Internet Connection

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Sorry, to be honest I sort of lost the plot when the subject matter got into multiple routers, extenders, two modems, etc.
wifi at the best of times is always more maintenance than Ethernet which is always preferred if possible. Plus the fact that the thread was being ably attended to. :)

personally I’d would have done one of two things - gut all the hardware, reset them all and start from scratch with just the bare bones, as in, one modem/router.
which leads to the next option, if that didn’t cut the mustard, get a high end modem with PoE ports and a wireless access point, like the Ubiquity UniFi series.
 
Thanks.

Is there any way one can identify whether the remaining error is the wireless side or broadbnd side ? Can not reasonably cable to mobile devices downstairs. I thought I'd found a free monitor to run on the upstairs PC but it turned out a) to be a trial only, and b) seemed to sling any results at the end of a limited time running. So wasn't much use.
 
use a monitor on a phone or tablet not a pc.
when you tried the tplink downstairs did it show up as an extra ssid or did it show as an extension of upstairs
 
I don't know how one tells. From a mobile device only one net was seen so one didn't know where it had connected. (This contrasts with the one I have which added an extension to the net name.)
 
My concern with it being on the mobile device is, would it be able to tell the difference between a WiFi issue causing the problem, and a broadband issue causing a knock-on WiFi issue ?
 
Did you change the channel? - post#52
Slytod said:
WiFi issue causing the problem, and a broadband issue causing a knock-on WiFi issue
Click to expand...
The only way to know is to have 2 devices next to one another and when one drops out grab the other one straight away
and see if it is on the internet - not is it connected but you can use the internet. 2 different things
 
Did I change channels ? No, what with Xmas and the decision to remove the extender and see what happened it got missed. Didn't help remember when an improvement occurred. Job for tomorrow then. But fair to say that if her BT smart router is replaced as active router at the end, I'm sure one can't select anything but auto, IIRC.

Past experience suggests that often one device will have dropped out while another apoears to update: but I'm never 100% sure if it's not displaying data it's previously cached. In any event, when one goes the other usually, but not always, follows soon after.

The TP-Link extender is version 1.1. But is no longer plugged in.

I think I may leave the extender issue until the reason for the WiFi still dropping is uncovered, otherwise we may end up muddying the water, as it were.
 
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Apologies not found time yet: on the other hand, no drops yet this year.

Edit
And again today. However again, no drop out yet. No idea why not.
I'm wondering if this should be closed and I can always start another if the issue returns.
Meanwhile, the extender is still unplugged.
 
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Thanks for all the help. I'm not saying that the link never gets dropped now (it did for a while last night) but it tends to be far rarer and of fairly short duration now; which makes it tolerable, and less easy to judge if something fixes further or is just coincidental with any perceived improvement. I have this thread to return to should things get bad again, but for now it may be best to close the issue.

I'll probably retry the extender when the weather improves and there is a greater need to connect outside. Likely the problems will start again then.

Thanks again.
 
There wasn't, but the combination of your post and the fact that I've just had a few minutes of no WiFi (while the extender was still unplugged, I should add) has kicked me into action.

I watched the video, redid the WPS thing. I had to assume when all stopped flashing all was well. Then I read on to see I was supposed to change channel first !

I tried the link given for a WiFi montor (do you know it comes up with different suggestions if used on the PC and the Android tablet ?) and have just installed NetSpot on the tablet. I will have to see how that goes.

Not easy to interpret the NetSpot screen. Keeps changing (unsurprisingly). I was hoping it'd simply list channels and how busy there were. One of my test networks is listed twice, once at the top of the screen with a big red tick by it. I assume this is once from the router and once from the extender. I can only think that means the top one is already the best choice. Channel 1 which seems to have the lowest 33dBm whatever that is.

Other channels shown are 11, 36, 4, 6, I have no idea what to make of it really. Are the humps in the graph signal strength or present use ? Who knows. I'll have to find some kind of manual.

So I think I'll assume that's it's already set ok and the channel should be left alone, and reposition the extender in the kitchen as it usually is (in order to feed the signal out to the patio).
 
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The idea with a scanner is to see how many other houses/flats etc are using the same channel.
In some countries the isp uses the same channel. So when you use a scanner it will show you for example 15 ssids all using
channel 6. This makes channel 6 crowded, so you change for example to 8 or 1 a channel that no one else is using.
 
Well, *if* I interpret the lower graph correctly, channels 8, 9, and 13 seem to have nothing on them. Maybe I'll try to use one of them tomorrow.
 
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