My wireless internet is terrible and I don't know why.

Note: Apparently I posted this in the Windows OS and Software section when I meant to put it in the Networking and Wireless section. If a mod could please move it, thank you.

Hola everyone.
Just trying to get a better understand as to why my internet is so bad.
As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with my ISP but everything to do with the Router/wireless signal which I have very little control over.

I am living with a few other people, renting out a room in this house. There is also an apartment downstairs where two other people live. The router is in the basement apartment (because they have a desktop without a wireless card and are too cheap to get one so they demanded to the landlord to have the router). Which wouldn't be a big deal except the wireless signal we get up here is unbelievably unreliable.

I can guarantee that at some point each day the internet will become unreliable. Some parts of the day the signal is steady and my computer remains connected without any interruptions. Other times, my computer can't stay connected for more than a few seconds at a time (worse times) and most often it remains connected for a few minutes. The wireless signal just goes all over the place (from poor to excellent).

I am sick of this. It's impossible to play a game online with a few friends most of the time because of this. Even talking to someone on msn or checking my e-mail is impossible when it gets really bad. So my question is why does it do this?
What could be happening to interfere with the wireless signal like this? Or am I completely wrong and something else can cause this? Is there anything I can do on my end to help improve this (as far as I know I have the latest drivers for my wireless card - and this happens to all the computers upstairs anyway: my roommates and my netbook). I'm just looking for some insight on what could be causing this and if there's anything I can do? Thanks to anyone who helps.

Router is a D-Link WBR-2310.

 

Moved to Networking and Wireless.....

 

Check if the transmit power on your WiFi Card is set to the highest setting.

Go into Device Manager and right click on your wireless network adapter and select properties. Select the Advanced Tab and verify that the Transmit Power value is set to the highest (5).

Is it only you that is having this problem with the wireless or are all the other people also having wireless issues?

I believe that the router also has a software setting for power output. Check the manual and verify that the router is set to its maximum power output. It is a place to start.

 

Everyone else upstairs is having this problem (my roommates and my other computer).
My wireless card is on max power and I'll check around the router's settings to see if there's something there for that as well.

 

Where is your router situated? You might consider changing the channel that it's assigned so it's not trying to compete with someone else's router.

Microwave ovens run on the same frequency as wireless routers. Is someone cooking that time of night or something like that?

 

The signal coming from the basement to the top floor has degraded. My suggestion is to buy a repeater to boost the signal on the higher floors

 

Basement apartment and my computer is on the second floor. I've changed the channel as well (used to be auto, made it 11 and now 6) though I haven't noticed any significant improvement.
As for the microwave, the idea came to mind before but the signal cause bad so often and for so long that I can't possible imagine they'd be using a microwave that much. It's not just night time, could be any time of the day and for varying periods of time. For example, the other day I couldn't get a steady connection all day long (not long enough to play a 30 minute game of StarCraft 2). Though I do notice that when they leave the house (which sadly isn't very often at all) the signal is usually pretty steady and reliable.
So I can only assume that something they do is interfering and they are doing it a lot. Could an Xbox wireless controller or anything like that screw up a wireless signal? What sort of frequently used device can interfere?

A repeater? Go on please!

 

Basically its a device that picks up wifi signals, and sends them out again. The only problem with them is: (1) The speed and range of repeaters are not very good (2) Once a command gets to the repeater then it has to send it to the actual router (which means high ping). What networking card do you have and what router are you guys using?

 

Cordless phones can cause a lot of problems with wireless networks.

It kind of sounds like the router is have a problem with multiple connections. If the antennas are external turn them side ways so the signal will radiate up more. May also look in to installing some HiGain Antennas. These will do wonders to weak signal.

You did not mention the router mfg and model. Some routers are just not very good. And again the basement is not the best location either. Is there any way to get a wired connection to your room? If so this would be the best fix.

Check to see if the routers supports QoS, if so turn it on. If there is a load balancing feature make sure they have not set it up to give them priority. I would be best if it's set to load ballancing so 1 users does not grab all of the bandwidth.

 

Wireless routers do not do well up and down, they are designed to go out the sides.