERKILL]

As others have suggested, reboot it and see if it comes back. Post back with the results.

I generally run higher end gear in my house so reboots and the like are a non-issue. However, having extensive experience with consumer-grade stuff, a lot of what has been mentioned may apply.

 

[tomcat27]

I reboot my routers every few months. I did have a continual problem where reboots would not help - I ended up using an app called wifi analyzer which showed me that my wireless was running on channel 6, as were many of my neighbors. I moved the channel and did not have a problem since.

 

[NYSteve]

Like everyone else said, we'll need a little more info on how big your house is, the layout and also how many, and how close they are.

I would start reading some of the overview articles at Small Net Builder starting here: https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/wireless-basics/30182-how-to-fix-your-wireless-network-part-1

Moving forward, you will want to make sure your wifi is working. If not, look to separate the router function - this brings the internet to your house - and the wifi function - this supplies your internet connect via wifi to your devices.

There are few options for wifi devices. For a single device, if you house isnt too big or not overly complicated layout - Apple Airport Extreme from their refurb store. It's $129 and rock solid and works for a lot of non-techie people.

If you have a more complicated layout, the Netgear Orbi is the best "mesh" solution. This setup has one main wifi point and a 1 or a couple extenders. Downside is this a several hundred dollar solution.

 

[JustinH]

What band are you using? 2.4ghz or 5ghz?

Suggest using 5ghz unless your devices do not support it.

Get a wifi analyzer app on android device, and scan the local networks around your house.

Look at the channels and pick a channel that is not being used.

This alone helped my 2.4ghz network performance, I run both bands at once on two ssid's.

I have a 50 dollar TP link router from amazon and it has been fine.

Also upgrade firmware regularly.

Also change your DNS to google or opendns. Telco DNS usually sucks.

 

[OVERKILL]

If his issue is range, 5Ghz isn't going to help, since the range on 5G is less than 2.4G.

I'm also a big fan of OpenDNS by the way. Was pretty impressed that Cisco bought them.

 

[Wolf359]

Did you read the reviews on the N600 over on Amazon? Try the suggestion mentioned in the review, go to QoS settings. Uncheck Enable WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) settings and apply.

As for not getting a combo, the only real disadvantage to that is that if one part dies, you have get rid of the whole thing. But electronics are pretty reliable these days so it's a toss up.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Rebooting my router and modem every so often picks them right up. I'm not an expert either, but I think there is some buffers that fill up and stuff. Most people just let them run day and night. I just shut everything down every couple months. Just leave it off for a few minutes, and it should come up all refreshed.
\

My modem/router gets rebooted from time to time. The signal in general has gotten worse. My wife has a table in the further reaches of the house where she does her work on her computer. She has done that for quite a while, and now is unable to use the computer in that room.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
If you are using an all-in-one modem and wifi that is generally frowned upon. Let the modem get your internet and the wifi distribute it.

I have a pair of these: https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR740N-Wireless-Router-150Mpbs/dp/B002WBX7TQ They run DD-WRT, are cheap and reliable.

Then 2nd one is connected via cat 5 to the first one. SSIDs are the same so devices get service the whole house. Only flaw is if one travels from one end to the other and have "one bar" of service from the far antenna they get hung on the "wrong" one. But it isn't annoying.

I have heard that you can "wear out" the transistors or whatever makes RF if run at full power. I can imagine a "clean" digital signal getting "muddied" if something drifts out of spec. I have no citation at all for this! You are better, way better, locating the router cleverly vs going for higher RF power.


I use the modem/router combo because I had a modem with a separate router that I could not get to work well together. I called the router hotline, who told me it is a problem with my internet provider. When I called my internet provider they told me it was a problem with my router. Being that I am not knowledgeable about those types of things I was stuck. It was much easier to by a combo where I didn't need to worry about those kinds of things.

Interesting idea about using 2 routers!

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
How big is the house? One/two/three stories? Basement?

If all was fine before and now is not, then something changed. Something external could also be affecting your signal.

I posted a FH article recently about doing residential wireless right.


It is a 3 bedroom mobile home. Around 1500 sqft. No basements, etc. You could be right about something eternal messing up the signal... but my experience is a new router fixes up the problems and I have a good signal again.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Have you added any new electronic devices in the home, including a new microwave oven? Have there been any changes to the local utilities such as new wire runs, additional cell towers, weather monitoring equipment, etc? If you current router operates only on the 2.4GHz band it might pay to get one that operates on the 5GHz band as well, assuming your devices operate on that band as well.


Hi, thanks for your suggestions. There is nothing new in the house. The set up I have now has both 2.4ghz and 5ghz. There is a Roku box on the 5ghz band. All the computers and tablets and laptops run on the 2.4ghz band. I am not sure if I am able to switch everything to the 5ghz band as that signal does not even show up on my laptop.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
As others have suggested, reboot it and see if it comes back. Post back with the results.

I generally run higher end gear in my house so reboots and the like are a non-issue. However, having extensive experience with consumer-grade stuff, a lot of what has been mentioned may apply.


Hi, thanks for your suggestions. My modem/router gets rebooted maybe 1 time a week or once every few weeks. I would say it helps a little, but I have not gotten back the full signal strength.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I reboot my routers every few months. I did have a continual problem where reboots would not help - I ended up using an app called wifi analyzer which showed me that my wireless was running on channel 6, as were many of my neighbors. I moved the channel and did not have a problem since.


I will need to download wifi analyzer and see what comes up. That sounds plausible as the room the wifi has a hard time reaching is the closest room to my neighors.