Wifi Problems in Office

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marvymarv007

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Hey guys

I would like some input on a problem that one of my clients is currently experiencing.

There are a total of 10 machines in the office, all connected to a router via wifi. Randomly the network just drops, I have contacted Telkom numerous times and they assure me that it isnt a line problem. It has to be environmental, however I have tried a different router that I know has no problems and the same thing happens.

This office didnt always experience this issue, it has just come about in the last month or so. Should I just convince them to switch over to a wired network and cable the place, or are there other things I can try?

Thanks in advance for the replies.:)
 
Wired is king - it is not easy to hack into a wired network as a wireless one.

At worst, the random disconnects can be a hacking attempt, to gain access to the network. At best it can be something else.

I sincerely hope you don't have their file/email server on the same network subnet as the wifi router... big problems will be coming should that network be compromised...
 
marvymarv007 said:
Hey guys

I would like some input on a problem that one of my clients is currently experiencing.

There are a total of 10 machines in the office, all connected to a router via wifi. Randomly the network just drops, I have contacted Telkom numerous times and they assure me that it isnt a line problem. It has to be environmental, however I have tried a different router that I know has no problems and the same thing happens.

This office didnt always experience this issue, it has just come about in the last month or so. Should I just convince them to switch over to a wired network and cable the place, or are there other things I can try?

Thanks in advance for the replies.:)
Click to expand...

Have you tried to plug in a pc via hard cable to see if the problem occurs on physical cable as well?

I would also run tests to the local gateway and tests to an external address to try and isolate whether the problem is indeed local. If the test times out to the local gateway then the problem is local. If the connection carries on to the local gateway but times out to the external address then it is a line issue and not environmental.

Also check for spikes in latency of the local test, which may indicate a throughput issue
 
First points would be troubleshoot it.

Does the wifi drop out completely? or just their internet? Can they still visit shared drives etc?
eg When the "network" drops - can they ping the router? but not the rest of the world? If so, TELKOM...

Have you checked / eliminated electrical issues?
Is the router, modem on a UPS?

Is there anyone in the office who uses those plugs randomly (eg staff plugging in a vacuum cleaner)?
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I pinged the local gateway and pinged Google, it never times out, however the latency sometimes reaches in excess of 1400ms for both internal and external. Surely the latency should never reach that sort of number??

Eliminated all electrical issues/conflicts.

I havent tried using a direct LAN cable as my local supplier has none in stock for me to make up a cable.
 
I would suggest trying with a cable direct as to me it looks like an issue with the wireless throughput
 
marvymarv007 said:
Hey guys

I would like some input on a problem that one of my clients is currently experiencing.

There are a total of 10 machines in the office, all connected to a router via wifi. Randomly the network just drops, I have contacted Telkom numerous times and they assure me that it isnt a line problem. It has to be environmental, however I have tried a different router that I know has no problems and the same thing happens.

This office didnt always experience this issue, it has just come about in the last month or so. Should I just convince them to switch over to a wired network and cable the place, or are there other things I can try?

Thanks in advance for the replies.:)
Click to expand...

Wire is king, wifi should be alternative connectivity primary as wire. Wifi suffers a variety of problems like interference coverage distance etc. Maybe go wire and be sorted with that
 
as mentioned, and more
you checked with another router.
check with another adsl account, preferably another isp
try wired

make sure wifi key is well protected.

If it is only one PC that has the problems, inspect that one, but I read your post that it is a general lan problem.

If the problems still persists look at the firewall and/or AV. (had this problem once or twice, the reason why I don't like mcafee)
 
Pings of 1400ms for internal network? or just external?

Eg ping the router - normal?
ping outside - bad? = Telkom

I'd plug a cable into the wifi router, and see if the ping times are the same on a cable pinging the outside (same test as above)

Have you tried a different wireless band (in case its interference) 1, 6, 11 are distinctly separate. Try one of those to eliminate some interference.
 
lsheed_cn said:
Pings of 1400ms for internal network? or just external?

