[threestain]

Hi guys,

Sorry for any reposting - the search function just won't work for me (not sure why).

I have a Buffalo Wireless Router and Modem WG54 which I use with Virgin Media Cable broadband. Has been working absolutely fine, up until the past couple of days, when the signal keeps dropping out, and then the network cannot be found at all. I use WEP to secure the network.

Some new people moved in down the road, so it could be intereference, but I spent an hour or so adjusting the channels and settings as much as I could to improve this (as per the help guide) to no avail.

This is really irritating as today was the one day my girlfriend worked from home for 6 weeks...

Anyone got any previous with airstations malfunctioning or advice for sorting it out?


Thanks!

PS I noticed on the logs that there have been quite a few DNS attempts on my router according to the log... any advice for that either?

[ghporter]

First, unplug the power cord and let the device sit for a few minutes. That will reboot the router and may help things out-it can't hurt.

Second, replace your WEP setup! WEP is absolutely useless for security, whereas WPA (WiFi Protected Access) is excellent, and every current piece of hardware (for the last several years, in fact) supports it. There's no reason not to change to WPA. It sounds like you're catching some new neighbor traffic on your router, and that can impact your performance. Use a random password generator (like this one) to create a nice, long password, save it as a text file on a USB flash drive, and setting up WPA becomes trivial.

Finally, change your network's name (the SSID) to something unique. "access denied" is a good one-you can't force others to pay attention to and respect your network, but you can make sure they have no excuse for "accidentally" connecting.

[dimmer]

WEP or WPA won't do diddly in regards to your network performance of course. Most likely you have a hardware failure, I hate to say, either on the base station or your computer.

New folks across the road? Very unlikely to cause issues.

Glenn is right that using WPA and a hidden network and a odd SSID is better for "security": but you may want to consider that maybe you'd like to be a good community member and allow open access to your wireless network -- be your own Starbucks! (But with better coffee, hopefully.)