Unreliable wireless connection

[charlie21]

I set up a wireless network set up over at a friend's house. I used a Netgear MR814 router and a Netgear MA521 PCMCIA wireless NIC. She's having intermittent connection problems, though. Downloads fail every so often, webpages won't load on the 1st try, etc. Even with her laptop sitting directly next to the router, the signal strength never gets above 92%.

Right now, sitting 6 feet across the room from the router, I've watched the signal strength vary from 90% all the way down to 40%. Constantly pinging the router gives me response times of 2-4 ms, but every so often I get a 2000 ms ping. Any ideas on what could be happening?

 

[ktwebb]

Could be interference. First, try changing the channel to something on the other end of the spectrum from what your running. If your using 1, go to 11. If your using 6, go to 1 or 11. Make sure you have the most current driver and firmware for all devices with this software available. Disable XP's Zero wireless configuration and use the drivers and utility that came with the client card. If none of the above help then you might have a problem with either the AP or client.

 

[charlie21]

Thanks for the reply. Router firmware and NIC drivers were both up to date. I did that first thing when I set everything up. XP's Wireless was disabled. Router was broadcasting on channel 11. I tried 1 and 6, and both got worse reception. There aren't any 2.4 Ghz phones in the house either. Any other ideas?

 

[ktwebb]

If you know someone with another AP you could use I'd definitely try that. Differnet client cards as well while troubleshooting and eliminate in steps. If you experience similar problems then you very likely have some peculiar interference problem. If not then it sounds like you might have an AP problem. Probably the radio itself, then RMA if you can.