Eg ping the router - normal?
ping outside - bad? = Telkom

I'd plug a cable into the wifi router, and see if the ping times are the same on a cable pinging the outside (same test as above)

Have you tried a different wireless band (in case its interference) 1, 6, 11 are distinctly separate. Try one of those to eliminate some interference.
Click to expand...

Pings of 1400ms on internal network.
Ping the router - bad
Ping another machine on the network - bad
Ping External - bad

I shall only be going back to them on Tuesday as they closed from tomorrow till Tuesday. So I shall report back with my findings after trying all of the above guys.
 
Have you checked all the computers for viruses?

I've see some routers fail due miserably due to connection issues (open connections go up past the routers max, and no new connections can be made), rebooting is fine again for a few hours till that repeats..

Plug in a cable. ping the router.
Hopefully its 1300ms bad ping times so you can test properly.
Disable wifi or unplug ethernet on each pc as appropriate, check ping times after each one, see if you can isolate to one or more units.
 
IIRC, there's 10 people connected to one access point? What's the specs of that AP? What kind of work load do these people put on the network (all connected to databse, etc)? If the workload is high, then one AP may not be enough. If you have a basic AP, that means you're sharing 300Mbps over 10 connections, that may be a problem if they are all heavy users/working on a database.

EDIT: In an office environment, I will also suggest going cable. It's messy at times, but it works better and faster than wifi. Wifi is fine for internet surfing, but not work.
 
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IMHO - One AP is more than fine for 10 people, *especially* with something inherently low bandwidth like database editing or other standard office use (eg document or spreadsheet creation / editing). Even the cheapest AP's are usually good for 30-40 users. Bandwidth won't be much, but most people don't use much simultaneously.

Poster said issue has only started happening recently, so its not likely to be the AP overloaded by something normal - abnormal maybe eg theres a virus and its part of a botnet or something equally higher bandwidth than normal making 1000's of simultaneous connections to propagate spam or similar.

Its either going to be that, or interference (we have told him to try change wifi band to see).
I think it may end up being 1 pc thats causing issues, intentionally or otherwise, hence the recommendation to check when the problem is there, then disable each pc in series till the problem stops showing.


If the router can take different firmware, I'd also try that. eg - newer firmware, or preferably openwrt /tomato / gargoyle or similar. At that point though, you're into more man hours than buying newer equipment almost..
 
lsheed_cn said:
IMHO - One AP is more than fine for 10 people, *especially* with something inherently low bandwidth like database editing or other standard office use (eg document or spreadsheet creation / editing). Even the cheapest AP's are usually good for 30-40 users. Bandwidth won't be much, but most people don't use much simultaneously.

Poster said issue has only started happening recently, so its not likely to be the AP overloaded by something normal - abnormal maybe eg theres a virus and its part of a botnet or something equally higher bandwidth than normal making 1000's of simultaneous connections to propagate spam or similar.

Its either going to be that, or interference (we have told him to try change wifi band to see).
I think it may end up being 1 pc thats causing issues, intentionally or otherwise, hence the recommendation to check when the problem is there, then disable each pc in series till the problem stops showing.

If the router can take different firmware, I'd also try that. eg - newer firmware, or preferably openwrt /tomato / gargoyle or similar. At that point though, you're into more man hours than buying newer equipment almost..
Click to expand...

OP didn't give us enough info to give good advice or come to good assumptions. But I've seen where one spreadsheet with macros, sitting on a file server, where the macros pulls listings and info from a pervasive database ****ed up a wifi AP. I've dealt with this a lot. Finance software like Accpac, don't just need more processing power, but at least 1gig connections to the network. We barely got away with 100mb wired connections here. Pushing them up to a gig made a huge difference. We moved away from wifi for a reason.

Like I said, not enough info.
 
durbandave said:
I would suggest trying with a cable direct as to me it looks like an issue with the wireless throughput
Click to expand...

this ........ we moved last september and had the exact same problem with the connection. had the technician come out only to discover the cable needed replacing. once you have this replaced you will have solved your problem.
 
Sorry for the delay in giving an update friends. I ran a cable from their "server" to the router and BAM everything is fine.Not a single network Issue since.

Thanks for the help everyone.
 
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