Hey folks, I'm looking for a little help w/ my wireless setup. I'm experiencing frequent signal loss (roughly 2-4 mins of outage for every 20 mins of use), and need to figure out what to try next.
I've got a Linksys WRT54G AP running in B-only mode, and my client is an IBM X31 laptop w/ built-in Intel ("centrino") wireless. I currently live on the top floor of a three-story brownstone in Brooklyn. My AP sits in the very front room, and I'm trying to connect to it from as close as the next room (no doors between us - only roughly 14 ft away). While I'm successful about 80% of the time, there are frequent periods of complete signal loss. I'm not talking about a diminished, lower bitrate signal -- it's as if the AP disappears. Of course, it doesn't. It's not as if power is being cut to he AP, or it's resetting itself, or anything else power related. It's more likely to happen when I transfer large amounts of data. For example, I often use Remote Desktop to connect to my desktop PC. If start scrolling around large images, it's much more likely that I'll get a disconnect. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was due to a neighbor's microwave or cordless phone -- it's less likely to happen at night. My questions are: 1. How do I know which end is having the problem? Is the laptop having a hard time seeing the AP, or is it vice-versa? Are there tools which could help me figure this out? 2. I've already bought a 6dB omni for the AP -- no help. Is the answer to boost power on the AP to overcome the interfering signal? 3. Are there any settings within the WRT54G's admin tools which could help here? Things like "CTS Protection Mode" and the like? 4. I've tried changing channels to 1,3,6,10,11... no difference. There are at least a dozen others APs which my laptop can see -- perhaps these are the cause of my problems? I've unplugged my 2.4GhZ DSS cordless -- no change. What next?!? Thanks for everone's input! Jeff -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/