The old modem>switch>router question.

[Kurajo]

New guy here.... so I'm dealing with a bit of a nightmare. My network closet is in my basement which consists of my patch panel (wired with cat5e and 6), Netgear 7000 router, Surfboard 6121 and a Netgear 8 port unmanaged switch. All was working fine for the longest. Then one day something (?) changed. I was unable to maintain a stable 2.4ghz connection. I can see the SSID strong signal but I can't connect to it. The devices that are connected to it appear to remain connected but no internet. While many of my devices can utilize the 5ghz a few devices cannot such as my home smoke and c/o alarms, a couple cameras and my Chromecast . So I bought a new router (Asus Rt-ac68p). Same problem. So now to my actual question.... I want to try and move my router from the wiring closet to the main level of my home to see if maybe the signal strengths are being reported inaccurately. To do so, I would need to go to a switch first and then to the cable modem. I know that the surfboard will only dish out one IP to the mac address it sees first. Would a managed switch with a link port solve this issue? On a side note, I have turned off all wireless phones, microwaves, Bluetooth devices to no avail. I have tried changing channels while actively having the problem also to no avail. No channel seems to solve or mitigate the issue. Not sure if someone's wireless alarm system (that I can't see) could be interfering. Wired and 5G devices work fine during all this. So, is there a way to run from my surfboard to a switch to my router on a different level of the home? Sorry for the life story above....

Jim

 

[KenZ71]

You could try to install an app like wifi analyzer on your phone which would tell you if a neighbor's wifi is overwhelming yours. To resolve try broadcasting on a different channel

As for moving the router if it worked before no need to move now.

 

[Nullity]

The surfboard cannot do any routing or LAN DHCP?

 

[Kurajo]

You could try to install an app like wifi analyzer on your phone which would tell you if a neighbor's wifi is overwhelming yours. To resolve try broadcasting on a different channel

As for moving the router if it worked before no need to move now.

Thanks Ken
I have used wifi analyzer to determine what may be interfering. See attached images

My Netgear is the BlueLine on channel one. The new Asus is the BlueLine on channel 11. I turned them both on for observational purposes. I did try running them in tandem in AP mode. The problem still exists. When the problem occurs I have tried several different channels. I have not found one channel that resolves the problem with the 2.4G signal. It is shown at full signal strength on my devices. But I either cannot connect to it at all or I am connected to it but have no internet. Connecting to the 5G works fine most times when 2.4 does not.

Oh and please excuse the douche bag neighbor on channel 1 with the lovely named AP.

 

[Kurajo]

The surfboard cannot do any routing or LAN DHCP?

Hi Nullity,
I believe the surfboard will only assign 1 IP adress to the first device it sees. I do not see where it assigns any other DHCP addresses.

 

[coxhaus]

A couple of things.

I would try to run your Wi-Fi analyzer while the problem is happening to see if you see anything.

How fast is your internet speed?

How long does your problem last? And do you have to reboot to cure the problem?

 

[Kurajo]

A couple of things.

I would try to run your Wi-Fi analyzer while the problem is happening to see if you see anything.

How fast is your internet speed?

How long does your problem last? And do you have to reboot to cure the problem?

Hi Coxhaus
I have tried running the analyzer when the problem is occurring and it doesn't look much different. In some cases I'm on 11 almost all by myself. Which is why I'm thinking it's something I cannot see. Rebooting the router does NOT fix the issue. It appears to happen randomly and very frequently. I'll get a message that my camera has been offline for 30 minutes. Or I will experience it personally. 5G devices and wired devices continue to work just fine. Although the 5G can get degraded because the signal strength is not as good sometimes as the 2.4. The problem will disappear as fast as it arrived. It lasts sometimes all night or hours at a time. I'd like to say predominantly in the evening but then again that's when I use it. I'm at a loss as to the cause. On one hand we have freaking XFINITY broadcasting everyone's AP (probably unbeknownst to them) for their hotspot initiative. And then everyone else's devices that they are knowingly utilizing. I'm wondering about people's wireless security systems that are everywhere today. Although I don't see them being broadcast I'm guessing they do. My Internet speed is around 30

 

[Kurajo]

I'm thinking about wrapping my house in aluminum foil.

