Network problem.

Clixphoto

I have a wireless network set up with an Arris wireless router provided by my cable company. This is one of those "Telephony" modems that run our phones as well. I bought an Ativa wireless adapter for one of my computers and a Belkin for the other. The problem is that the network will stay connected for about 1 or 2 minutes and then disconnect. It will reconnect automatically but it never fails to be down when you need to update your page. My cable provider says its not a connection problem from the router but it happens on both computers. Should I buy a better wireless adapter? Should I scrap the cable company's router and get my own? This is very frustrating. Can anyone help?

Wes

PS I had to repair the network to send this!

ian408

I don't know too much about Ativa or Belkin as router providers.

What I would do is make sure you allow at least X connections for the wireless (some routers let you limit the number of DHCP addresses you dole out). Where X is the number of devices connected wirelessly. That there is no significant material, steel, thick walls with lots of wire, etc. between your machine and the router and that you are within wireless range--if the software you are using provides indication of signal strength, be sure it's a good strong signal.

Which wireless standard are you using? It's possible that other devices in your home are partially to blame. Check that out too.

I would look through the log files to see if there's a reason your connections are dropping.

If you are you are using security, be sure it all matches.

If I were doing it from scratch, the products I'd use would likely be from well known network vendors. Linksys & Netgear are two that come to mind. Not that a router or network card won't work if they're not, just that it's easier to deal with well known solutions.

Clixphoto

Which wireless standard are you using? It's possible that other devices in your home are partially to blame. Check that out too.

I would look through the log files to see if there's a reason your connections are dropping.



I'm not sure what wireless standards are and how do you check the log files? The computers are upstairs and the router is downstairs but within thirty feet of both computers. One computer indicates a strong signal while the other has a low signal but both are still disconnecting.

ian408

For windows, it's the event viewer. "eventvwr" run in a command window will open it. On a mac, it's /var/log/system.log.

If you are using Windows, are you using some tool that came with the wireless card? If so, try uninstalling it and letting Windows deal with wireless.

The common standards are 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n.

"n" being the newest and "a" being the oldest.

Another thing to try is changing the channel the radios communicate on. Normally, this is automatic but sometimes different channels yield different results as far as performance goes.

darkdragon

Since you are on a different floor than the router, you also might want to look into a boost antenna for your router. That fixed my problem a couple years back.

Art Scott

It could also be that your modem/router is a different standard than the wireless adapters......
On your wireless systems are you using PCI cards or the usb adapters this might (but should not) be the prob........

it was highly recommended to me not to mix brands, even tho in this day and age that should not be a concern...
I have a mid range "N" router and 1 usb adapter and I have yet to havea problem that was not caused by ATT and I am shooting thru and 8" floor and 2 - 6" walls over about 30'......................this whole set up was basically a plug and play thingy....as I just follwed the written dirtections until it told me to insert the CD and from there on it was up to it....whole thing was less than 1 hr for both computers.