Downloading at high speeds makes my wireless network connection cut out? Help!?

Question

I have a wireless network at home. My laptop is connected, and I have found that when I am downloading files at high speeds (150Kb/s and higher) the wireless network connection becomes "unavailable". I have to reset the router every time it cuts out to fix and bring the network back up. Why is this happening?

Answer 1

That first response is ludicrous, wireless speeds only at 16 or so Kbps, what a joke! lol

Ok, now to address your issue. I too have had my connection interupted when downloading or uploading files to the Internet at fast speeds. I was finally totally unable to upload photos to my photo site. My connection kept getting cut off, and I had to reboot my router, and sometimes my modem too.

One day, my daughter was visiting and she is a night owl. She spent the entire night uploading family photos to her Online album. I wondered why she could do this uniterupted, and so tried it late at night too, and didn't have a single problem.

My conclusion was that my Online site was having heavy traffic durring the periods I was attempting to upload or download files. So, I started to do these things different times, and found the best times to do so without losing my connection.

It was not the fault of my connection, but the sites Server could not support the traffic load it was receiving at certain times of the day. Until they updated their servers I had to use different, less heavy traffic periods to do my Online uploading and downloading.

Try downloading at off peak times of the day and see if the issue keeps happening or if it stops. If it stops, then it is not your connections fault, but the site lacking the servers for that level of traffic. You can notify the website(s) of the issue and hopefully they will add some servers to handle the extra load during peak traffic. Until then, just use off peak times to download your files.

If this keeps occurring even during off peak hours, then it may be your connection. Check out this website for trobleshooting, and consider contacting both your ISP and your routers manufacturers technical assistance:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/maintain/troubleshoot.mspx

Answer 2

I had exactly the same problem. I complained to my ISP and they filed a report to BT who came to my house to check the line. They had a software utility that shows the actual download speed of the connection and also the maximum capability of the connection. The capability of my connection was 4 times higher than what I was actually getting. It turns out that my line had been regraded at the request of my ISP, even though my ISP denied this. I had been taken off DSLmax and put on a lower fixed speed connection. The diagnostic software also shows the type of connection at the exchange. The only problem I had was getting a BT engineer to fix the problem. Because of restructuring the BT engineer who visits is only responsible for faults between the exchange and your home, not inside the exchange. I had 4 different engineers visit my home, the last one finally took pity on me and agreed to sort out the problem in the exchange (he had to reset my connection on the DSlam). Then bingo, high speed downloads restored. Hope this helps

Answer 3

Wireless limits your bandwidth so you really need to hook up directly to your modem to get the most out of your downloading. Ethernet cable is pretty cheap so if you can't be next to the router run some Cat5e or Cat6 to where you want to be downloading from!

Answer 4

normal wirless routers only run at about 18kb