Any wireless/networking gurus?

So we've been having problems with our internet here at home. What we thought was with the actual internet connection turned out to be an issue with the wireless. Right now we have cable internet that is 6.0 Mbps x 384 Kbps and are using a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. The problem is that a couple new neighbors have set-up wireless networks. Every time one of them logs on, it kills our connection and our router has to be reset. Resetting works 90% but, the other 10% we have to wait for them to drop off. Viewing area networks shows 3 other networks in the area that are causing the problems. Any ideas on what can be done? Time for a better router? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Aaron

Do you have a custom name for the router? When I set mine up, I did a really funky name & password, and I haven't had any problems with it.

Numero Uno: I'm nowhere near an expert. I'm pretty sure I have the same router but never had that problem - but maybe...

We did have, for awhile, a problem with it dropping the internet connection (wireless network stayed up but was not connected to the internet). I think that around the time that I finally figured out how to secure it with a password, it stopped doing that. I can normally see one or two other networks from my house. I'm not sure of the exact time line but it might be around the time that the new next door neighbors moved in - I know they have wireless. This might be a stretch, but maybe securing it solved the problem.

Is yours open or password protected? It's very easy to just turn this on; I'll look at it later if that will help.

Thanks for the responses guys. We get 2 levels of disconnect. Sometimes it will recognize the router but won't connect to it and other times it won't recognize it at all. We have friends that live in the apartment below us and all share the wireless. One of them uses a Mac and for some reason when we tried securing the network, his computer couldn't connect. Because of this we keep it an open network. So you think that because it isn't secure it's causing problems? He's actually moving out the end of the month so that shouldn't be an issue at that time.

You might wanna try, if your up to the task, installing DD-WRT. I have it on my Linksys WRT54GL, no problems at all. And there are 8 other signals around me! (none of them secured cept mine, obviously. this is ohio.). We've had the router go down 1 time in the 6 months that we've had it. And it was just down for about 2 minutes.

Thanks Tel, I'll check it out. Be prepared, there will be forthcoming questions...LOL

Simplist fix - Have your neighbors get a router & have them set it up :)

change the ip address that the router runs on .... by default it runs on 192.168.1.1 - change it to 192.168.xxx.xxx then your ip address that the router sends out will be different from your neighbors - best thing to do is either change the network name and don't broadcast the ssid along with changing the default ip address - let your neighbors know about the hidden network and you should be good - your not using any security but hiding the network at the least -

there is a way to get a mac to log into a secure network - i have done it with my brother-in-laws mac - but it was a while ago and i can't remember how i did it

hope this helps some ....

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The router and connection is in the downstairs apartment. I'm thinking at this point it's time to just get our line in upstairs. Lot less PITA. Plus I can hardline it and get faster speeds. No one is home right now downstairs but, I'll try the suggestions later when someone shows up. Thanks again :)

Aaron

I haven't had any problems with a Mac and a secure connection - I have a Mac Book Pro laptop and my wife has a Windows laptop. Our Linksys router is secure, and my friend's NetGear is also secure. I brought my laptop over to his house and it worked fine once I entered the password. His iPhone works fine too. Strange...

As you'll be able to tell from this, I'm no expert - if the one "problem" computer is leaving at the end of the month, I'd probably just put up with it until then and then secure the network. From the sounds of it (other responses), this may just fix it. Can't help on the DD-WRT.

No matter what you do, absolutely secure that network - this is typically very easy to do through the router's own software. In apartments, there could be all kinds of people getting on your network (stealing your internet) and downloading / accessing who knows what. All of that can cause problems for you.

As the signal gets further away it weakens, and slows the connection speed. What I would do is get a second wireless router and set it up as a second hotspot I have done this in the upstairs and downstairs of my house. This is very simple to do, and takes one Cat-5 and the new router.

If you would like more information on how I set this up get at me, It might also be a problem with the wireless card on the computer you are using if it is only happening on one computer.

