There are many causes for poor wireless connections, and many solutions:
First of all, give your network a unique SSID. Do not use "linksys". If you are using "linksys" you may be trying to connect to your neighbour’s router. Also set "SSID Broadcast" to "enabled". This will help your computer find and lock on to your router's signal.
Poor wireless connections are often caused by radio interference from other 2.4 GHz devices. This includes wireless phones, wireless baby monitors, microwave ovens, wireless mice and keyboards, wireless speakers, and your neighbour’s wireless network. In rare cases, Bluetooth devices can interfere. Even some 5+ GHz phones also use the 2.4 Ghz band. Unplug these devices, and see if that corrects your problem.
In your router, try a different channel. There are 11 channels in the 2.4 GHz band. Usually channel 1, 6, or 11 works best. Check out your neighbors, and see what channel they are using. Because the channels overlap one another, try to stay at least +5 or -5 channels from your strongest neighbours. For example, if you have a strong neighbour on channel 9, try any channel 1 through 4.
Try to locate the router about 4 to 6 feet above the floor, in an open area. Do not locate it behind your monitor or near other computer equipment or speakers. The antenna should be vertical.
For wireless g routers, try setting the "Transmission Rate" to 54 Mbps.
If you still have trouble, download and install the latest firmware for your router. After a firmware upgrade, you must reset the router to factory defaults, then setup the router again from scratch. If you saved a router configuration file, DO NOT use it.
I think you can one more settings on your wireless Router. Login to your Router setup page. Click on Wireless Tab , and Click on Advance wireless Settings, and under that you can change the Beacon Interval to 50, Fragmentation Threshold : 2306 and RTS Threshold : 2307 and click on save settings. This should solve your problem.
These settings gave a new life to my wireless router, signal strength has improved and I do not have to go to another room just to restart the router to get it working again. But can you please tell me what really are these settings and are these optimal or is there still room for improvement.
RTS, Adjusting the "RTS Threshold" can help alleviate Packet loss. If one of the Wireless computers can obtain an IP address but can not ping, then set the "RTS Threshold" to 2304. After changing the value click on the Apply button on the "Advanced Wireless" screen, then a page will appear prompting that the settings were successful, and when that page appears, click on the Continue button .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beacon Interval Adjusting the "Beacon Interval" can help association problems. If there is a wireless adapter that is able to see the access point, but is unable to get locked, try adjusting the "Beacon Interval" to 50. After changing the value click on the Apply button on the "Advanced Wireless" screen, then a page will appear prompting that the settings were successful, and when that page appears, click on the Continue button .
Fragmentation threshold Adjusting the "Fragmentation Threshold" can help association problems. If there is a wireless adapter that is able to see the access point, but is unable to get locked, try adjusting the "Fragmentation Threshold" to 2304. After changing the value click on the Apply button on the "Advanced Wireless" screen, then a page will appear prompting that the settings were successful, and when that page appears, click on the Continue button .
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This leaves nothing to do apart from tweaking the advanced wireless settings to marginally improve problems related to weak signal and/or RF interference, so I've been reading everything I can find on these boards and elsewhere about changing Fragmentation Threshold, RTS threshold, and beacon interval. However, I'm left with the following questions.
1) There seems to be disagreement about Fragmentation threshold and RTS threshold settings. Some (including the Linksys Technical Troubleshooting Wizard) recommend that both be set to 2304. I have also seen people insist that Fragmentation be set to 2306 and RTS to 2304. A few recommend 2306 for both thresholds, and some advise 2306 for Fragmentation and 2307 for RTS (though by my limited understanding, it simply disables RTS when the value is higher than the fragmentation threshold value). Which of these settings is best? And more importantly, WHY is it the best? Generally, I understand what the settings do, but I am reluctant to change them when there doesn't seem to be a consensus about exactly what they should be.
2) With respect to beacon interval, I've seen both 75ms and 50ms recommended to replace the default of 100ms. For a network of my size (4 APs, averaging 5 users each), will increasing the number of beacons (and hence the RF traffic even when the network is idle) pose a problem? Also, I'm a little less clear as to how this would improve connectivity.
Since these settings will affect all users, I want to make sure that I'm using settings that will be beneficial on the whole. The last thing I want to do is inadvertently make things worse. .
