Wireless Network Range Demishing?

[Mitsu3000gt]

I've got a D-Link DIR-655, and I live in a 1010 sqft condo, so it certainly isn't huge. Absolutely love this router until recently.

I had to move everything out of my computer room for renovations, and when I moved it all back, to exactly the same spot, my wireless network range now sucks. I have max bars on my phone (Galaxy Nexus) in my computer room, of course, but even 10-15 feet away I drop to half bars. In my bedroom, about 20 feet away, even if I leave the door open, I get 1-2 bars but my phone "avoids due to poor connection". I've never had this issue before. I would think that router could EASILY cover my condo in wireless, just like it has been doing until recently.

I don't think it's the phone, because at friends' houses I have awesome connection all throughout their houses, over much larger distances.

The antennas are all screwed in tight, and I've tried various angles.

Any suggestions other than moving the router closer? I shouldn't have to do that given the small area I'm covering.

Thanks!

[firebane]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
I've got a D-Link DIR-655, and I live in a 1010 sqft condo, so it certainly isn't huge. Absolutely love this router until recently.

I had to move everything out of my computer room for renovations, and when I moved it all back, to exactly the same spot, my wireless network range now sucks. I have max bars on my phone (Galaxy Nexus) in my computer room, of course, but even 10-15 feet away I drop to half bars. In my bedroom, about 20 feet away, even if I leave the door open, I get 1-2 bars but my phone "avoids due to poor connection". I've never had this issue before. I would think that router could EASILY cover my condo in wireless, just like it has been doing until recently.

I don't think it's the phone, because at friends' houses I have awesome connection all throughout their houses, over much larger distances.

The antennas are all screwed in tight, and I've tried various angles.

Any suggestions other than moving the router closer? I shouldn't have to do that given the small area I'm covering.

Thanks!

Bars on a phone/laptop are a very poor representation of what your signal is actually like.

First thing to try would be run the router on a different channel. Most by default run on Channel 6 and this channel gets overly saturated. Go into your router settings and change it to like channel 8 or 10... less common.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by firebane


Bars on a phone/laptop are a very poor representation of what your signal is actually like.

First thing to try would be run the router on a different channel. Most by default run on Channel 6 and this channel gets overly saturated. Go into your router settings and change it to like channel 8 or 10... less common.

Well the bars drop, but the speed does too. I can get over 2MB/s DL right beside my router, and it drops to like 500KB/sec 10 feet away. Also, when I'm about 20 feet away my phone "avoids due to poor connection".

Also I checked and I'm on channel 3 already, transmit power is "high", and channel width is 20 MHz. Firmware is up to date as well.

Thanks!

[dragonone]

anything to account for interference? I've been reading to use channel 11 instead but maybe even try a hard reset. are your antennas in the correct orientation for maximum range?

the 655 has been solid for me for a long time, but its range was never the greatest. i've been looking at these amped routers. reviews seem solid.

also, are you basing this issue solely from your phone? can you get -db #'s from both your phone and say a laptop to compare? like above said, bars are very inaccurate.

[TimH]

Move to channel 1,6 or 11. Those are the only channels on 2.4ghz that don't interfere with each other (cause co-channel interference). You're likely causing adjacent channel interference with a neighbor of yours and degrading your connection. I would try 1 or 11 since most home routers default to 6 out of the box so it's likely that channel 6 is congested. Hopefully everyone else around are using 1,6,11 or your going to have issues interfering with them unless you are at least 5 channels away from them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_80..._compatibility

[harv91]

Originally posted by TimH
Move to channel 1,6 or 11. Those are the only channels on 2.4ghz that don't interfere with each other (cause co-channel interference). You're likely causing adjacent channel interference with a neighbor of yours and degrading your connection. I would try 1 or 11 since most home routers default to 6 out of the box so it's likely that channel 6 is congested. Hopefully everyone else around are using 1,6,11 or your going to have issues interfering with them unless you are at least 5 channels away from them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_80..._compatibility

This!

I've found for some reason running on channel 11 was the best for me, so i left it on 11

[Xtrema]

There is a wifi analyzer app for Android will tell you what channel and signal strength in your area.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Thanks guys. I switched to channel "1" (although my router warned me that this could cause security issues??) and it seems to now work everywhere, when before it would avoid the connection. Channel 11 looked really crowded, which is why I picked channel 1.

I got the WiFi analyzer app and channel 6 was indeed crowded, as well as channel 3 which I was on previously. It recommended channe 14, as nobody was on that, but I have no idea if I can switch to that or not. I seemed to be on "autoscan" before as well, where the router picked channel 3 by itself.

My phone is the only wireless thing I use in my house, so that is what I am basing everything off of.

Anyways, the goal was simply to have wireless everywhere, because even when "weak" it works great on my phone, and so far it looks like it's working. I will report back though, thanks again.