Thanks again guys :) The signal strength isn't the problem I don't think. I have a full 5 bars signal strength at 54mbps when connected :confused: It works perfect when I'm not getting dropped.

If your neighbor's isn't secure, just use their connection. :D

I wish Mike, they are just out of range. They show up but, no bars of signal strength. I'm not worried about people hopping on ours either. There are 3 apartments in the building and we're all friends. The signal doesn't go very far, so unless you are standing right in front of the building, no one outside is hopping on either.

The question I have is this: are the SSID's unique? The SSID is the network name. If they are the same then you will have problems. Judging by your description of the problem it's probably an SSID naming issue.

Thanks for chiming in Squidward :) All the names of the networks within range are different.

Are you sure? I've seen where someone had very similar problems to you and changing the SSID to one that was not the default or automatically generated solved the problem.

As you may have figured out by now, I'm in IT. My last job involved phone support to a large group of salespeople who accounted for 75% of our service calls. Each person had a unique office environment and most of them ran wireless at home so being able to troubleshoot such problems was a good skill to have.

Yep, positive. There are 4 networks:

Linsys (mine) - unsecured
family - secured
Jocelyn - unsecured
NETGEAR - unsecured

I cant get a single bar of strength on any of these but, they pop up on the list of available networks.

Xia,

I apologize for not noticing this thread earlier - its my first time checking PR in a couple of weeks.

First, I don't think it is a problem with your router or your connection. If it was, the problem would have most likely appeared before another neighbor added a wireless network.

The first thing I would check is the channel that you have your device set on. All wireless routers, by default, come preset to channel 6. This is right in the middle of the spectrum that has been licensed for Wi-fi, and it is also used by other devices such as 2.4 ghz cordless phones and microwaves.

Try changing the channel to something like channel 1 or channel 11. This will remove it from the most likely interferance, and it could correct your problem.

Since you see four networks, and they are all unsecured, they are most likely all on the same channel. That means they are sort of stepping on each other.

Once you get the channel adjusted (and I wouldn't change to any channel but 1 or 11), I would recommend encrypting your network. Even though WEP is non-trivial to crack now days, it is universally supported. WPA and WPA2 may not be supported, and I've had issues connecting a Windows XP machine with the WPA patches to a WPA protected network.

Whatever you do, don't try upgrading to a 3rd Party firmware. DD-WRT is a great modification, but some versions of the WRT-54G are not compatible with the upgrade or require a couple of advanced steps to install. It is definitely an advanced user or power user feature that, if done improperly, can render your device inoperable.

I forgot to mention how to change the channel the wireless signal is carried on.

It will be under the wireless tab on the settings page, I believe. I haven't used a linksys in a couple of years, so I might have it in the wrong place.

Also, check the linksys website support section for a firmware upgrade. There might be something in the system programming that is causing the signal to drop.

So I can't get logged into the router for some reason. It's not taking the password I had set-up before or at least the password I think I set-up...LOL At this point, I'm not even going to bother with it. They're coming on the 19th to install the new connection and I'm shopping for a newer, faster router. Any suggestions in the $100 - $150 range? I'm looking at the Linksys WRT160N. On sale right now for $99 and seems to have received some good reviews around the net.

Did the router get physically rebooted recently? They usually keep the password, but there is a chance you might have reset it to factory defaults.

Default password for the router is admin, I believe.

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Originally Posted by masdog

Did the router get physically rebooted recently? They usually keep the password, but there is a chance you might have reset it to factory defaults.

Default password for the router is admin, I believe.

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Yes, gets reset all the time. Tried default and a aout a dozen different passwords I was using at the time I got it :(

Problem solved :) Just stopped by Radio Shack and picked up a new Linksys Wireless-N router. We set it up secure and my friend with the Mac had no problems this time. Not sure what the problem was last time. Also changed the router name from the default. So far so good, working like a charm. Thanks again to everyone who chimed in :)