Wifi connection constantly dropping

[mcmatt]

Hi,

Last week there was a lightning storm that seemed to affect the internet we (and all others in the local area) were receiving, and an engineer turned up at the local junction/exchange box shortly after. This seemed to sort the internet connection, with the light on the front of the router now a solid white, and remaining so ever since. 

Ever since then, our wifi seems to keep dropping, affecting all devices around the house. I have performed a router reset, and powered down all devices, reconnecting etc. What seems to happen is the connection remains stable for a time, then it is impossible to remain connected for any length of time beyond a few minutes, at best. Early in the morning it is impossible to connect whatsoever. 

Our router is a Sagemcom-FAST5464. I am unable to perform a connection test as there was an issue a few months back and the case remains open with the 'engineer is on the way to the exchange', which was last updated on 01/06/2024.

Is anyone able to provide any advice at all? Any and all would be massively appreciated.

Many thanks in advance, 

Matt

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Morning @mcmatt 

Please let us know if you do experience any further issues with the connection.

Thanks for your help @KeithFrench 

[KeithFrench]

No problem, just let me know.

[mcmatt]

Hi Keith, 

thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I would say the storm definitely had something to do with this one way or another, as we had pretty decent internet connectivity for a good few years, with only a small issue that warranted a visit from the Openreach engineer. 

I do know that a lot of people in the area I live in have had the initial issue of no internet also just after the storm, as I mentioned. With this in mind I have switched the channel on the router as it was sitting on channel 1 on the 2.4GHz band. Thus far, it seems to be a little more stable, though I have had a few blips where the WiFi has booted me off. Our phones would flat out refuse to connect before but now seem to be happier connecting. I remain to be convinced that this has fixed the problem but for now I'll monitor. 

If problems do persist, then I will take you up on your offer, if I may. 
Thanks again.

[KeithFrench]

Assuming that the router wasn't damaged by the lightning, the most likely cause is WiFi interference. Slow speed, intermittent dropouts, breaks in the signal or 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. The next stage involves sending out a guide to you to help you get me some important diagnostic results so that I can analyse them for you and recommend changes to your router configuration to solve them.

I only send this out to people who request it.