Wireless Routers (home) - Slows to a halt, pulling my hair out!

[Fleetwood]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

I've had this for a few weeks now and it's starting to do my head in now, so thought I'd post! The wireless starts off fine, then it starts to get slower and slower and eventually crawls to a complete halt until I reboot all the equipment, including having to unplug-replug the USB adapter - it's the same for my laptop as well, and - only a few occasions however - my phone, even with their own built-in antennas - Physical connections, however, are absolutely fine and dandy and aren't affected. It's slow to the point I can't ping the router ('Request timed out') and can't access the web panel either, what the hell am I doing wrong with these things?! I've currently got a Linksys E1200 and a Belkin Wireless N USB adapter (the old 'big' style that sits on the extender,) is it the fact I'm using cheap equipment and it can't cope with the amount of data going round? (I have a brother who festers on xbox live and I do a lot of online gaming too or video streaming)

 

Just thought I'd ask, not expecting miracles but I can hope!! (Before anyone says it, it's currently impractical for me to have a permanent physical connection hence why I'm stuck with wireless for the time being )

Edited April 23, 2014 by Fleetwood

[elsiegee40]

Having experienced similar issues... in my case with a teenage son permanently connected to his xbox, we ended up buying Devolo homeplugs. Homeplugs use your mains electricity connection enabling you to get a wired connection around the house from any mains socket.

 

The xbox is now wired up as are laptops in two bedrooms with which struggled with wifi signals. They are not cheap, but it might be worth a try... I siuggest you just get a pair for you to use with you r laptop and let your brother struggle with wifi

[Fleetwood]

Having experienced similar issues... in my case with a teenage son permanently connected to his xbox, we ended up buying Devolo homeplugs. Homeplugs use your mains electricity connection enabling you to get a wired connection around the house from any mains socket.

 

The xbox is now wired up as are laptops in two bedrooms with which struggled with wifi signals. They are not cheap, but it might be worth a try... I siuggest you just get a pair for you to use with you r laptop and let your brother struggle with wifi

 

Haha cheers - I've seen those Homeplugs before but I wasn't sure if they were just a gimmick that was overpriced, have they been reliable for you? And are they 'friendly' on the electricity bill?

[fairm010]

I use TP link homeplugs at home, was about £40 for the sender and receiveer. And it doesnt touch your electricity bill as nothing leaves the meter. It just uses the wiring as data cabling.

[elsiegee40]

Haha cheers - I've seen those Homeplugs before but I wasn't sure if they were just a gimmick that was overpriced, have they been reliable for you? And are they 'friendly' on the electricity bill?

 

They are definitely not a gimmick and they definitely don't hurt the electricity bill. My Devolos have been brilliant; no reliability issues.

[Fleetwood]

Fantastic, I'll buy myself a pair on payday! Cheers both

[mac_shinobi]

They are definitely not a gimmick and they definitely don't hurt the electricity bill. My Devolos have been brilliant; no reliability issues.

 

elsiegee40 or anyone else - I have seen these for quite a few years but was just curious what makes are the better ones to get ?

[elsiegee40]

I was recommended Devolo and so got those. I don't have experience of the other brands. I suspect reviews on websites like Amazon will tell you quite a lot if you don't get many replies here.

[Danp]

My Sky router kept doing this, I bought a £12 TP Link gig switch and stuck that next to the router and have all my wired devices running from that (PS3, Media PC, Sky box) and since then the router has been fine for the longest period I can remember. I was having to restart the router every 4-5 days but the last time was about 4-5 weeks ago.

[mac_shinobi]

My Sky router kept doing this, I bought a £12 TP Link gig switch and stuck that next to the router and have all my wired devices running from that (PS3, Media PC, Sky box) and since then the router has been fine for the longest period I can remember. I was having to restart the router every 4-5 days but the last time was about 4-5 weeks ago.

 

I'm with sky and there SR102 or whichever model it is seems to be ok on wireless although it is only 2.4ghz so have disabled Wireless on the sky router and use my AEBS to deal with wireless and if I need to transfer any large amount of data over the network I plug all the devices into the AEBS hard wired which is gigabit

 

AEBS ( Apple Airport Extreme Base Station ), the one I have is the 5th gen so dual band ( 2.4 and 5ghz )

[abillybob]

Invest in a decent Asus Router with 5Ghz AC Support. Since having it it's been the greatest bit of kit and so many features you couldn't possibly use all of them. Mine cost around £100 mark but so worth it never had to restart been on since I've had it and we have a LOT of Wi-Fi devices!

