Ok, I have a strange problem. My body seems to create a large amount of interference for our WiFi router. As soon as I walk into our apartment my wife complains that her signal almost vanishes. It's not just sometimes, it happens every time.
Over the weekend I was at a friend's house, who also has WiFi and we had no problem what so ever with signal strength.
My question is, when buying a wireless router, how can I tell the quality of the WiFi transmitter? Clearly the transmitter in my Linksys is inferior to the Tompson router at my friend's house.
Probably not. Pretty much all low-cost routers use the same chipsets from a small number of manufacturers (e.g., Broadcom, Atheros, Ralink), and they all perform pretty much the same. A few have a bit higher transmit power (e.g., Buffalo WHR-HP-G54), but probably won't work any better in your situation. In general, Linksys routers are considered decent, neither the best nor the worst.
Your body almost certainly isn't your problem unless you're a superhero dressed entirely in metallic clothing. ;)
My guess(tm) is that your wife's connection is marginal, and that you're doing something that creates enough additional interference to disrupt her connection. See for possible sources of interference.
If you provide more information, we may be able to help you identify the actual problem:
What's the model and firmware version of the Linksys?
What's the make, model and firmware version of your wife's wireless client?
What's the distance between your wife and the Linksys, and what's in between them?
Have you tried other channels (1, 6, 11)?
What other wireless clients connect to the Linksys?
Are you using WPA2 security with a strong passphrase to keep out intruders?
Remove all the hardware you're carrying (cell phone, pager, wrist watch, calculator, PDA, cordless phone, Zigbee devices, and especially Bluetooth devices, etc) and see if you can identify what's causing the problem. If it's a pacemaker, see your body mechanic. There's a list of probable culprits at:
Some PDA's will attempt to connect to a router when they are in "standby" mode. My iPhone 3G will do this every few minutes to check for "push" data, such as email and calendar updates. However, that shouldn't cause the system to die unless you've done something like clone the MAC address of your wireless device with that of the router or her unspecified model laptop.
Good test. That points to a problem with either the router or your wife's computah. Since you've supplied zero information about either, I can't offer any suggestions. Numbers, not prose.
Read the reviews. I suggest starting here:
I also like to check their wireless thruput charts:
Do not buy by brand as all the manufacturers have their assortment of winners and losers.
Bad assumption. You need to identify the mechanism or culprit before blundering onward or you risk repeating the problem with a new router. You also need to test the connectivity with your wife's computer, not your friends. If you can find someone willing to loan you a different wireless router (or a dealer with a liberal return policy), you can test if it's the router by substitution.
model: Linksys WRT54G2 firmware: 1.5.01 build 008, Aug 27 2009
I can see it's currently using channel 6 in the admin console, but I've been over the settings there a few times and I can't find a place to change that. I can post screen shots if you would like.
The security is WPA2 Personal with an 8 character string using letters (upper and lower case) and numbers, and no real words.
99% of the time my wife's laptop is the only thing connected via WiFi. The laptop she uses is an Acer Aspire 5542-1462 and the wireless card is reported as an Atheros AR5B93.
As for my person, I usually have a very cheap Nokia 1208 GSM cell phone on me but not always. It doesn't seem to make a difference to the perceived interference if I have it on me or not.
The router is approximately 30 feet away. It's a fairly straight shot down a hallway with just a jog in the hallway to block direct signal.
As for what we are experiencing. My wife generally works from home all day and never complains about the wireless connectivity when I'm not there (yes I have asked that explicitly). The laptop is in the living room and if I stand in the doorway to the living room she cannot use the internet. The other day she had bee on Skype for a few hours when I got home. I was very careful not hover in between her and the router. I sat on the other side of her and still the call became scrambled and inaudible to the point where they could no longer speak, just with my presence in the room. I could give you 100 other stories just the same. It's too consistent not to have something to do with me.
Sorry, yes, I am completely convinced that some how my body is creating interference. I know there are lots of things out there that say nothing about the potential of human interference but I have a history of mixing strangely with electronics. Long ago, in the age of modems I had a modem that refused to connect if I was sitting at the computer. With out fail, if I clicked connect and walked away from the computer it would connect. I don't know if these situations are connected or not, but my own experience has shown I have a strange effect on electronics. (Oh ya, and I work with computers, go figure)
Hmmm, Of course, your digital watch goes wachy on you wrist. Your TV goes crazy when you try to watch it, right? Try dd-wrt f/w or different channel or relocate your router. Your friend's house is different environment.
I'm not saying that I have an effect on everything, but what I'm experiencing is just too weird. My friend's house is the same cement block construction as mine and he gets almost full signal going through 2 solid walls, on top of the fact that I didn't effect the signal.
That would be hardware version 1.5. Current version is 1.5.01 build 013, 02/03/2010 The release notes mumble that built 13 fixes: -Change wireless broadcast/multicast data rate from 11Mbps to 1Mbps. which might have an effect if your using a hidden SSID.