 

[coxhaus]

Rather than move your network why not just run your second ASUS router in your new location as an access point with a different SSID. Try connecting it to see if you have the same problem. This saves you from having to move everything.

 

[Kurajo]

Yes I have tried the new router and it suffers from the same problems. Which leads me to believe it's environment related. By leaving the SSID name the same my devices can connect to whichever AP has the strongest signal since they share the same credentials it is seamless... if I could get 2.4 to work that is.

 

[coxhaus]

Yes I believe in using the same SSIDs on all wireless APs. I just wanted the SSID different for testing purposes and closer. Now that it is running closer and you have decided it is environmental I don't have any answers. You need to figure out what is impacting your signal. Since you don't see anything in your Wi-Fi scanner I would look for something close maybe in the same room because you are not picking it up on the scanner.

 

[Kurajo]

Yes I believe in using the same SSIDs on all wireless APs. I just wanted the SSID different for testing purposes and closer. Now that it is running closer and you have decided it is environmental I don't have any answers. You need to figure out what is impacting your signal. Since you don't see anything in your Wi-Fi scanner I would look for something close maybe in the same room because you are not picking it up on the scanner.

Yeah I've tried all possibilities I can think of such as cordless phones, microwaves, bluetooth devices etc. 2.4Ghz fails on both levels of my home so I don't think it's something in the room. Although at this point who knows.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Do you happen to have two Ethernet jacks in any room? If yes then relocating your router would be simple. Connect your modem to a drop that connects to one jack in this room. Plug your router into the jack in the remote location then using a LAN port on your router connect a cable to the second Ethernet location in that room. At the patch panel connect your switch to this Ethernet cable and with the remaining LAN ports on your switch continue to feed your other Ethernet jack locations.

 

[Kurajo]

Yes I do. Each location has two drops wired with cat 6. 1 was intended for data the other for phone. However, I can make both data if need be. It just looks bad is all with patch cables all over the kitchen wall.

 

[Matt Bush]

It just looks bad is all with patch cables all over the kitchen wall.

If you want to have the router and wireless access point in the same device, and not have that device in the wiring closet, then using two drops in the same location in this way is the only way to do it, unless you're willing to disconnect everything that's hardwired.

I can understand some reluctance about patch cables looking bad for a permanent solution, but why not just live with it for testing purposes, and if it works, then you can figure out how to clean up the cables.

 

[Kurajo]

Well, after weeks of ripping my hair out, buying new routers etc... I have discovered where the problem is coming from.... FINALLY. It's my wired Windows 10 laptop. I unplug the patch cable from the switch and the problem immediately goes away. It only appears to affect download speeds and not upload. It also appears to only noticeably affect the 2.4Ghz channel on the wireless router and any wireless router connected to the same network. Now I'm trying to figure out what app is causing it. I have been able to duplicate the problem on demand dozens of times so I'm certain it lies somewhere in Windows 10. I turned off all the breakers in my house and turned each one back on one by one testing speeds each time. When I got to the breaker that powers my office area I lost my 2.4 which narrowed it down.

 

[Kurajo]

Safe mode on Windows 10 seems to mitigate the issue so its most likely an application. My spidey sense tells me Avast Antivirus. However, I disabled it from the system tray and the problem remained.

 

[Kurajo]

On a side note, I am seeing a lot of Remote LAN access from IP addresses Amazon, OVH SAS France etc. I'm not sure I can block any of them.

 

[coxhaus]

If I am reading this correctly, a wired computer is hogging your down load bandwidth which is stealing all the Netgear 7000 router's CPU cycles which causes the 2.4 GHz wireless to be unresponsive. This sounds like bad code in the router. The router should still allocate CPU cycles for the 2.4 GHz wireless.

 

[Nullity]

If I am reading this correctly, a wired computer is hogging your down load bandwidth which is stealing all the Netgear 7000 router's CPU cycles which causes the 2.4 GHz wireless to be unresponsive. This sounds like bad code in the router. The router should still allocate CPU cycles for the 2.4 GHz wireless.

Honestly, I got confused and just gave up trying to understand.