Wi-Fi keeps dropping at university but only in my dorm room

[Shadow Conception]

This is a really peculiar problem. It seems exclusive to my laptop only, so I'm really not sure if my network card is messed up or not; the problem doesn't seem to affect my roommate or any of my friends' laptops. I have a brand new Dell XPS 15. When I first moved into UVA, it wasn't a problem at all; I had a constant connection, albeit fluctuations in strength according to how many people were using the connection at the same time.

Basically, I'll connect to the University's wireless, and it will work fine for a couple of minutes. The signal strength in the corner of my taskbar shows a decent signal. Then, suddenly, pages will stop loading, and Firefox will show the error message "the connection has timed out." Additionally, Skype and Pidgin get knocked offline. Yet, the signal strength in the corner will continue showing decent signal strength. I end up having to disconnect and reconnect to the wireless network, and that will guarantee me another five minutes of wireless connection before I get knocked off again (if I'm lucky).

This happens exclusively in my dorm building. I took my laptop with me to class today, and I had a perfect, consistent connection in the room.

The other unusual thing is that, while the PC is in this strange offline mode, I can still ping and access SOME websites successfully, namely the sites I visit the most, such as Facebook and Google. Facebook shows recent status updates as it should. Though, at a point, even Facebook and Google stop working, and I have to disconnect and reconnect.

This is INCREDIBLY frustrating. The fact that I can't find where the damn ethernet port is in this room exacerbates the situation. Anybody have any idea what the hell is wrong?

 

[mammador]

It could be something interfering with the signal in your dorm, which also affects the NIC on your computer. If it works well elsewhere, then that is the only issue I can see.

 

[alkemyst]

You may not have an ethernet port in the room...many universities are going wireless only for dorms.

Sounds like interference. Could be something as benign as a microwave next door.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You may not have an ethernet port in the room...many universities are going wireless only for dorms.

That seems really dumb to me. At least for new construction.

Older buildings not already wired, I could see them deploying wireless.

At the very least, give them a VDSL connection over the pre-wired phone lines in the dorm. I could see that happening.

 

[alkemyst]

That seems really dumb to me. At least for new construction.

Older buildings not already wired, I could see them deploying wireless.

At the very least, give them a VDSL connection over the pre-wired phone lines in the dorm. I could see that happening.

Even in new construction that's a lot of added cost since most dorms are going to be concrete construction, it's not like doing a drywall house.

Many are not putting 'phone jacks' in either.

There is a tremendous cost increase in running copper in multiple to every dorm room. You have the cost of the patch panels, the closet space, the switch port density, etc.

A half dozen to dozen AP's on a floor, a few IP cameras and whatever door/security you have and you can get by with a 24 port PoE switch instead of a stack of 48 porters.