WiFi intermittent connection failures and connection speed slowdowns

[MIKON8ERISBACK]

Hello. For nearly the past year, I have been plagued by periodic dramatic slowdowns of internet connection speeds taking into account both upload and download speeds and intermittent cutouts of the connection to my WiFi network. The problem has until very recently been just mild and rare enough to preclude me from taking serious action. Additionally, it is only a problem on my computer and not on my Android Tablet (the WiFi connection on my Android Tablet works flawlessly).

 

Sometimes, the problem only manifests itself in connection speeds slowing to a crawl, sometimes my connection will cut off outright and display a "No Internet Access" notice in the internet connection status tab whereas other times the connection will cut out and subsequently fail to reconnect until I manually intervene (such as reconnecting it myself or by resetting the adapter itself by going in to the Device Manager and disabling and then re-enabling it).

 

A few weeks ago, the old wireless network adapter that was in my custom-built rig which was salvaged from an old (2008) PC that was destroyed by a defective factory PSU was exibiting this problem consistently to the point that I decided to go out and buy a new network adapter; a Trendnet TEW 643 PI (PCI). Until the past day or so, it has been working flawlessly reliably loading and streaming even HD YouTube videos, but the aforementioned problems have re-presented themselves. Research on forum topics started by people who have had similar problems have yielded no results.

 

On the most recent occurrence of a network disconnect, I ran the automatic Windows network connection troubleshooting tool (not particularly useful) and it blames low wireless signal strength or quality on the failing connections despite the fact that signal strength readings consistently range from good to excellent and when it does work, connection speeds are very good. The adapter was installed from scratch by me according to instruction with the essential factory driver software from the CD-ROM installed and fully loaded. Any insight in relation to this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[TheMcSame]

Download the newest driver for the adapter and see if that works. The driver on the disk is likely an older driver. Not sure if it will fix the problem but it's a start.

[CrazyRay]

This is why you wire your devices and only use Wi-Fi for tablets & phones

[negged]

This is why you wire your devices and only use Wi-Fi for tablets & phones

 

Wired and wireless both have their pros and cons.

 

OP, set your router channel to another frequency. Interference from other devices (could be, for example, your neighbours' new laptop) can cause weak wireless signals and drop outs. Choosing a different channel, one that fewer signals are sent through, reduces the amount of interference.

 

I did this when I had a similar problem with my laptop and computer (wireless card). I didn't have a tablet at the time so cannot verify this is exactly your issue.

[MIKON8ERISBACK]

I've since set my router to a new wireless center frequency. I figured that traffic on the default wireless channel was what was responsible for the drop outs not long after I posted the topic. With the explosive proliferation of new devices (cell phones, tablet PCs, video game consoles, Roku boxes and other IPTV client boxes connected to WiFi networks in the past several years, band congestion being the cause of my troubles is likely the single most likely explanation. Thank you.

Edited April 11, 2015 by MIKON8ERISBACK