Do you have a home WIFI diagnostic flowchart?

I figured this was a much better question than asking why my wifi is slow to connect even after I reset my router and stuff.

Better wifi cards are faster... but like, paypal & ebay shipping labels NEVER work, ALWAYS time out.

What should I do to figure out problems like these, rather than giving a bunch of "FWIW" info? (there's a large metal box full of wires in my alley that looks like it fell off my telephone pole. this is true.)

 

I will assume 'slow to connect' means that it takes forever to connect, but it is still able to connect after forever has passed. Some of these will also work if the card cannot connect at all. However this is more for general troubleshooting, might not answer your question directly

1. Check drivers and connections, make sure the LAN connection to the modem from the router are solid.
2. Reinstall drivers however you want it. The safe way would be to uninstall via Control Panel and/or Device Manager, then run Driver Sweeper in safe mode and ensure the driver for the wifi card is gone, then reinstall using the latest driver available.
3. Open up your laptop, check the antenna connection to your wifi card. Is it loose? Are the antennas connected? Is the wire cut or exposed in any way?
4. Connect your computer via LAN. Does it have trouble connecting as well? If yes, then reset your router and/or update its firmware. If this also fails, RMA it. If it does not have trouble connecting via LAN, see below.
5. Are the antennas internal or external? If they are external, are the antennas connected properly and tightly? Remove all the antennas except one, try it and then change the antenna to another. Is any of them working not as well? If yes, RMA.
6. If this all fails, try isolating the problem to the WiFi card or the router. Does another computer in your home work with wifi? If yes, then your wifi card is the problem and you have to get another one. If all your computers cannot connect, see if your modem is the problem (see below) or RMA your router or get a new (better?) one.

This is my general checklist anyway for networking-related problems with wifi and routers, usually it can also mean that there is MAC address filtering enabled and your computer is not in the whitelist, or that there is too much interference in your house.

If the problem lies between the router and the modem, first call your ISP and ask why your internet's dead. Usually they can tell on their side if you're connected, what's the signal quality and if there's anything wrong. If they deny that there is anything wrong and you're 100% sure it has nothing to do with your router or wifi card, ask for a new modem to test, or complain until they agree to check it out just to get you off the phone. Since for this sort of problem there's not a lot you can do, just pester the ISP until they diagnose the problem for you.

Hope this helps, although for the life of me I can't tell how it will help your problem because I am not too sure what your exact problem is

 

Drivers don't apply. I moved to step 6 pretty quickly because there are multiple computers on the network all with the same issue.

My exact problem is making a shipping label with Paypal or Ebay shipping. It ALWAYS times out on WIFI. LAN is fine. Nothing else times out that I've noticed, or if it does it works when I reload.
We had a guy come out and change which line the DSL came in on recently.

So I guess its my router. I will try messing with antennae and resetting it. It does have 3 antennae. Are wireless N routers and newer routers generally more reliable?

 

Generally yes, wireless-n gives more speed and range as compared to wireless-g. However, wireless-n 5GHz is better than wireless-n 2.4GHz due to interference in the 2.4GHz band.

If your problem is making a shipping label only, and loading other webpages/images/Flash/Javascript is fine, try updating Flash, Java and/or Silverlight (not sure what plugin, if any ebay/paypal uses). Or, try another browser and see if that does anything. Lastly try looking at security permissions, something might be set wrongly on your computer, router or modem.

 

Wireless "n" doesn't have better range- it uses the same frequency and the same transmit power so it can't have better range. What it does offer is better coverage and higher speeds at the same distance from the router (then compared with 802.11g). Range depends on a specific router and its antennas and amplifiers not on the the network being "n" or "g".

As for 5GHz being better- it's sort of is but it also kind of isn't - it's less crowded so it's easier to achieve high throughput on 5GHz but the range is far worse.
As always with radio- the higher the frequency the lower the range so unfortunately 5GHz fades quickly.
That's thy the best solution is a simultaneous dual band router- bets of two worlds.

@niffcreature

What routers is it?

 

Thats the thing - I have 10 laptops. Not that I use all of them, but with at least half I have noticed the same problem. Linux, Win7, Vista, WinXP, all different versions of Flash/Java (paypal shipping uses java while ebay shipping uses flash, yes its idiotic).

One thing just occurred to me - the PDF reader is almost always Foxit. I'll have to try Adobe with a better wifi card, pretty sure the oldest machine in use has adobe (and the same problem).

I have I think a Linksys 'WRT54G SRX'. It has 3 large antennae. I get reception fine 2 stories up on an Intel 3945.

Would it help to set the wireless N band at a higher frequency than the G band, like 2.46ghz? I don't think everything I have is going to do 5ghz...
I would definitely like an N router, but I didn't ask about range/speed on the N band, I'm wondering if the hardware is more reliable by association with being newer etc. Also I would have to ask how likely it is that my current router has some subliminal underlying hardware problem.

Haha, bets of both worlds - its always a gamble isn't it?

Now that I'm getting around to fixing this, I'm realizing the worst part of this problem... I can't just test to see if its fixed, without spending 5$.

One crazy thing I should maybe mention - Paypal shipping using java does NOT allow you to take a screenshot of the label, essentially you never see what is printed. And you have to be connected to the internet the whole time. Well, except for a few times, when I have been able to reliably tell it to print when not connected to the printer, then plug the ethernet back into the modem, run back upstairs and print it - but only after connecting to the Wifi again.

P. S. I have decided not investigate the large metal box in my alley.

 

802.11n routers are better because these are new.
It sound silly but that's the case- Linksys WRT54GL uses a 200MHz CPU, 16MB RAM and a simple antenna while Netgear WNDR3700 uses a 680MHz CPU, 64MB RAM and (in case of v1) a lot better antennas.

So if you were going to buy one- definitely "n" and top of the range simultaneous dual band if you can.

 

You may be getting collisions , download inSSider to scan the spectrum, it will show what channel your router is on, and what everyone else is on.

I had a very crowded neighborhood, everyone was on 2.4GHZ and overlayed, so I bought a 5GHZ router. Nobody is on that spectrum yet in my area (plus 5ghz is a shorter range). Either way with the intel ultimate card (6300) and a E4200 I'm getting 24MBps up and down (yes MB not Mbs).

Before on my old 54GL I was at 2.4-2.6MBps. . .

10 fold increase by going to a N router, multiple streams (3), and getting away from a crowded airway (2.4ghz).

Good luck!!

 

So mine is actually a WRT54GX.

I just set it closer to 2.5ghz (2.462ghz) and network density to "high".
I'll see if that helps next time I try to print a label.

Thanks for all the replies!

I might actually have an N router that is a modem too. Would this be better or worse? I was thinking of running the wired ethernet into my current router and having 2 networks.

 

Modem-router combos are never supported by third party firmware so it's not as good as single devices.

 

Well I am jealous, that is 192 Mbps up and down. If I may ask, who is your ISP?

 

He meant LAN transfers not Internet one.