Wifi drops out constantly only on my laptop and only at home

[ghostman]

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga. For some reason, the wifi connection seems to be very bad when I'm at home. Things would be running perfectly one minute with speedtest showing that I reach my full ISP speed of 50mbps, then literally in the next click, I can barely load a website. Chrome often times out altogether. I disconnect from my wifi network, reconnect and it occasionally works. I restart and it occasionally works. But it's never consistent. And after about 30 minutes of downtime, I'm back at full speed.

This only happens to my laptop on my home network. My girlfriend's Mac never has issues. My tablet works, my phone works. I've tried using a USB network adapter, but still get the same issue. I've tried changing wifi channels, but the problem doesn't go away. I've even changed out my router (wireless G to wireless N), but still have the problem. And the problem only occurs when I'm at home. I've never had this issue at school, Starbucks or another person's home network. And since this laptop has no ethernet port, I'm disabled until the network decides to work with me again. (I have a usb ethernet adapter on order. I'm only 3 feet away from my router).

Anyone know what's causing this and how it could be fixed? I suspect it's interference, as I live in an apartment complex and see dozens of other networks listed. But why does it only happen to my laptop?

It's rather embarrassing, to be honest. I used to be tech savvy, CCNA certified, IT guy, but I left the industry about 10 years ago and now I can't even use my own home wifi :-/

 

[sdifox]

Did you do a wifi scan to figure out your best channels to use?

 

[PliotronX]

I'd try updating or even older drivers both directly from the manufacturer and Lenovo. Then, disabling power saving features. If Intel ProSET Wireless Manager is installed, remove that s*** because it only causes problems. Don't worry, some problems even stump the pros. What's more frustrating is knowing the problem and its solution and it being only doable in person rather than remotely.

edit- just saw that you tried a USB adapter... interesting. What happens during the sluggishness? Any packet loss with a ping or odd latency spikes? sdifox's suggestion is a good one. If you have an android phone, check out this invaluable app called Wi-Fi Overview 360. It shows all APs, even ones with SSID b/c off, and which channels have the best availability.

You may also have to dip into the AP config and disable channel bonding, switch to short preamble, increase transmit power, disable its own power saving options, etc.. I'm pretty sure they don't teach classes for tackling real-world Wi-Fi problems and the want to shoot oneself after dealing with them.

 

[ghostman]

Thanks for the response. I'm downloaded Wifi Overview 360 and found a channel that seems strong. I'll give this a shot for a few days and see if it drops out again.