Wireless Issues

[jbbrown]

I am using a Linksys WRT54GL router with the Tomato firmware at home. My wife and I each have a laptop that we use to connect to the Internet wirelessly.

If one laptop is online, there is no problem with the connection. But, as soon as the other laptop also gets online, one or both laptops lose connectivity. Then, usually after several minutes, both laptops will connect and be fine (though there have been times where one laptop will not connect until the other one disconnects). This started happening several months ago and I've had the router for over 3 years now.

I have tried messing with the settings on the router, resetting it, and new firmware, but nothing has worked. I'm not sure if this is a hardware issue with the router or the laptop wireless cards or some other issue.

Any ideas?

 

[PingviN]

Have a friend bring their wireless laptops over and see if that works, if not, maybe it's time to invest in a new router?

 

[ch33zw1z]

What version of Tomato are you running? Have you tried DDWRT at all?

 

[Wuzup101]

When it started happening, did you remember if there were any hardware changes to either of the notebooks (could it have been the result of a new wireless card or something to that effect)? Have you tried assigning each laptop a static address instead of using DHCP?

 

[jbbrown]

What version of Tomato are you running? Have you tried DDWRT at all?

I was using the latest firmware from Linksys, but thought I'd give Tomato a try - currently using version 1.25. I have not tried DDWRT before...it might be worth a try though.

 

[jbbrown]

When it started happening, did you remember if there were any hardware changes to either of the notebooks (could it have been the result of a new wireless card or something to that effect)? Have you tried assigning each laptop a static address instead of using DHCP?

There have not been any hardware changes and I cannot remember anything that would have affected it.

I have assigned my laptop a static IP, but I don't think I've done it on the other laptop as well.

 

[JackMDS]

Make sure that the static IP is not within the DHCP range.

 

[Wuzup101]

Make sure that the static IP is not within the DHCP range.

^This... definitely could be causing the problem that you are describing...

 

[jbbrown]

Make sure that the static IP is not within the DHCP range.

Thanks, I will give this a try and let you know what happens.

 

[jbbrown]

Make sure that the static IP is not within the DHCP range.

I did this and it works, thank you! It has been MUCH better over the last several months. I wonder why making the IP outside the DHCP range makes a difference?