sorry in advance if wrong section for posting


my issue with wifi always shows up as a problem with acess point or adapter
i have tried multiple wufi usb adapters as well as dif usb ports
but my internet keeps reverting to snail dial up

i have updated usb drives fully as well as usb wifi adapter
i have reinstalled usb drive

any ideas or any other info needed to help find my issue please let me know



ps my wifi bar shows constant 4 bars despite being other end of the house away from modem with multiple walls in the way

I'll ask right away, if you are in a busy congested area or not.

Typical 2.4Ghz wifi has something like 12 optional channels so there's probably only going to be 12 something wifi routers avaliable (possibly repeaters added in the mix).

More recently they added 5Ghz (Not to be confused with 5G telephone...)

i just have a single modem and a wifi usb adapter

when it is working well i am usally shown to be on 5ghz
it swaps between 2and 5 ghz auto when it starts acting up

I'm not an expert on the subject, but for years since on Wi-Fi i had a lot of trouble with being able to reach those promised by the supplier levels of speed in my segment of the house. Previously i used a fairly cheap 3 antenna USB dongle. About 30 euros, which broke down earlier this year. After some searching online, i ended up being quite interested with the high-cost Wi-Fi routers that take even can switch their frequency to a channel must less used by everyone. Though admittedly, the cost of 130 euros plus was a bit of putting. I then decided to try out a product about half that price, seeing that it was also a half more than my previous router and ended up with this PCIe card

https://www.asus.com/Networking-IoT-Servers/Adapters/All-series/PCEAC68/

I tried it without the antenna which led to similar results as with the USB dongle, but after installing the antenna array onto the wall a internet Valhalla revealed itself to me. Maybe you will experience similar results O_O

That's not what i asked. Are you in say an appartment complex in New york city where say there could be 20 different signals in your immediate area all trying to wifi?

Though i'm going to assume no, as you mentioned housed and multiple rooms away....

Are you getting internet via wired connection or wireless? Example you might have a box outside where they connect your internet up, or you might have an outside antenna (Or you might be hotspotting from a phone service).

Unfortunately troubleshooting wifi problems is black magic, but some ideas:

1. Move the PC closer to the wifi router, in order to test the distance and the walls are not the problem. (If it normally works ok, then I guess it is not at least the main problem, but may contribute to it when the problems start.)

2. Install an application like "WiFi Analyzer" to your phone and check which channels are most congested, at the time when you are having problems. Set the wifi router manually to one that is the least congested.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=abdelrahman.wifianalyzerpro&hl=fi&gl=US

3. If you are longer away from the wifi router and there are walls between, try to use 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz because the higher frequency standard is (probably) more susceptible to attenuation of the signal when there is more distance and obstacles. The downside with 2.4GHz is that it may be slower.

However, if the 2.4GHz channels are more congested at your home than the 5GHz ones (see point 2 above), then it might still make sense to stay with 5GHz.

4. Think what other sources there are in your household that might affect the wireless signal. It might be even something as odd as the microwave oven or something like that, some Bluetooth device or whatever. Switch them all off one by one, in case you find the culprit. Earlier I had severe wifi signal problems, and it appeared it was due to the wireless subwoofer on my TV stereo system that interfered with my wifi (I noticed at some point the connection problems tended to start when the TV was switched on in the living room). Unfortunately it could also be some device in your neighborhood, if you live in an apartment house.

Do you see the 2.4GHz and 5GHz as different access points in your wifi list (to which you can connect to)? At least I do, I can choose to which i connect.

Your description sounds like you have set Windows to automatically connect to either one. Try to connect only to one of them, and don't set the other to auto connect. I think you can also set in the wifi router itself that you enable only e.g. 2.4GHz, or 5GHz. Try either one, which works better in your specific case (2.4GHz may be preferable with higher distances and obstacles, unless it is much more congested (ie. your neighbors are also using 2.4GHz)).

Another thing also occurred to me. No idea why, but at some point I seemed to have connectivity problems if I had IPv6 configured in Windows. No idea why.

I disabled IPv6 altogether in Windows settings ("Network and Sharing Center" => Change adapter settings => (Adapter) Properties => uncheck IPv6 so that it is not used).

Heavy amounts of metal, or even brick can block wifi signals... Dirt will too but you have to get like 1ft thick, so that's ruled out.

Or... lead...? Though it's unlikely you have lead paint, and it's unlikely the paint would be inside the house either... so that's ruled out.

I guess in OP's case the problem isn't the distance/obstacles, if he is normally getting good and strong signal but it just sometimes goes crazy...

It reminds of the problems I also had, and now that I remember, I was also using a 5GHz USB wifi adapter (because the built-in wifi in that laptop had "only" 2.4GHz wifi). In my case it seemed the laptop just sometimes lost the USB adapter and switched to the internal 2.4GHz wifi on the fly, and I had problems because of that (ie. if I had been playing an online game or downloading something, it was interrupted).

Today I used my new laptop from that same distant room without any problems, I was just downloading some of my GOG games at around 20-40 Mbytes/sec through its internal wifi adapter (5GHz), there are three not-so-thick walls between the wifi router and that laptop, and maybe 10 meters of distance (just a guess, I didn't try to measure it).

Now that I remember better, I had somewhat similar issues when using an USB wifi adapter, so it may be those are sometimes problematic, e.g. the PC "loses" the USB adapter for whatever reason. I think this is the one I used (ASUS USB-AC57):

https://www.asus.com/Networking-IoT-Servers/Adapters/All-series/USB-AC57/

I still have it but don't really have use for it anymore as that laptop is now broken (well it kinda works but its GPU is non-functional now for some reason so gaming is off-limits with it).

Is that your only wifi option, ie. it does not have an internal wifi adapter or a wifi card?

Then it's either replace the router, or a different wifi adapter....

Yeah i haven't had good success with usb ones either, and only used one in a temporary measure until i could do wired ethernet.

If he can handle it, making a Cat5 cable and going from the router to the computer or a hub for multiple devices, best if you have a false ceiling or hooks you can use to keep it out of the way.