WiFi Connection Issues

Current setup:

Virgin Media Broadband
Netgear Router
1 PC Wirelessly connected
1 Macbook Wirelessly connected
1 PC connected by ethernet cable
1 iPod Touch Wirelessly connected

Wireless Configuration:

WEP Encrypted

Problem:

Randomly, the wireless devices will fail to connect to the network despite the network appearing in the list of available networks.

I previously thought this was due to my old Linksys router, so i replaced it with a Netgear router but the problem has returned.

Part of me thinks that something is interfering as occasionally i can fix the problem by changing the channel that the router broadcasts on.

Is it possible that temporary interference is causing the router to 'freeze' on that channel??? It's doing my head in as there appears no logical solution. I can't reposition the router due to the location of the modem but nothing in the house can interfere....

do you have a plasma telly on near by? these used to interfere like crazy as they pump out all manner of frequencies

Just a thought

Nope, there's nothing within 5m that could even possibly interfere, and it happens even when possible culprits are switched off

The weird part is that when it drops the connection, the network is still visible but i cannot reconnect.

Changing the router channel resolves the issue. At the moment i'm basically flicking between channel 6 and 1 on a daily basis

hmmm.... nobody elses network interfering?

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wifi ... hannel.htm

just swapped to Sky Fraudband - seems to only work with their bloody wifi router!

so my Netgear RangeMax (the one with the sparkly blue lights) is now redundent..

Depending on which way the wind blows, i can detect upto 6 or 7 other secure networks, but i'd assume they'd all be broadcasting on a fixed channel so i'd expect there to be permenant interference on a certain frequency rather than randomly across all frequencies?

could they be sitting at their pc, on some forum, asking why their wifi is up the spout as you change channels...

I hope so

could be a number of issues as we have already established what model is the netgear router and whats the wifi cards used to connect the other devices or are they all internals if so try to find out what they are i.e Broadcom, Airport ect.

to get a little bit more detailed info on the other broadcasting networks around you use netstumbler it will tell you what channel they are all on and will allow you to see if a channel range isnt being used that you could try to cut the interference. www.netstumbler.com.

Also not a bit fan of WEP you router will have a thing called ACL list on it this is a list allowing you to add the MAC address of each wifi device you allow to access the network this is like putting a man on the door and saying if you name aint on the guest list you aint getting in, WEP can be hacked on its own keep it active as it also encrypt your data something that ACL on its own doesnt do.

Also posted that disk off to you today to the works address you give me let me know you get it

I'll try that netstumbler thing, cheers

Can't remember the type of Netgear router off the top of my head, i think it's this one:

http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_cable ... wgt624.php

But it might be the next one down, the 'Wireless-G'.

Each connected device is differant, my Macbook and Touch have internal WiFi cards but the PC has a Belkin adaptor. They are all affected in the same way. The wired connection to the router never has any issues.

Not sure what you mean about the ACL thing... I have it set up so any device can connect with the 128bit WEP key (26 character hexadecimal), so yes the router is storing MAC addresses for the connected devices but i'm not having to tell the router what they are? I thought 128bit WEP was the most secure way to protect a home network?