I have 2 customers using this router. One is a coffee shop sharing a cable modem connection with heavy usage. No problems, but I have found that I need to keep up to date on the firmware updates as every release seems to add new minor bugs. I don't like the internal antennas, but they work well enough indoors.
Start here:
On the Wireless -> Basic Settings page, the 3rd box down is "Wireless Channel". Non-overlapping channels are 1, 6, and 11. Your SSID had better be something unique other than the default "Linksys".
TKIP 8 characters is really too short for adequate security as it can be hacked. AES can be hacked with a brute force attack with only 8 characters. A tolerable minimum is 20 characters.
That's a fairly new laptop that comes with Windoze 7 64 bit. I don't have any experience with it. From past experience, Atheros hardware and drivers seem to be quite good.
No BlueToothe or Wi-Fi so interference from that phone is unlikely. Try leaving it outside when walking into the house just to be sure.
If the inside walls have aluminum foil backed insulation, you'll get some blockage. 30ft should be no problem. How many bars or -dBm signal strength to you get on the Acer laptop when things are working and when things are NOT working?
What happens on the laptop? Any visible changes in signal strength? If you're using a wireless connection manager (I don't know what comes with the Acer), are there any diagnostics available? If you leave the room, does connectivity return?
Well, you sound honest and believable. If you don't mind, I'll ignore the obvious conclusion and work on some more mundane possibilities. My guess(tm) is that there is something else happening and that it's not obvious.
About a year ago, a problem appeared in another newsgroup involving a DSL failure that only occurred at night. Plenty of bizarre theories were offered until it was discovered that the house had some very noisy room light dimmers, that were only turned on at night. Replacing the light dimmers solved the problem.
I had another that would fail when someone turned off the lights. The problem was traced to a floating neutral on the power line. When the lights went off, the voltage to the wall wart would drop slightly, causing the router to go weird. I measured 95VAC to the router wall wart.
So, what are you doing when you enter the house? Turn anything on? Garage door opener, automated cat feeder, wireless bungler alarm, negative ion generator, microwave pop corn, etc???? Are you plugging your cell phone into a charger? Something electronic or electrical has to be changing, but what?
I had a customer like that. I would take a perfectly good working computer, let her use it for a few days, and it would promptly exhibit bizarre and irreproducible symptoms. We even exchanged machines at one point, only to find that the problems stayed with her, and not with the machines. Gremlins, poltergeists, and hauntings I guess.
Yes.
Is the Windoze 7 on the laptop up to date with all the necessary updates?
Do a site survey for interference. The easiest way is to download and install inSSIDer from on your wife's laptop:
Click on "details" to see what it will display. Let it run for a few minutes. Click the mouse anywhere in the inSSIDer window to designate the window "focus". Then hit . Nothing should happen. Open: Programs -> Accessories -> Paint and hit V to paste the image. Save as a JPG file. Post it somewhere on the internet or just email it to me at the address below. That will show how much interference you are getting from neighboring WLAN's. The problem is that it will NOT show any hidden SSID LAN's, so there's no guarantee that there are more. It will also show which channels are hopefully unoccupied.
Drag the Acer laptop to a coffee shop with wi-fi or your friends house and see how it works with and without your presence. If you see the same symptoms, it's something in the laptop. If not, it's possible that the router is defective (but not certain).
Try a different wireless router. Beg, buy, borrow, or steal one. Be sure to unplug your existing router when testing.
Well I went to the Linksys site and downloaded the latest firmware but the version the site gave me was:
1.5.01 build 013, Oct 21 2009
This matches the date in the file name that the site gave me (FW_WRT54G2V1.5_1.5.01.013_US_20091021.bin) but it is not the same as what the site reported being the latest version (the same version as you indicated). It may be that I'm trying to download it from outside the US. I'm currently living in Cape Verde west Africa with the Peace Corps. I don't like to bring this up, because so often people write off any problems like this to the fact that I'm not in the US. Could you try downloading it to see if you get a different version, and if so email it to me?
If all else fails I will try changing the channel, but I guarantee you that where I am there is no overlap with other routers.
The construction around here is pure cement and cement block (or is that concrete not sure) with re-bar only at the corners and in the floor/ceiling. Same thing holds true with my friend's apartment where signal strength is fantastic.
Basically what happens on the laptop is that the network speed just slows way down, as illustrated by the Skype example. On a quick review of the system I did not see any special apps for the wireless management, but she is up and using the computer at the moment. I will look more later to see if I can determine the signal strength. If there are no apps already there, is there a download you would recommend?
Yes, if I leave the signal returns.
I would prefer the mundane, because those we can fix.
No, generally I just walk in and go over to talk about my day and end up getting yelled at (jokingly of course, this has become a very frustrating joke.)
Thank you for being realistic and not snarky, this is a real problem that is causing real frustrations.
Yes, I make sure it is fully up to date.
I just sent you the scan. Let me know if you got it.
That may be difficult but I will ask around. My friend's place is not convenient, it's a 45 min boat ride away.
That may be difficult too, but I will see what I can find.
