Wireless sucks.

Okay so this is weird.

In my room in my house, only 50 feet away from the Apple Airport Wireless "Extreme" 802.11g base, I have always had problems with wifi. With my MacBook, with my MacBook Pro, and now with my HP DM3. No microwaves, no cell phones, no radios... nothing... It doesn't matter if I go to the room right next to mine, it's always just in my room where my wireless will drop out every 10-15 minutes... and when it does get reception it only gets 2 bars max.

It has seemed to get worse as soon as I installed a new monitor and wireless keyboard from HP with drivers...

Any ideas? Just to make sure it's not just a coincidence, what else do I do? Thanks!

 

Might be a defective unit.

What security mode are you using anyway?

 

have you already chosen a channel optimally so that interference from neighboring radios is minimized?

if you don't mind spending a little, get a non apple wireless router. in difference to, say, apple laptops, apple's networking products aren't exactly known for class-leading performance.

 

My recommendation (the usual one BTW) is to download inSSIDer (freeware) and scan for neighboring networks and then set wireless channel accordingly.
Non-overlapping channels are preferred 1, 6 and 11 for Americas and 1, 5, 9 and 13 for Europe.
I agree with jasperjones that Apple's routers are poor though.

 

Make sure it has the latest firmware updates. If it's still that bad take it back and get it repaired or replaced.

 

That is really quite interesting. Are those factory default channels? I just took a quick look at my neighborhood's channels to make sure I am not overlapping. I used a 1 generation Wi-Fire card with directional antenna and took a quick scan. inSSIDer tells me that out of 40APs that I saw, there were 8 channel 1, and 8 channel 11. And a massive 12 channel 6. Thats 30% of the APs in my local area. D:

 

Yeah, pretty much. Assuming you use wireless g and are U.S. based: there are 11 channels that are spaced out 5 MHz apart. Since, according to wikipedia, each channel is 22Mhz wide, it follows that only channels 1, 6, and 11 have no overlap. So, not surprisingly, one of those three is your router's default preset.

btw, apart from the convenient "inSSIDer" software downloader mentions, there are also a couple of nice apps available for smartphones (I'm on Android, so I use "Wifi Analyzer" but I heard there's also a nice iPhone app--I forgot the name)

of course, as you saw yourself, the 2.4GHz band is terribly crowded (I live in a apartment complex in Manhattan--I can beat the 40 APs you found). that's the main reason to use the 5 GHz band. it is less frequently used and has more channels (it's wider). that outweighs it's main disadvantage (which is that the signal travels less far due to shorter wavelength)

 

Yeah I had Wifi Analyzer on my HTC Magic awhile ago. And yeah I am not in a very densely populated area, lots of government buildings around. But back in Hong Kong it's just scary how many APs there are lol, and to notice the increase each time I go back over the years. It used to be like 5 APs.

 

That's what I consider an advantage actually
Shorter distance equals less networks that you can detect meaning less interference- it seems like it's been created specifically for apartment blocks.
But I get your point- it may be a problem if you have a big flat/apartment.

On an unrelated note- the biggest problems are routers/APs provided by ISPs- these use always the same default channel. In my case the biggest ISP in the country sets Wi-Fi to channel 10 and secures it with WEP and basically no one changes it.

 

Ok, so here is an interesting discovery:

When I move my laptop to the bed, without anything hooked up to it but power, I get 3 out of 5 bars without it dropping at all, sometimes getting to 4.

Is this most likely because:

A) There isn't a wireless keyboard and mouse next to it

B) There isn't a giant monitor next to it

C) The bed is facing the door, which is facing the wireless base

 

so what you're saying is....

Your wireless works fine once you move your machine away from known sources of interference.

And your problem with that is?

 

How do I fix it?

 

you did fix it by moving your machine away from known sources of interference.

Otherwise, you need to eliminate the known sources of interference.

turn them off

relocate them

move to another apartment

etc, etc.

 

It is possible to increase the wireless signal to your problem room. Try a DIY parabolic antenna to point the signal toward your room. You can also use an inexpensive range extender to boost the signal to the room or you can run a cat5 ethernet cable to the computer if this does not work. My neighbor lives on a botom floor and could not get a good signal due to the walls being reinforced to hold up the other three floors. A simple parabolic reflector attached to one of the router antennas helped allot. There are plenty of posts describing how to solve these problems and you can google for help also. Here is an inexpensive booster that is commonly used.
http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Wardriving-Extension-Strongest-Market/dp/B000QYGNKQ/ref=sr_1_1/191-1152948-2278962?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1270180016&sr=8-1

 

Thanks reb1. I will try that out. Good rep for you!