Wifi problems

Over the past several weeks, I've started experiencing huge issues with Wifi on my laptop (in signature).
My flatmate's laptops does the same... websites take too long to load (hence they time out).
The Internet seems to time out on a continuous basis (every 20 seconds or so), but the Wifi signal is unaffected (remains connected and without conflicts).

Incidentally, the wifi on smartphones (when connected to the same router) is fine.
The laptops are the ones affected it would seem.

Wired connection seems to work fine.
Changing the channels didn't affect the issue at all.
I also tried changing the encryption (to WPA2 PSK), and in some cases it made the problem worse.

The ISP I use is Plusnet (UK), and I already talked with them on two occasions without success.
Told them the issue started happening weeks ago all on its own (I made 0 changes to the router at the time).
Gonna get a new router though and will have to see if this resolves any issues.

Any suggestions?
The current router is: Technicolor TG582n

This is so frustrating. In some instances, Facebook seems to run ok, while other websites frequently time-out.
Some other programs such as qBittorrent (which is something I don't really use) works flawlessly, but browsing for example gets bogged down.

I'm at the end of what I can think of to try.
I also attempted to remove and reinstall the Wifi card (Intel Wifi Link 5100 AGN) along with resetting the router to factory settings.

Factory settings and turning off wifi (followed by turning it back on) works sometime to temporarily restore connectivity, though I did discover that if I switch off and switch on the the Wifi (on laptop), Internet doesn't come on immediately

Browser used: Chrome x64 (though the issue is reproducible in Microsoft Edge too - which I rarely use).

 

I've moved this to the Network and Wireless forum so it has more likelihood of being noticed by those who understand these things.

Trying a new router would be one of my recommendations, if only to eliminate the problem of the router getting tired (which they do in my experience).

John

 

Ask your ISP for a new router it might have had some slight failure... Or get a new one yourself..

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, I'm getting a new router indeed from Plusnet, but the one I'm getting is no better than the one I currently have - it's a cheap piece of junk as best I can tell:
Plusnet Hub Zero 2704n - but I'll try it out and see if it solves this Wifi issue on both laptops.

I was thinking on buying myself this router instead:
TP-LINK-TD-W8968 (http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...ss-modem-router-22068974-pdt.html#srcid=11026) - costs the same on Amazon as it does in PCWorld, so it would be faster to go there physically and buy it than wait.

That one seems to be far superior in quality and capabilities compared to what Plusnet is providing while only costing £27.

If any of you have any other suggestions for cheap/quality routers I could use instead, or which settings to modify in my existing TG582N router to fix this Wifi problem with my laptops I'm open to suggestions.

It is very odd that the smartphones aren't experiencing any issues with Wifi connectivity.
They continue to browse flawlessly even as the laptops Wifi's are experiencing huge problems and even refuse to open ANY webpages at this point (my guess is the router is the problem and losing connection for whatever reason).
Resetting the router to factory defaults enables wifi for laptops only for a minute or two, but then bugs out shortly after.

 

I'm using a TP-Link (Archer C5) and it's given no problems (but is only 15 months old). You might want to consider the Archer C50 which is dual band and therefore gives you more channel options. It doesn't have the ADSL capability but you can daisy-chain it to the Plusnet router using a network cable (probably in the box). I did that recently for someone who lived in a block of flats where the WiFi signals on 2.4GHz were tripping over each other and 5GHz was empty. The C50 also put out a stronger signal on 2.4GHz than the supplied router. I also use the daisy chain approach in my house where the supplied router is near the cable entry and my own router is more central.

You can check the WiFi channel congestion using InSSIDer or a phone app such as Wifi Analyzer. This doesn't directly explain why the phones work OK on the WiFi but maybe they are designed to be better at handling signal congestion than computers (but also mobile-friendly web servers tend to send less excess baggage). Once the daisy chain is working then log onto the ISP router and disable the WiFi.

John

 

Just in case anyone wanted to know... I received a new (garbage) router from Plusnet on Tuesday (2 days ago).
Wifi works fine now across all devices.

 

I had a router go flakey on me about a year ago. Similar circumstances. Glad its sorted for you.