Laptop and now reduced speed while using the 2.4Ghz WiFi band... (nothing major)

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MarkJFine wrote:

GabeU

Glad it worked for you. Now I just need to find out how to fix maratsade back up, 'cause I broke him.

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Yeah, that's a bit odd.  I don't know why changing back to the original settings wouldn't make it go back to the way it was.  Perhaps changing one setting at a time might make a difference, as in change one setting, then save, then change the second, then save.  I don't know that this will make any difference, but anything's possible.  

maratsade

What I was going to recommend was:
1. make sure all of the settings are precisely back were they were. Make sure the 20/40MHz thing is back to 20MHz (if it was that way), as well as the 802.11n-only back to whatever it was for 2.4GHz. Ditto for the 5GHz.
2. Temporarily turn off the wifi for any devices that might be trying to connect to either the 2.4 or 5GHz wifis.

3. Do a complete power reset: Unplug the connector from the modem's power brick and let it sit for about a minute, then reconnect it.

4. Let the modem reboot, and wait about 5' afterwards to let the wifi's settle.

5. Once the wifis settle and the wifi light has been lit for a reasonable amount of time, start connecting things back one-by-one.

One of the reasons I used thing the 5GHz used to crash on reboot was it went into connection overload, making it unstable (I used to have a LOT of stuff hung off these wifis). So when all the computers, phones, printers, etc started to negotiate it probably felt like a NYC traffic cop standing in the middle of Times Square.

Maybe this fixes it... fingers crossed... and sorry again (for both things, now 😔).

MarkJFine

I wonder if making the computer forget the network, then restarting and reestablishing the network would help, as it would purge it of any settings of that particular network, as it exists, that could be creating a conflict.  

Just an idea.  

Last resort... that looks like a lot of work.

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MarkJFine wrote:

Last resort... that looks like a lot of work.

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Not really, but hopefully what you listed will work.  

Perhaps just restarting the computer, which she will do inadvertantly when she shuts down and starts it back up tomorrow, will help.  Maybe it just got a little confused.  :p  

I'm going to try my notebook tomorrow to see how it works with the new settings, but I'm sure it will be good.  It's newer than my laptop, and it's got the "IEEE 802.11b/g/n" type of card, so it should be fine.  Thanks again.   

Hi guys, thanks for all the tips! I'm out of town until Friday and will try the tips then.   I did cut the power off to the modem and waited 15 seconds before turning it on again.  

maratsade

Cheers... just glad to see a post. Thought we lost you.

MarkJFine

I had to wait until there was a period where the overall speed was back up, as it's been a bit wonky this evening, but it appears that changing the 2.4Ghz WiFi settings brought the speed up for my notebook, as well.  Thanks again!  

Now if I could only fix the problem of the notebook having a slow, 1Ghz A4-1250 APU.  Glad it was free!  :p

GabeU

I probably should have mentioned in there that not all devices (depending upon age) will be compatible with 11n, just like not all devices will be able to see a 5GHz wifi. So it takes some experimentation.

For a while, I had my 2GHz wifi set for 11g-only to be compatible with my XBox 360, and an external Cisco router wired into the back to use with an old game adapter I was using with DTV box. The game adapter's 803.11g didn't work right and I had to resort to 11b. The b/g/n setting was driving the XBox bonkers and wouldn't negotiate at all, so that setting was out.

Plus there are still a lot of relatively new devices (my NordicTrack's iFit display being one) that won't see a 5GHz wifi at all.

Postscript: The DTV box is no longer on the net unless needed, and the XBox is ethernetted in to take better advantage of the speed. lol

MarkJFine

If people are having the same 2.4Ghz speed issue and they read this thread, hopefully they will have enough knowledge to know that their devices may not be compatible with the "11n only" setting, or they at least read through the entire thread to gain that knowledge.     

I made sure to check the specs of the wireless adapters in both my laptop and notebook before even attempting to change the settings to see if they would help, but, of course, even the specs don't tell the whole story, so it was still trial by fire.  

And with the speeds in both of those devices being back up to the same as my LAN connected desktop, the fact that they can't utilize the 5Ghz band doesn't really matter.  

Actually, the only thing I have that can utilize the 5Ghz band is my DirecTV Genie, but I won't connect that.  It's not that it can use all of that extra data, as I can just turn the connection off, but it's the way that it changes the Genie.  Just connecting it to the internet one time changed so many things on it, and after I disconnected it the darn thing was constantly reminding me to reconnect.   And even though I lost everything on my DVR when I performed a factory reset, it was well worth it when all of those things that had changed went back to normal.  

MarkJFine, 

So, yeah, the network is still a bit wonky.  It works, but every so often it cuts off and needs to be reconnected. It wasn't doing that before I changed the settings, but I'm not going to swear the two are related.  It could be coincidental.   I tried to do everything that was suggested but it hasn't fixed the issue.  I believe GabeU is correct in that the satellite just hates me.   LOL

GabeU, hey, you're an Instructor now!  Excellent!

It may be actually coincidental. Seems the 2.4GHz wifi now has what was similarly happening on the 5GHz wifi.

Is it possible to tell if the actual signal goes away (inidicating the wifi somehow crashed) or is the signal still there / broadcasting an SSID, but just not doing anything?

MarkJFine

Well, it seems that a recent update, or something else, lowered my 2.4Ghz speeds again.  While previously changing the settings to "11n only" and "20/40MHz" had cured my speed issues, something recent brought the speeds back down to the lower 30Mbps range.  So, I changed the settings back to default, which were "11b/g/n" and "20MHz", and the speeds are now back up to being equal to my LAN speeds again.  SMH.  This modem just can't make up its mind!  :p 

IMO, most wireless adapters and supporting software is just junk. >.>

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C0RR0SIVE wrote:

IMO, most wireless adapters and supporting software is just junk. >.>

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While that may very well be true, and though I didn't mention it, I noticed that the last time I tried my notebook its speed was down, as well.  I just tried it a little earlier with the new (actually default) settings, and it's speed is back up, as well.  

Maybe my HT2000W's just a little moody.  :p  

GabeU wrote:

Maybe my HT2000W's just a little moody.  :p  

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Might not be too far from the truth. It's quite possible that for some reason the wifi signal quality wasn't good enough to kick the expansion channel(s) in.

"BTW, it's "her."  @maratsade's a girl.  She's probably got cooties!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!       "

Where do you get I'm a girl?? (Yes, I just now noticed this...odd since you had tagged me).

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maratsade wrote:

"BTW, it's "her."  @maratsade's a girl.  She's probably got cooties!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!       "

 

Where do you get I'm a girl?? (Yes, I just now noticed this...odd since you had tagged me).

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Hmmm.  Am I mistaken?  

Months ago someone had referred to you as "her", so that's why I assumed such.  I'll see if I can find the post.  

Sent you a PM.  

Yep, I was mistaken.