Help with router: connected but no Wifi? Degrading Router?

[Laurie_CF]

Hi Community, hope I can get some tips. It seems like the quality of my router is slowly degrading or something. (First up, unless I'm misremembering, we have had the router since Winter 2018, so maybe it is simply worn out, if that's a possibility?)

For the last 6-10 or so months, our various smart devices (4 Google Home Minis and 2 LifX bulbs) have become unreliable. They seem to be connected to the network but only sometimes have internet connections - the Google Minis often say "hold on while I get connected to the internet" or "the living room light bulb is not currently available". This annoying but ultimately they are a convenience I can live without.

Then since about 3 months ago my phone has been having trouble - although it is connected to the wifi, nothing is happening. It seems to be random when this happens, but it is at least once per day. I can get around this though as I can disable Wifi for 4G.

This month however, I can't escape the problem: my work laptop (which has been fine until now) is now dropping connection frequently. I work hybrid, so reliable video calls are crucial. My frustrations boiled over today after about 20 dropped connections, so I'm asking for help / tips to resolve!

I've tried the connection test on the TalkTalk website - it confirms there are no problems in our areas. I have looked at the dashboard which says all the devices are connected just fine (though would it know if they weren't??). I have tried turning my router off at the mains for 20 minutes.

I believe the internet connection is fine and fast as we have the smart tv plugged in via ethernet, and stream 4K video on demand most nights. It seems to be specifically the wireless connection that's the issue.

Any help / tips / advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance! 🙂

[KeithFrench]

Hi @Laurie_CF 

There are not really any WiFi interference problems, but your 2.4GHz band is breaking up a bit. I can't read your PM anymore as I have received a large amount of other PMs since then. When that WiFi band breaks up, others can still be detected, so that proves the PC's WiFi adapter is OK, leaving the problem to be either the router or the airwaves in between. Please can you PM me again with a rough description of where the router & PC are located & what is nearby such as electrical equipment, metal & water tanks etc & are there any of the latter two between the router & PC?

[Laurie_CF]

Hi Keith,

Hope you have been well. Please find my zip attached having followed the steps in your guide. Thank you again for the guide and for offering to help with this.

Since you mentioned 'problem area' in your last private message to me, I should clarify that the issues I've described seem to be area-agnostic. Ie. Even when I'm in the same room as the router with nothing between me and it, my phone can have a strong wifi signal but with no internet, while other devices are running perfectly (hence me wondering above whether the number of devices was the issue).

It perfectly possible though that there is more than one issue happening here: perhaps the internet-less connection on my phone / smart devices may be unrelated to the dropped calls on my work laptop, which is further from the router.

In any case, thanks again, looking forward to hearing from you.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @Laurie_CF 

You have told me all I need to know, you have the Sagemcom FAST5364.

Do not worry about interpreting the results, I will do that for you. I will send a PM to you that contains a link for a guide of mine on Wi-Fi interference. It is quite long (about 30 pages), but you will probably only need to look at three or four pages in total. Initially look at the section called "Are you suffering from interference – prove it first". This is the first link in the table of contents. This section includes full details of free Wi-Fi analysers that I recommend for Windows, Windows phone, Android and Apple operating systems. However, I have no way of testing the Apple product. Select the analyser of your choice & my guide explains how to use it.

If you are using Wi-Fi Scanner, then please attach the zip file to this thread. As soon as I have downloaded it, I will remove the attachment from your post, to preserve your privacy.

With all other analysers, please follow my instructions below.

Collect the screenshots that I require and include them in your reply.

Please post the screenshots to me in a PM (to protect your privacy), which I have requested in my guide. No photos please as they can be difficult to read, because the text can get out of focus when zoomed in. Please ensure that the analyser window is maximised (if Windows) before taking the screenshots & upload them via the "Insert Photos" button (in a mobile browser it's the picture icon) on the post editor's toolbar with the Size parameter set to Large.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for updating your profile. Line test is passing, connection looks stable and sync speed is 79.9Mbps so all looks good. So I would take Keith up on his kind offer of assistance as it does appear to be a wifi connectivity issue (and yes that is the router model number)

Chris

[Laurie_CF]

Thank you both for your help!

@Michelle-TalkTalk , I have added the requested details to my profile

@KeithFrench , thanks for offering your expertise despite not being a TT employee! I'm not certain how to find out the model, but the sticker on the back says "TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub", and the 'Device Ver.' is "FAST 5364-3 T8". Does this help?

Many thanks both 🙂

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Can you please update your community profile to include your:

• Name
• Telephone number
• Alternative contact number

We'll then look into this further. Please do not post this information on this thread. Once you've updated your profile please post in your topic to confirm it's updated.

Thanks

Michelle

[KeithFrench]

Slow speed, intermittent dropouts, breaks in the signal, no signal on some or all devices or no internet access might be caused by Wi-Fi interference from other local networks, which can also lead to a permanent reduction in speed. No ISP can be responsible for your local environment, this is mainly a byproduct of the popularity of Wi-Fi.

Generally speaking, the 2.4GHz band suffers a lot more from interference than the much faster 5GHz band, but the 2.4GHz one can sometimes have a better range, but this all depends on your local area.

In other words, I try to help you optimise your Wi-Fi connection. If you would like me to help you, please can you specify the make/model of TalkTalk router that you are using?