My wireless connection keeps going on & off and sometimes not available. How do I fix this?

Question

I have NTL cable broadband and a netgear wireless router which has enabled me to access at times my wireless connection through my laptop. I have an acer aspire 5612 laptop which is only one week old yet I am suffering bad wireless network problems. The laptop is my only connection yet the majority of the time I cannot find netgear on my available networks or when it does connect, it goes off very frequently. Can anybody help me with how I can fix this as when I do connect it is always a strong signal?

Answer 1

I reckon you've already checked that your wired connection with NTL is OK? Things to check:

- are you very distant from your wireless router ?
- do you notice any irregularites with the router indicatorswhen you cannot locate in available networks ?
- do you have other wireless signal tranmitters near the router or in the path of the wireless signal ?
- do you have eletrical appliances (esp. microwave) near the wireless path

If you go to a shop, they'll probably just try to sell you a signal booster or the like. I recommend you check your environment first. Putting the router in an elevated poistion may help sometimes.

Answer 2

Have you any other 'wireless' devices?

Have you a wireless TV sender, the kind of thing that lets you send your TV or Sky upstairs to another TV? Where do you sit when you try an connect or where is your router - anywhere near a microwave?

It sounds as though you have an interference problem. Can you see other access points? It might be worth going into the configuration of your router and changing the channel, in cas someone else is using that one nearby? Try moving the router to another location in the house, and see if that helps.

Answer 3

On your laptop if you go to your my network connection in your control panel. You will be able to setup your connection to your router using the routers SSID and any encryption security setting, from there it will add it as a preferred network and your laptop will connect to your router automatically from when it is in range.

Problems can also be caused if you are using another wireless device on the same frequency i.e. a cordless phone or wireless tv sender.

Answer 4

ehh..all the above could well be right. But try this.

Go to your network connections. Click 'wireless network connection' and chose 'change settings for this connection'.

On the 'wireless networks' tab, make sure to tick the box 'Use windows to manage my wireless network settings'.

This did the trick for me. Sometimes the software that comes with e.g. BT broadband just tries to connect up to any available network.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I had exactly the same issues when i set up my home network...after many hour trying to sort it, a friend told me to remove all traces of Norton antivirus from my computer and replace it with AVG free edition...guess what..it works a treat and has never disconnected since.
If you dont have Norton then you must have some protection built into your router...try disarming it, provided your computers are protected and try that....most problems are caused by conflicting software...usually antivirus.
Hope that helps.

Answer 6

there is probably some sort of interferance, maybe your tv or radio, or mobile phone

different channels may work for you, look at the routers config information

if not, maybe look at where in the house you are suffering from these problems and look into getting a signal booster or two.

failing that, contact Netgear... =S

Answer 7

Hi Kim, I have an Acer relative, a Gateway, and noticed that the connection strength is not as strong as my HP laptop's was.... using the same location in the house. I guess the only solution is to move your new laptop to another spot in the house or to move your router.... so that the router and laptop are closer together or have fewer walls between them.

Answer 8

Try moving the wireless router to different positions like further away from power bricks and cordless telephones.

Answer 9

Try checking for any firmware updates for the devices, router or wireless nic.

Answer 10

have you been having bad weather. sometimes this plays a factor in it. the same thing happened to me yesterday because of the weather. once it cleared up my connection came back up. also if you live near an airport this could be a problem also. I hope this helps with your problem. if it doesn't try resetting the modem.