Wi Fi Problem, or is it?

[AZOffaly]

Well lads,

Quick one for ye. I have Vodafone broadband and phone in Tipp, and I've started seeing a problem which occured a while ago, and I thought I had resolved. Before I spend any money and still stay disappointed I was wondering if any of ye had experience or tips.

The Problem(s)

I seem to have two problems, both of which (I think) are related to the ADSL Modem/Router which Vodafone supplied me with a few years ago now. Both problems manifest in similar ways on my wireless device, but seem to be different.

The First, and most common problem, is the wifi signal dropping. This happens most often in rooms furthest from the router (I know, I know) but it never used to happen until relatively recently (6 months or so). I logged onto the router and forced it to broadcast on a specific channel, and that seemed to work for a while, but it seems to be happening again now, and more frequently. Could/should this be happening if I was doing more heavy streaming (NFL Gamepass for eg) or do I just notice it more because I'm trying to use things like that with my new tablet?

I got a free ware 'scanner' called Xirrus Wi-Fi inspector to see if any of the neighbours are broadcasting on the same channel, but I don't see anything particularly impactful there.

So, part 1 of my question is : Could the WiFi transmittor part of my router be getting worse, or might it be struggling to keep up with the streaming I am trying to do?
Part 2 is : Why is the signal seemingly weaker now than it has been, the bedroom used to be able to pick up a signal no problem, and now it's a lot more flakey, with no structural work done to the house. I struggle to stream radio now, which never had any issues.


The Second Problem is I think at the Modem part of the box. Every so often, but again seemingly increasing in frequency, I get the vodafone red screen which is basically telling me the internet is dead. I do not get this on my first problem, as I can still browse the internet on a laptop connected to the modem via CAT5 Ethernet cable. However, in this problem, the laptop and the browsers on the mobile devices give me the same screen, and the wi-fi signal on the devices looks fine.

My question here is similar : Could the modem be struggling with the downloads or streaming? I am getting about 6.5mb download. Or is it just calving? And would replacing it make any difference.

If replacing would help either problem, I'd do it no hassle, but I don't want to get my hopes up, change the modem/router and find the same problem. This is urgent guys, College Football and the NFL are back!

[Declan]

AZ same issues with vodafone in Dunshaughlin particularly over the last week - got a replacement modem a few weeks ago and I'm being told that internet connection is fine but cannot access any sites all weekend - Their customer care is disastrous

[AZOffaly]

Hi Declan,

This has been going on for several weeks now, so I doubt it's the same issue. A reboot and it works for me, for either problem, for another small while before having one of the two issues again.

[Billys Boots]

I had the same problem - we found that the problem was with the phone connection to the house, it had become weathered and was cutting out regularly.  The eircom man fixed it by stripping down the connection wires and housing the connection which hadn't' happened when the house was built.  Sorry for the non-tech suggestion, but it's worth checking. 

[AZOffaly]

'Tis indeed worth checking. How would a man check that, did you have to get the eircom lad out?

[Billys Boots]

I got eircom to check the line coming to the house - that was fine.  Then I did some internal checks from the incoming point - changing cables, turning on and off various devices etc., so the eircom person could see if anything was coming up on their system.  Nothing was showing up so they said that they'd send someone out to check on the proviso that they, eircom, were responsible for any costs in fixing the connection to the house and that I was responsible for any repairs internally. 

[Bud Wiser]

Can you tell us the make/model number of the router.  Myself worked in Eircom for about 17 yrs and anything they had was pure shite, and still is. Vodafone would not be much better.  One of the problems could be if the modem has power saving settings.  If it has then the power it transmits at can be 20%, 40%, 80% etc and these would be set for a pretty average house/small office type scenario.

If Power saving was set up on default as standard then the yoke would drop from 80% or 100% after 1am or whatever. However, depending on where Vodafone got them in the first place they might also default to a country that is not in the GMT timezone meaning that while you are snoozing the modem is wide awake blasting a good signal and when you want to use it you have a signal so weak it keeps dropping.     Go to Start,  CMD and type in ipconfig and log into the modem with a cable or tell us the brand name of the modem.

I am using a Dynamode ADSL411N and after a lot of head scratching found that was my problem.