My neighbor's router?

[Fuentes]

Hi all--

I have a problem and this isn't a W7 problem(because Vista fixed it automatically), but the people here are so knowledgeable I thought I'd post here.

EVERY time Paul, my neighbor, either signs on to his router or cell phone(I'm not sure which), I get bumped off my internet connection while using my laptop. And with W7, I now have to reset my router to reconnect.

What can I do to ignore his signal?

Thanks; sigh.

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi all--

I have a problem and this isn't a W7 problem(because Vista fixed it automatically), but the people here are so knowledgeable I thought I'd post here.

EVERY time Paul, my neighbor, either signs on to his router or cell phone(I'm not sure which), I get bumped off my internet connection while using my laptop. And with W7, I now have to reset my router to reconnect.

What can I do to ignore his signal?

Thanks; sigh.

Hi Fuentes and welcome


Easy, Change the channel the router is using. If you tell us what router we can give you some help. I have had to do it twice here.

Let us know

Ken J+

 

[Fuentes]

Hi Ken--
It's a Linksys WRT54G router. If I go into the router configuration, what do I need to change to correct the problem? I'm a little nervous in that particular area. All I have are a desktop and a laptop, and as far as I know, I only get bumped when using my laptop.
I was on channel 6 and have since changed it to channel 11.
Thanks Ken, thanks all.

EDIT: I realize it's only been a day or two, but thanks Ken, your suggestion seems to have cleared up the network confusion.

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi Ken--
It's a Linksys WRT54G router. If I go into the router configuration, what do I need to change to correct the problem? I'm a little nervous in that particular area. All I have are a desktop and a laptop, and as far as I know, I only get bumped when using my laptop.
I was on channel 6 and have since changed it to channel 11.
Thanks Ken, thanks all.

EDIT: I realize it's only been a day or two, but thanks Ken, your suggestion seems to have cleared up the network confusion.

Glad it worked. I was just coming back to check

Ken J+

 

[chev65]

Nice work Ken, I was wondering if those channels were good for anything, looks like they are there for a reason.

 

[Fuentes]

Update: Buddy Paul showed up again yesterday, even after switching to channel 11. This morning, I changed to channel 1, and guess what?
Bumped again!

Any other ideas?
As usual, thanks all.

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Fuentes,

Are you saying that it is only your laptop that gets bumped off? What happens if you have both online at the same time?

 

[joeykhor]

hey, if you dont want your neighbour to connect to your wireless connection anymore, then why dont just add password to the wireless connection

 

[Fuentes]

hey, if you dont want your neighbour to connect to your wireless connection anymore, then why dont just add password to the wireless connection

He isn't connecting to my bandwidth, just knocking me off mine.

Dwarf wrote:Are you saying that it is only your laptop that gets bumped off? What happens if you have both online at the same time?

Just my laptop gets bumped Dwarf.

 

[Qdos]

Resite your router as far from your neighbours as possible, and if the problems don't stop at this point then try fitting a lower gain wifi antenna on your router (or turning down the Tx power both on the router and your WiFi cards) if channel switching, and attenuation, isn't curing the problems all alone.

Look carefully at your AP settings and your WiFi cards advanced parametres too.

If you still have no joy then speak to your neighbour and explain that the only resort left open to you is to complain to the authorities responsible for regulation of WiFi and other domestic emisions which cause interference.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Do you have a Microwave -- if you do just switch it on - that will Bolllix his Wireless connection for a while.

Then try Channel 7 -- that one is usally good to switch to

Change Mode also to g only instead of g and b.

Mobile phone's 2Ghz transmissions can sometimes cause problems with 301b wireless.

To change -- pic enclosed -- Mine's a Netgear but most routers have similar menus.

If that STILL fails then complain to the Statutory authority -- I think most countries have rules in place about "Electronic Interference".

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Dwarf]

How is your desktop connected to your router? If wired, try temporarily using a wired connection to your laptop and see what happens.

Do you have MAC Filtering enabled? See http://oregonstate.edu/resnet/guides/router_linksys.php

 

[jimbo45]

Hi Dwarf
I can't see how this would actually help - since one can always DISABLE the Wireless setting in a Router -- so it won't pick up any stray transmissions.

