Slow WiFi

[mreber]

Over the past few weeks, my WiFi connection seems to have weakened and slowed down. I've done some speed tests, and when my computer is connected to WiFi, I get anywhere from 3 - 6 Mbps...usually 4. I've connected directly to my cable modem, and directly to the ports in my router, and a speed test will give me above 25 Mbps for both. I have my router in an entertainment cabinet about 15 feet away from the computer, with no obstructions besides the cabinet door. My cell phone has trouble getting a WiFi signal if I'm upstairs from the router. This used to not be an issue.

I've checked the router firmware - it's up to date. I've used inSSIDer to look at the wireless channels being used in my area. I live in a city, so there are a decent amount of signals in my area. Channel 5 looked like the most open, so I switched to that channel. I really haven't seen any improvements. The router has internal antennas, so I can't switch them to better/stronger ones.

I really don't see many settings to tweak on the router. I've seen internet cites saying to increase the router's power, but none of the router settings allow me to do that. Besides changing the channel from auto to 5, that's really the only thing I have done. The router is a Netgear WNR3500.

 

[DistraughtSysop]

The two biggest things that I can think of are interference and hardware failure. How long have you had the router, and what's the make & model?

When you look at inSSIDer, how saturated are channels 1, 6, and 11? You generally want to stay away from the channels with the most networks. For example, you might see fewer networks on channel 5, but if there's a ton that are on 6 then being on 5 won't help much - you'd want to be on 1 or 11, depending on which one has fewer networks close to it.

 

[mreber]

Router is a Netgear WNR3500 (mentioned in first post). It's less than a year old.

inSSIDer shows a fair number of networks each at 1, 6, and 11. But the networks at 6 are the weakest. Looking at the graph that it produces, 5 has the biggest open window.

 

[DistraughtSysop]

It sounds like you might need a hardware change.

First I would restore the router to factory settings; if the signal is still weak then I'd try either a new router or a wireless extender to improve coverage.

 

[JBoss45]

If switching routers doesn't work, make sure that your device driver for your network card is up to date. I've run into that problem myself where my wifi signal has slowed down. Updating my drivers seemed to work.