Wireless Connection Disconnect

Hi, I need to know about the following problem a customer is having. They have 2 PC and 2 laptops at home.

1 desktop and both laptops connect thru the wireless connection. The desktop keeps loosing the connection to the wireless. There is no standard network, they just connect to the internet.

Anyways no other machine has this problem. The room this is in has it's wall lead to the outside of the house instead of being a room in between others. Hope that makes some sense.

I have noticed when it disconnects the SSID does not show up in the list of Wireless connections when I do a refresh. The only one that appears is of the people next door. Could it be possible that the Wireless connection next door could be knocking her off?

Very frustrating to say the least! Is there a way to block external Wireless signals and just have the internal one be the only one used? I would appreciate any input any of you could give me.

Love this site and forums, keep up the good work

One last thing, the room is upstairs and the wall is adjacent to the house next door.

 

first thing change the channel from the default channel 6
Channels 1 and 11 are first other picks- its then a matter of trial and error
Rogue signals can drift in long distances
You will get a good signal from your router but no internet connection
It can be sporadic as the router may be on dsl and the signal only comes when the router is in use or just happens to drift in
You may not even see the signal in the windows wireless utility and it will interfere as the network bounces back and forth between the two unable to get a fix
The ssid may be totally different from yours as well
netstumbler can be used to spot the intruder some of the time - its more sensitive than the windows wireless utility
change the channel , change the ssid , turn on encryption
Make sure the router is in a high spot and uncluttered
Sometimes moving the router even a foot open will solve the problem
A very good home networking utlity is network magic
Changing the channel will solve 99 % of most wireless connection problems
start with 1 or 11

 

What type of wireless adapter?

If it's that Linksys USB adapter I have had tons of problems with those and refuse to use another.

 

the generic usb adapters ( with the zyadas chipset) are preferred over the brand name Linksys and Dlink models
It always helps with the usb wireless adapters to have a ubs extension cord so that the wireless adapter can be placed up high away for a better signal away from shielding metal of a desk , computer case or a wall.

 

Hmmm... that doesn't look like good advice to me.

I think the only clear rule of thumb is that it's best not to mix and match with wireless. In general, Dlink NICs would best with Dlink WAPs, Linksys NICs with Linksys NICs etc. I refer you to this blog:

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/3690