Also I'd imagine (not trying to be facetious - but when stuff is written rather than spoken people can mis-interpret) that people sitting with a computer right next to their Router wouldn't be using Wireless (unless testing of course).

You might have your Router on the top floor or in an attic -- while (probably) using the computer on the Ground Floor.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[RogerR]

Is your wireless connection selecting his as a preferred signal and then getting bumped because his network is secure? Have you tried configuring your wireless network to use only preferred connections?

 

[Fuentes]

Is your wireless connection selecting his as a preferred signal and then getting bumped because his network is secure? Have you tried configuring your wireless network to use only preferred connections?

No, not at all...altho....his network is NOT secure (I thought of signing into HIS network and Googling all sorts of te**orist phrases) and IDK that I can do the preferred networks option...I DO have my router as a a preferred network...but he still keeps bumping me every time he signs on...

 

[RogerR]

Well, shoot. Password protect your folders and use his connection!

 

[Fuentes]

Well, shoot. Password protect your folders and use his connection!

Sure...I'll cancel my cable and wait for him to sign on....

 

[misterbk]

Sure...I'll cancel my cable and wait for him to sign on....

If you continue to get bumped off after changing channels, one of these is more likely the case:

1: Your neighbor's wireless SSID is the same as yours. When you connect, do you connect to a network called "Linksys" or "Netgear" or "DLink"? If so, change that to something personalized.

2: It doesn't make much sense to me that your neighbor's wireless router would ONLY interfere when he is using it. Your neighbor might be using a different wireless device, that he only turns on when he is at home, and you are assuming it is his wifi. Ask him if you can call him when your network goes out, to figure out what causes it. (Could be something like wireless speakers, wireless phone. My microwave likes to blow away my wireless signal when I turn it on.)

3: Network crosstalk is more likely to interfere with your connection if you use the default IP address range. I all but guarantee that your router and your neighbor's router are both using 192.168.1.1. If the routers ever see each other, one or the other (or both) could disable itself because of an IP Conflict. Here are some options for changing it:

192.168.(anything).xxx
10.(anything).(anything).xxx

(anything) is any number from 0 to 254. Do not use 255. Personally I don't like using 0 either, but that's just me.

More information on the ranges you can use here: Private network - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Suggestion: 10.10.10.xxx

Here's what you do:
- change the router's IP to 10.10.10.1
- Leave the subnet as 255.255.255.0
- Apply the changes.

IMPORTANT: your computer will lose its connection to the internet and the router's web page at this point. Don't worry, you just need to make your computer get the new IP address and sign back on.

- Make your computers retrieve new IP addresses by unplugging the cable, by un-joining and re-joining the wireless, or using "ipconfig /release" and "ipconfig /renew" at the command prompt. (Needs admin priveleges in Vista / 7... press Start, type 'cmd' in the search box, right-click the result and click "run as administrator".


In the command prompt, you can type "ipconfig" by itself to see your IP address. Don't worry about the big list of connections that don't have IP addresses. This does not need admin priveleges.


Network crosstalk should not be happening unless your wireless networks are using the same SSID and the same channel, so try changing the SSID first.



Another option, if your laptop supports it (fairly common but not guaranteed)... Switch to the 5ghz 802.11a. You'll probably need to get a new wireless access point or a new router for that, but it should help a lot with interference since it lives at 5ghz instead of 2.4ghz. Should even be safe against microwaves!

5ghz support is indicated by the 'a' - i.e. 802.11b/g/n are 2.4ghz, 802.11a is 5ghz.

 

[win7clutz]

misterbk: Good post!

 

[Jamcu93]

I have a problem similar to this.

About 2 months ago I moved house. At my old house everything was completely fine. But here at my new house I've got a problem. Me and my brother both use a wireless connection. He uses it for online gaming (Xbox 360) and I use it to just suft the web on my laptop.
We keep getting bumped off of the internet, sometimes just one of us gets bumped off of the internet, other times we both do (at the same time).

I called my ISP and they told me to change the router channel to 6, so I did. Today I've turned my laptop on, went to check my emails, go on YouTube and I was disconnected. I therefore tried a different channel, 13, and the same problem occured. I'm now using channel 1. I haven't had any disconnections as of yet using this channel, but it does usually take around 15-20 minutes for one or both of us to disconnect!

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!