Technology and Society

Is Wireless Internet Intrinsically Unreliable?

24 Comments

Or is it just me?

[Saturday morning update]

To answer questions in comments, I have a Linksys and my Verizon FIOS modem/router. Both connections can be flaky, though the Verizon is usually a stronger signal. They’re both on a different floor (below) than the Roku, and almost opposite corners of the house. I could run ethernet, but it would be a pain.

24 thoughts on “Is Wireless Internet Intrinsically Unreliable?”

    1. Mine, too.

      Time Capsule to Airport Extreme wireless bridging is the only stable bridging system I’ve ever found. (Though that might also be because I’ve tried it several times when the technology was less mature, as well.)

      Expensive, yes. But it appears that sometimes you get what you pay for.

      Also, you might want to get a higher-gain antenna if you have a replaceable/external.

  5. Hmm. I don’t have any problem watching Netflix streaming on my laptop over 802.1g. I have a Roku, but that’s connected with Ethernet as its 3 feet from my router. Is Ethernet feasible for you?

  6. Rand, it’s just like any other radio-frequency service. Subject to interference due to competing signals, changing environment, etc. If you get several dropouts loading a web page, it just seems slow, but streaming video is more fragile.

    1. I think Glenn has the best access. It’s not the 802.x Wifi standard that is the problem. The problem is the ISAM band (either 2.4Ghz of 5.1 Ghz). Since so many devices are packed into those RF ranges; you’ll always find something interfering with your connection.

      Also, are you watching Mad Men on Netflix? Because I’ve noticed their bandwidth delivery is getting progressively worse. Still like having the season available without commercials (just finished Firefly/Serenity), but they have market share for the taking by any decent competitor.

      1. Leland, if you log on to your account at Netflix you can change the compression. I currently am reasonably happy with the medium setting which uses ~700MB per movie, but I could move up to high quality if I wanted to at 2GB per. I don’t want to squander my monthly data quota so I accept the medium quality.

        Are you complaining about the full data rate quality? That would be different.

        And yes, Firefly without commercials is great!

        1. I do recall making a setting on initial setup, but I need to recheck it. Roku/Netflix shows a 4 dots (plus overdrive HD) for streaming quality. I used to get 4 lit dots 80% of the time, with some just 3. Now, I get 2 lit dots almost everytime. That’s what I meant by noticing a change. It’s not a big deal, so I can set the compression to that standard. And it could be my ISP jerking me around. If I really want a shape image and great sound; RedBox supports the blu-ray easy enough.

      2. Holy cow… I’m just cranking out the homonyms today, and bad ones to boot…

        “Glenn has the best answer” Hey, “access” starts with an “a” and has two syllables, so I got that going for me.

        I need to cut back on the caffeine. Fingers aren’t keeping up with the thought processes.

  7. Rand, what brand of wi-fi equipment are you using?

    I’ve tried and discarded both Linksys and D-Link before settling on Netgear as the one reliable brand with a strong enough signal to serve my whole house (before, the signal needed more help getting upstairs than I do).

    I replaced my mother-in-law’s professionally installed and setup wi-fi, which never worked at all, with a Netgear router I set up from an installation guide, and it’s worked without a hitch ever since.

      1. Linksys or Netgear, with the latter seeming to be statistically more reliable for more people. I’ve never had any troubles with Linksys routers. I wouldn’t touch D-Link.

        1. 10 years ago, I bought nothing but D-Link. I considered Linksys to be for the ignorant masses, and Netgear to be the cheap product. I still use my D-Link switches and hubs. But, 10 years ago seems to be a different paradigm for those companies.

          1. Switches are commodities these days — they all make fine switches. The wireless is what separates the men from the boys. AFAICT, D hasn’t kept up with the crowd as of late.

  8. I have a problem with wi-fi dropping and the software on my laptop not knowing. Not sure if the problem is client or router side. While nothing can prevent dropped packets from interference, the system should be able to recover and maintain the connection.

    1. One way to test and see if it is the router is if it will let your computer release and renew it’s IP address from the command prompt. If the command prompt cursor just sits there while your trying to renew the address then it’s the router’s DHCP service that has stopped responding. When you power cycle the router (unplug/plug) your connection should come back. I had a Linksys and a Dlink that would do the very same thing you describe from time to time. Oddly enough I’m now using a cheesy U.S. Robotics that has only been turned off when I had to move it; otherwise its been rock solid. And a friend of mine with a Netgear has said the same of his as well. Though I think he has problems getting his Playstation 3 to connect through a wired ethernet connection — it only connects through wireless for some odd reason. But my Playstation on my U.S. Robo snatches up a connection straightaway through the wire and my NAT status is always ‘Open’.

  9. Check how many other networks are visible, and what channel they’re on. I live in an apartment complex and there’s half a dozen networks in range, and they’re all on channels 6 and 11–so I moved my router to channel 1, and the signal got a lot better.

  10. I have a US Robotics wifi router that I got before CompUSA went out of business. It was only 19.99 and then the 19.99 rebate made it free. For a free router it works pretty good! It just has a horribly weak wifi reception; as in it can barely send/receive through one wall. So, I made my own DIY antennae parabola and the signal quality to a desktop in the next room went up by 20% according to the wifi connection manager. And I was able to get stable connections out to the kitchen on the other side of the house.A Google search shows no shortage of DIY antennae ideas. I made mine with aluminum foil, cardboard, and masking tape.

  11. All these technical solutions, when ‘the truth is out there.’ Ya see, Rand has been identified as a sane rational free thinking individual and as such is an enemy of the state. It all started with the V-chip. Now all electronics must by double secret law include the N-chip (N for nanny) which degrades any communication with others so sane people can’t compare notes easily. They almost gave the game away in that batman movie where the riddler is shown developing and using the chip. Contact Josh for aluminum foil, cardboard and masking tape which as we all know, is not used for making antennae, but for reducing the N-chip control signal… you wrap the foil around your head and tape it in place…

    Josh, you almost let the cat out of the bag that you belong to the sane society… now quit putting cats in bags.

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