router problems, connection keeps going down

I live with my brother. We have a wireless internet connection in the house. We have three computers, and an Xbox live. Sometimes the connection is solid on all 4 systems, other times, it consistently goes down, again and again. Sometimes I can reconnect just by renewing my IP address. Other times I have to disconnect and then reconnect to the router, other times I have to turn the router off for about 20 seconds and turn it back on. Can anybody give me some tips as to why this might happen and what I can do to keep a consistent connection? It's really fucking annoying.

 

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Most likely because you have a cheap router, buy a nicer one.

Some things such as microwaves will disable the wireless for the duration of the cook time. You might also have interference, try changing the Wireless Channel you are broadcasting at through the configuration settings and check the signal strength. Some are likely to be stronger than others.

 

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The usual rule of thumb is to place Intensive media systems (Like Servers or Games consoles) on a wired connection to the router. This aids in lessening radiological congestion from becoming a problem. (XBOX's can be dropped into a DMZ because a standard non-chipped XBOX will not respond to traffic.) if you are using multiple computers on one router the usual answer here is to look closely at if your router is marked: 802.11 a, b, g, n

Each letter represents a particular band of frequency, if you have multiple letters (a, b, g) then it's possible for each computer (depending on their wifi hardware capacity) can be connected by a different band, this too lessens congestion. (You'll find the XBOX is compatible with all mentioned, best using n if you router permits it.)

Wifi's also utilises "Channels" to change the frequency so that it doesn't interfere with other wireless equipment or suffer from interference from various devices. Sometimes it's necessary to change the Channel on the router to make sure that it doesn't have interference from neighbours wifi equipment.

The only other potential of a bottleneck is with UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), UPnP is utilised a lot with routers now so that Ports are opened automatically for data communication. Some older routers aren't completely UPnP compatible, others tend to require a firmware update to get them working fully. If you place Manual Port forwarding rules into your router they will take Precedence over the UPnP dynamics and this can actually cause problems. So decide if you are going to Manually assign your network or use UPnP, don't adhocly use both.

 

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What Stryder said, +get a copy of inSSIDer, and have a peek at the airwaves. WiFI channels overlap, so there are fewer in reality than you can pick in software. Have a peek and see what everyone in your locale is using, and move to any free channels available.

 

And I had such problems.
I can not say anything yet sure but I think the problem is not between your computer and router it is between router and Internet.
If it connects and my son and my wife problems occur more often.
I think the connection speed between router and Internet is sometimes not enough to serve all three computers.
But do some tests, when your computer does not work go see how the others.
Try running programs to diagnose the connection.

 

All multiple computers do is slow up the delivery of completed data to any single machine. Data is arranged in packets and when you have more than one computer it just means the constant supply of packets is Asynchronously interrupted with packets meant for the other computers that are connected via NAT.

The worst case scenario is that an increase in dropped packets occurs or server side timeout's occur, it honestly shouldn't be effected too much by multiple computers unless they happened to be configured with the same IP which technically needs to be unique internally and in the correct range.

 

I'm having the same problem with my 3 computers and I think it maybe due to my router.(Mostly)The fix for now is to unplug the power from the router for a few seconds and everything is then fine.I'm contemplating on getting a new router,this one is wireless g and I was thinking of getting the wireless n.I have been told if I upgrade the router to n I need to also upgrade the network cards,that is if they arn't already n cards.Lastly I figured out how to see my DHCP client list for my router which shows me how many users are on my network.(As many as 3 others)Yes I don't have my network secure which allows outsiders to gain a connection further slowing down our speed.I'm currently waiting on my brother in law to get here when he comes for Christmas to hopefully secure our network.I know how to secure my router but don't know how to configure the computers to get thru the encryption.Fun,fun,fun huh.

 

It's difficult to write a blow by blow way of securing a Wifi Router, mainly because all routers methods of being secured are different. For the most part securing should be simple enough.

You get the SSID that obviously identifies the network, this should only really be exposed when you have devices that you want to connect to your network (when you've configured the devices you intend to use you can hide the SSID making it a little more difficult for people to track your wifi down)

You then have to decide on a particular Protocol and Encryption type: (this can be dependent on the hardware/software you have for compatibility)

From Strongest Protocol to weakest (All have vulnerabilities, some more than others:

• WPA2
• WPA (Legacy support version of WPA2, therefore vulnerable due to old hardware)
• TKIP (Vulnerable)
• WEP (Depreciated and Vulnerable)

Usual Encryption supported:

• AES

Therefore the usual suggested Protocol/Encryption (if your hardware supports it) is WPA2/AES.

When implementing it you'll require a key (or keys) that need to be duplicated on the device you intend to connect to the router. These keys are necessary to "Pair" the devices, otherwise they won't be able to communicate with each other (Without a bit of hacking).

You will need the SSID public while pairing to my knowledge.

It's also a good idea if you have a MAC filter to use it, this basically allows you to identify which devices by their MAC address are allowed to connect to the network, any MAC's not identified will be barred from the system. (Just remember if you turn this on, any new devices also have to be added to the filter)

On the topic of "Open Wifi spots", all I can suggest is "don't do it", the problem with such wifi points isn't just the potentially that you could accidentally entrap a low technologically minded person into accidentally using your network, it's also the problems of security if people access your router (after all if they gain Admin control they can reflash the firmware of the router and gain access at any time in the future, until you yourself have reflashed it) there is also the potential virus problem, after all any computer can connect to your home network and if any of your computers are vulnerable you could find your own machines being infected.