How long are you married ? When I was young my mere presence provoked a hell of a lot of a reaction in my wife's body. Maybe that reaction is affecting her PC. PS Seriously now, have you tried changing the position of the router ? Or of your wife's wifi adaptor antenna ? This kind of thing is usually caused by antenna placement. There is no way your body will affect the fairly well shielded "innards" of the hardware. []'s
You should be using whatever version is appropriate for Cape Verde (of which I have no knowledge). Wireless rules are different in each country. I get: FW_WRT54G2V1.5_1.5.01.013_US_20091021.bin 1.61MB which is the same as what you've downloaded. The only difference between what you have installed (Build 008) and what you downloaded (Build 013) is the broadcast rate fix, which might be important. I sent you a copy via email.
True, but your location brings up other issues. Outside of the major urban centers, use of 2.4GHz equipment is poorly uncontrolled. It's not unusual to find large rural telephone systems running on frequency hopping spread spectrum systems (i.e. Alvarion) system, covering wide areas with relatively high power. When FHSS meets DSSS, frequency hopping always wins. FHSS also does NOT show up with the typical Wi-Fi scanner. Changing channels also doesn't help because the FHSS systems use the entire 2.400 to 2.483Mhz band. Look for panel antennas that look something like this:
Concrete is a fairly good barrier to 2.4Ghz. I would not expect it to go through a wall. However, there may be plenty of holes to go through or walls suitable for reflections. Difficult to tell from here. If your friends apartment line of sight path is a straight line, while yours is an "L" shaped dogleg, it's not a suitable comparison.
You already have one. Open a DOS window and run: netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid
I think it has the signal strength in there somewhere, maybe. I don't have a Win7 machine handy to check. I'll have one available later tonite.
If not, it should be displayed somewhere in the wireless driver summary. If that fails, the inSSIDer program I mentioned shows the signal strength(s).
Very strange. Unless you have something electronic on your person, or are changing something in the room when you enter, I can't think of a likely cause.
Do you leave the door open? I'm looking for something that has changed when you enter the room, and change back when you leave. Does your wife move the laptop when you enter?
I can usually figure out such things if I were there in person. (Hint: I used to watch magicians and figured out the trick about half the time. Not great, but better than most). Most of the time, it's something really simple and mundane.
Optional and recommended updates. Check if there's anything involving the wireless driver that might have been missed.
Nothing has arrived yet. I checked my ISP's spam filter... nothing. Please try again. Did you see any access points other than your own? I'll be gone for the day and will not be able to get back to this until tomorrow.
If testing by substitution or a wi-fi hotspot is not possible, try finding someone with a laptop and inviting them to your house for a quick test. Setup their laptop roughly the same way as your wife's laptop, and see what happens. Try it with both her laptop running, and her laptop turned off. What I'm trying to do is isolate the cause to either the laptop or the router.
Well, it's a change from the usual boring problems, complaints, and politics.
We ordered the router in the States so it's the same as what you have have. By the way, the firmware update seems to have resolved the problem. She hasn't been online as much today but we did a few tests and the signal is more consistent. Honestly I can't believe I didn't think of that one a while ago.
If we encounter more problems I'll get back to the rest of the questions, but the above get's me to something else that got lost in all of this. The signal strength in general seems to be weak for the distance and orientation of the laptop vs router.
My friend's apartment is actually not line of site. They have exactly the same type of construction and they are easily able to go through multiple walls and the ceiling. They also live in an apartment but theirs wraps both sides of the main stair well. The router is in a large open room on one side of the stairwell and the computer is in a room on the very opposite side, about 50 feet away on a straight line, receiving three to four bars. They are on the top floor and can also get signal on the roof.
With our setup the laptop hovers between one and two bars and the laptop needs to stay fairly close to the door or we can't get any signal. This has not changed with the firmware update.
Personally I don't think there is anything that can be done about this. I was reading up on signal strength and it seems like antenna replacement is a good way to go. Do they use standard connections for antennas? As in, if I get a router that has a replaceable antenna it will be easy to find another that fits the connector? It seems like buying a router with a replaceable antenna might be a good insurance policy for bad reception in a given environment. Would that be true?
You might well have more metal in your walls and ceiling, which would more greatly attenuate the signal.
Sounds like the only signal is coming through the door.
Relocation of the router might well help. Try moving it, ideally into the same room (possibly by means of mains/powerline networking). Another option is a better antenna on the router, either replacing the one(s) you have now, or by means of a reflector. See the Wiki below.
I'm going to give the parabolic Pringles reflector a shot. Seems like it would stay together better than foil on cardboard. It can only help, and the router is at the outer wall, so it only makes sense.
I was thinking about your statement that the signal in my friend's place comes through his door. If this is true, doorway size may have a lot to do with it, tho the door to the room that has the computer is normal sized, the other doors are about 5 feet wide. It's a large open apartment, and ours is not. All of the doorways are pretty typical, about 3 feet wide or so.
If we had more time here I might experiment with the powerline networking but we only have a month before we return the the States. As far as powerline stuff goes, what is a good reference/research site for that? It would be very handy in the future.
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