My router dying?

So today my router has started giving me frequent disconnections and really bad lag spikes. Basically every now and then I would randomly disconnect from the network and then reconnect.

 

Is it a wireless or a wired router?
In case it's the former does it disconnect only wireless clients (and are there any computers connected by Ethernet cable at all).
If it's wireless make sure that it's not overcrowded channel- use inSSIDer to survey the neighborhood and change your wireless channel if needed.

 

Which type and how old is the router? Is it placed in hot environment? How much clients are there connected? Maybe the power supply can be bad...
Try another port/wired connection instead of wireless connection.
Dead port(s) is nothing special. The same about dead/dying Wi-Fi module. In most cases it's some miniPCI card, which can be changed.


Regards,

JK

 

any new neighbors with cordless phones or microwave ovens?

2.4Gz interference can get pretty bad.

 

The router is a Microsoft MN 700. In use for over 7 years now. My wireless card is an Intel ultimate N 6300. Got it like 6 months ago. Its either the router or the wireless card. There was a program that measured latencies but i forgot what it was called.

Edit: Got the program. Yeah the lag spikes are prevalent like crazy, spiking up to 4000 ms every few seconds. This happens on a wired connection as well, but on a wired connection its relatively stable with a few really high spikes. On wireless there are constant pings that are inconsistent. I tested the wireless on my other toshiba as well that has an intel card but not sure which. The results are pretty much the same. Lots of lag spikes.

 

given the age of your wireless router, I'd suspect it's just getting old. What's your signal like on your laptop (i.e. how many bars etc)?

There's lots of decent routers for $50 to $80 out there that might be worth looking at. This problem, where the router just starts losing wired connections if pretty common if the transmitter is getting old and has degraded over time.

If you want to test your laptop to be sure it's not the problem, just go to a coffee shop with free wifi and make sure it's ok there. If so, then it's likely your router just getting old.

My personal recommendation is the Netgear WNR3500, and there's a refurb on amazon for $50 right now. 2.4GHz wireless N and upgradable to dd-wrt or Tomato or OpenWRT if you don't care for the stock firmware. Stock firmware is pretty good actually.

 

@Sxooter

You meant WNR3500 L, right?
There is a version without "L" and is a lot weaker- less RAM.

 

Well, either one should work tho, right? But yeah, the L is the preferred version.

 

I tend to agree on it being the router.
7 years is a decent run for one.

 

You can open it up and check the condition of the capacitors and replace the damage ones if you want to avoid paying for a new one.

 

I guess it is getting old. It drops packets randomly for about 5-10 seconds which results in a huuuuuuge lag spike. Here is a picture i got with the pings to my router.



See the portion with a bunch of red bars in a row? Thats where the massive packet loss occurs which insta spikes me in games. Super annoying. Also the ping is pretty inconsistent as you can see the spikes. I don't think its my wireless card but the router. I'm using an intel ultimate 6300 as i mentioned before.