Strange WiFi issue

[Guardsman Bass]

About a week ago, the wi-fi started acting weird. It would get super-slow or non-existent on one or another of the two PCs we have using it, but not always the same one. It never had slow-down issues on a tablet I own that connects to it. Re-starting the modem/wi-fi router temporarily helps, but it often goes back to the problem again.

Is it some weird issue with the router?

[Napoleon the Clown]

How many other wi-fi signals are around? Also, what channels do they use? This has info on one way to go about it. It wants you to download something, so try this first: Open command prompt (assuming Windows) and type "netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid" and it'll list all the wifi signals and what channel they're on.

Find the one with the least interference and switch your broadcast channel to that and see if it helps. Also, keep and eye out for anything that can disrupt a wifi signal. Certain electronics can screw up the signal. Microwaves especially, but so can stuff like phones. Make sure there's nothing metal between the router and computers, if it can be helped. All else fails, you may be able to increase how much power the router puts into the signal. You may need to check on local laws for how "loud" the signal is allowed to be. Whether or not your router will let you do that, and how you'd do it if it does, depends on the router.

[Darth Nostril]

Had something similar happen a while back, lots and lots of wi-fi signals on channel 1. Switched the router to channel 3 and the problem went away.
However the sodding things tend to default to channel 1 after a powercut or reboot, so you'll need to keep an eye on it.

[Guardsman Bass]

I'll try changing the channel to see if it improves.

[Edi]

Change the encryption to WPA2-PSK/AES only, no compatibility mode or anything related to WPA-PSK/TKIP enabled. The compatibility shit causes no fucking end of trouble and can lead exactly to the kind of symptoms you describe even if things look nominally okay. Also, disable WPS if the device has that capaibility. WPS enabled is another common source of wireless problems. Finally, choose automatic channel selection, because the router tends to look for those channels that are the least congested. In crowded situations that leads to most channels stabilizing so that everything is not e.g. on channel 6.

[salm]

I used to have the same problems with either extreme slow downs or complete timeouts. My channel selection was on automatic so I switched it to manual and tried a couple of different channels. Channel 13 works very good and I only get very few timeouts and slow downs now.

[Edi]

I used to have the same problems with either extreme slow downs or complete timeouts. My channel selection was on automatic so I switched it to manual and tried a couple of different channels. Channel 13 works very good and I only get very few timeouts and slow downs now.

If he's in the US and the devices are made to their standard, the channel selection doesn't go past 11. In Europe it's 13.