wi-fi question

[ceemike]

My Toshiba laptop has a built-in wi-fi adapter.  For as long as I've owned it (5 years) it has intermittently dropped & reestablished contact with my wi-fi router. This can happen several times an hour.  Additionally while it is connected the speed drops from a max of 54 Mbps to 1 Mbps even though the signal strength is excellent.  This all can happen even if the laptop is in the same room with the router.  I have numerous other devices connected to the network & they all work just fine. 

Does anyone know if there is an adjustment I can make to the laptop's wireless adapter to improve the reception?

 

[Phil]

My Toshiba laptop has a built-in wi-fi adapter.  For as long as I've owned it (5 years) it has intermittently dropped & reestablished contact with my wi-fi router. This can happen several times an hour.  Additionally while it is connected the speed drops from a max of 54 Mbps to 1 Mbps even though the signal strength is excellent.  This all can happen even if the laptop is in the same room with the router.  I have numerous other devices connected to the network & they all work just fine. 

Does anyone know if there is an adjustment I can make to the laptop's wireless adapter to improve the reception?

I had that problem with a new Linksys router.  I did a software update on the router which fixed the problem.

 

[Ned]

Are there other WiFi networks in the vicinity?  Do you have software to see if the other networks are on the same or a close channel to your routers channel?  What you're describing is typical of network interference.

 

[ceemike]

Phil, I checked for an updated driver for the wireless adapter & couldn't find one. 

Ned, there are some other networks in the neighborhood.  My router is set for Auto Channel Scan so it automatically finds the channel with the least interference and uses that channel for wireless networking.  I will track the channels that my router & the other routers use when the signal gets weak. 

 

[Ned]

See if there is a firmware update for the router as well.  It won't hurt, although it may not solve this problem.  If you have other networks spread over the different channels, there may not be any one channel that's not subject to interference.  I like Inssider for seeing other access points as it has a graphical display of the signal strength and actual bandwidth.

Or it could be as simple as an incompatibility between the adapter and the router.  You can either get another adapter (there are some very good USB models that don't cost too much) or replace the router.

 

[deal]

If other devices are connecting to the router without issues it makes the laptop a more likely problem spot. Changing the channel on the router can still possibly help though. Worth a shot. Which router make/model do you have?

 

[rsbolo]

I had wireless phones that caused similar symptoms. New phones, no problems. Just a thought.

 

[Molaker]

If all else fails, you could try a USB lan adapter.  You would have to disable the built-in one.  If the USB adapter works then you'll know it is an internal problem and unless your laptop is under warranty, may not be worth repair.

 

[ceemike]

I did some further research & found an updated driver at the Toshiba website.  I installed it & so far so good.  Thanks for all of the advice.