[Fleetwood]

Invest in a decent Asus Router with 5Ghz AC Support. Since having it it's been the greatest bit of kit and so many features you couldn't possibly use all of them. Mine cost around £100 mark but so worth it never had to restart been on since I've had it and we have a LOT of Wi-Fi devices!

 

Sounds great, I'll give it a look! what wireless adapter do you use for your PC (USB or PCIe?) Only asking as this belkin one I have is getting on a bit now, might as well upgrade to an AC one if I get that Asus router!

 

EDIT: Any chance you could let me know which model you have? Only when you've got a spare minute or so to check, cheers!

Edited April 24, 2014 by Fleetwood

[cpjitservices]

I bought 4 homeplugs, 2 pairs cost me £28 .. from currys online ebay store, I use these along with my cheap knackered thomson / zyxel router.

 

Have you tried changing the wireless channel on your router ?

[Fleetwood]

I bought 4 homeplugs, 2 pairs cost me £28 .. from currys online ebay store, I use these along with my cheap knackered thomson / zyxel router.

 

Have you tried changing the wireless channel on your router ?

 

Unfortunately I have, even checking with inSSIDer to see who's using what, it makes no difference I did consider if it was the low range/signal, but even after moving all my PC downstairs and connecting with the wireless it was still painfully slow/crawling, it still is right now.. so no idea. I has to be the router, to be expected since it was around £40 so you get what you pay for I guess! Time to do upgrade to AC royalty I think!

[abillybob]

Sounds great, I'll give it a look! what wireless adapter do you use for your PC (USB or PCIe?) Only asking as this belkin one I have is getting on a bit now, might as well upgrade to an AC one if I get that Asus router!

 

EDIT: Any chance you could let me know which model you have? Only when you've got a spare minute or so to check, cheers!

 

I have the RT-AC68U, but as I only have DSL broadband I bought a TP Link modem that sits next to it. My little brother had a Belkin dongle and all he did was experience problems with the thing. I upgraded him to an Asus Wi-Fi USB Dongle with 5Ghz support from PC World and that works flawlessly. Although I would almost always go for a PCI one with 5Ghz support we use the in the school TP-Link ones from Amazon and they work very well never any issues.

 

In my laptop I have a Broadcomm AC Wifi adapter and that works really well one of the best in our house and is super quick when transferring files from my home server! What I would say though is upgrade the router when you get it but don't jump from for example version 1 to the latest version 6 update from 1 to 2 then to 3 and so on until you get to the latest version otherwise you can really mess the router up I found out the hard way and had to send it back.

[Fleetwood]

I have the RT-AC68U, but as I only have DSL broadband I bought a TP Link modem that sits next to it. My little brother had a Belkin dongle and all he did was experience problems with the thing. I upgraded him to an Asus Wi-Fi USB Dongle with 5Ghz support from PC World and that works flawlessly. Although I would almost always go for a PCI one with 5Ghz support we use the in the school TP-Link ones from Amazon and they work very well never any issues.

 

In my laptop I have a Broadcomm AC Wifi adapter and that works really well one of the best in our house and is super quick when transferring files from my home server! What I would say though is upgrade the router when you get it but don't jump from for example version 1 to the latest version 6 update from 1 to 2 then to 3 and so on until you get to the latest version otherwise you can really mess the router up I found out the hard way and had to send it back.

 

Hm, I may have to consider the 66U rather than the 68U - will see what the wallet says! But looks great, and thanks for the upgrading tip. Just checked and they all all support PPPoE as well so that's a relief (I'm on BT Infinity, unfortunately!)

 

EDIT: Turns out I'm getting my petrol expenses back this month so the 68U is on the cards, yay! It will go along with this beauty: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/networking/networking/wireless-cards-adapters/asus-pce-ac68-wireless-pcie-card-21835833-pdt.html

Edited April 24, 2014 by Fleetwood