Internet (Wifi) keeps disconnecting at night only

[bball1523]

I have an akward problem. My internet keeps disconnecting often and it only happens at night. I am running a wifi connection with a dlink modem and linksys router. The connection has worked fine for a long time until this past Monday night around 8pm and after. Since then at night I have noticed the internet disconnects, reconnects, disconnects, etc. It connects for less than a minute and then for a few seconds and then it disconnects for 30 seconds to a minute. This has only happened at night as during the day the internet works fine. Yesterday I got home after 12:45pm and the internet worked fine for an hour, and all the sudden it goes in to the disconnect mode.

I called the ISP and they don't see any problems, but told me to reset modem/router, and to try a new splitter for the cables.

I don't have access to the modem/router as it's in a housemates room and I'd have to get permission to tinker. And I figure it would be an inconvenience for try to tinker in the late night hours when the internet stops working good.

Can anyone please help me to diagnose the problem and find a solution?

 

[JackMDS]

In order to rule out Wireless issue you have to be able to connect locally to the Router via Wireless, or to try wired connection.

 

[bononos]

Does your wireless speed degrade when all that is happening. It could be another newly set up wifi network with an active user interfering with your wifi, and probably on the same channel.

 

[bball1523]

It's somewhat of a challenge to connect wired, but I have successfully connected to the router plenty of times. This problem just happened on Monday night.

I don't know if my wireless speed degrades, though I did however download a program quickly yesterday before I got disconnected.

bononos: are you saying there could be a new wifi network in my neighborhood that is interfering with my wifi?

 

[bononos]

It's somewhat of a challenge to connect wired, but I have successfully connected to the router plenty of times. This problem just happened on Monday night.

I don't know if my wireless speed degrades, though I did however download a program quickly yesterday before I got disconnected.

bononos: are you saying there could be a new wifi network in my neighborhood that is interfering with my wifi?

Like the previous poster said, you have to make sure that you can isolate the problem at the wireless interface.

Just check your wireless signal strength or wifi speed to see if it degrades, it a good sign that you are getting interference from your roommate's browsing or from some other wifi network. Use netstumbler or some other app to see what wifi networks are out there.

 

[spidey07]

Sounds like interference from a microwave oven, they stomp all over the 2.4 Ghz spectrum, they obliterate it.

The duration of the trouble screams microwave.

 

[bball1523]

There are other networks in my neighborhood, but I didn't see any problems before this time period. Also Lately I haven't had any problems with constant disconnected in the late night time period.

There hasn't really been a microwave running at the same time as the disconnects. I have used the microwave at the same time as my wireless and I haven't noticed any problems in the past.

Anyways, thanks for the all help. For now it seems as the internet has stabilized. I did reset the modem and router one of those days last week and it didn't really fix the problem later that night, but for some reason the internet works fine now with minimal disconnects

 

[Modelworks]

What is the window for the time it happens, is it like 7:30-10:00 or 30 minutes, etc ?
There are some things that happen at night that many people are not aware of, one of those is utility meter downloading. Several utilities have started reading meters daily rather than once a month now that they have embedded radios for sending the data back . During that time it can interfere with wifi in some areas.