Router loses wifi range randomly for an hour or two

6pack

6pack

ex-Mod
Router - Linksys E2000 150MBps.

Seen this happen from past two three months. The router will lose wifi range completely for 1-2 hrs for no apparent reason once every alternate week or once a month.

At first I thought the phone wifi was the problem. I used another phone to check and even it had the same problem of not being able to connect to the router. Both phones showed router out of range error (even when i kept the phone on top of the router). If I switched on and off the phone(s) wifi, it would show the router as full range and then disconnect immediately on connecting to it. (This is why I thought it might be phone wifi fault).

I searched the net, and saw on Linksys site that the problem might be due to incorrect MTU. After some packet test suggested on Linksys site, I've set the MTU size to 1490 instead of the 1492 it was previously. I just did this today and will update if the problem comes back.

Is this packet size the reason or is the router wifi dying? The router is around 7-8 years old now. I wanted to open it and clean it up thinking there might be lot of dust inside but the router has plastic security torx screws. I dont have that bit so left it alone.

Any suggestions?


Update: MTU size change did nothing. Wifi still dies randomly.
 
Last edited:
6pack said:
Router - Linksys E2000 150MBps.

Seen this happen from past two three months. The router will lose wifi range completely for 1-2 hrs for no apparent reason once every alternate week or once a month.

At first I thought the phone wifi was the problem. I used another phone to check and even it had the same problem of not being able to connect to the router. Both phones showed router out of range error (even when i kept the phone on top of the router). If I switched on and off the phone(s) wifi, it would show the router as full range and then disconnect immediately on connecting to it. (This is why I thought it might be phone wifi fault).

I searched the net, and saw on Linksys site that the problem might be due to incorrect MTU. After some packet test suggested on Linksys site, I've set the MTU size to 1490 instead of the 1492 it was previously. I just did this today and will update if the problem comes back.

Is this packet size the reason or is the router wifi dying? The router is around 7-8 years old now. I wanted to open it and clean it up thinking there might be lot of dust inside but the router has plastic security torx screws. I dont have that bit so left it alone.

Any suggestions?
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does it has wifi n .... i am asking Because u said its 7-8 years old.
 
get a new router 300 mbps any brand from 600 to 3000 depend on brand and speed cause it is 8 year old that why
 
Arun.P said:
get a new router 300 mbps any brand from 600 to 3000 depend on brand and speed cause it is 8 year old that why
Click to expand...
What brand is good? TPLink, Tenda, Netgear, or any other? Hopefully they come with fully functional android app for doing occasional work on the router.
 
^ all the brand are good depend on quality as your provide the link it is good deal as get it from local not import for avoid warranty case
 
I was going to buy the cheapest router on the market and suddenly it occurred to me that I have a gigabit router and adding a fast ethernet router on one of the Lan ports will pull down the speeds to 10/100 Mbps.

Searching for cheapest gigabit router I saw this one - TP-Link Archer C20 AC750 Wireless Dual Band Router (Black) https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00Q0ZMIT0/

This one has only one light for all Lan ports and none of the lights on the router blink it seems. My old router is better than this. All lights blink and the router has blue/green light on each port depending on link speed. 10/100= blue and gigabit= green.

I was thinking of buying refurbished router from Amazon US but it's not worth it due the low rupees to dollar rate.

I then thought of getting a WiFi AP buy they are costing more than high end routers for some strange reason.

Any gigabit router better than this tp link one in 2k?
 
Dont buy the TP-Link C20. I bought it, used it and returned it due to its poor performance. I have discovered the hard way that if one wants a good quality router then one must be prepared to pay a decent price for it. IMHO, 'cheapest' should not be the only criteria.
 
paraman said:
Dont buy the TP-Link C20. I bought it, used it and returned it due to its poor performance. I have discovered the hard way that if one wants a good quality router then one must be prepared to pay a decent price for it. IMHO, 'cheapest' should not be the only criteria.
Click to expand...
Yup, read a lot of reviews on Amazon and other sites on a lot of commonly found brand routers. Most say the same thing - range is poor for even 300Mbps routers and does not go beyond 2-3 walls. Some even said their old 150Mbps routers had better coverage than the new cheap 150Mbps ones.

Which router did you buy?
 
If range is of importance then take a look at TP-Link's HP (High Performance) range of routers.
TP - Link 841HP can be had for anything between 2400-2800 while 941HP is between 3300-3500.
They have 9dBi antennas with amplifiers to support such high gain antennas.
If AC support is crucial then you will have to up the budget. A VFM offering is the Archer C7, while the best options are Netgear R7000 and Asus AC68U.
I was gonna purchase R7000 but decided that I didn't need AC support just now as I wasn't looking to stream a lot of stuff. So decided to buy the 941HP model and very happy with it's range. It penetrates 4-5 walls easily and although the throughput drops to 11-15Mbps at that stage, it is more than good enough for internet browsing and even watching Youtube.
 
My current router has the 5Ghz band lying useless from years. I don't have any 5Ghz capable devices so AC router is useless for me.
I think anything more than a 300Mbps N router is of no use to me now. My phone or any other wireless devices do not support 5Ghz wifi.
 
Although devices in my household support AC, I still didn't find a good enough reason to upgrade as I am not going to stream data from a central source. For people who either have super-fast internet or want to stream from a central storage device like a NAS/HDD attached to router, it makes a lot of sense to invest in an AC router with good throughput and range.
For everyone else, an N300 is more than enough. In fact, till last month, I was using a 54G router and even that served my purpose. Had to upgrade just due to need of increase in range.
 
6pack said:
Yup, read a lot of reviews on Amazon and other sites on a lot of commonly found brand routers. Most say the same thing - range is poor for even 300Mbps routers and does not go beyond 2-3 walls. Some even said their old 150Mbps routers had better coverage than the new cheap 150Mbps ones.

Which router did you buy?
Click to expand...

I finally went with ASUS RT-N18U router. It has rich features, range, speed et al. It handles 10+ devices in my home with ease. The lack of 5Ghz band doesnt matter to me. One can control most functions of the router with its android apps.

http://www.digitalcitizen.life/reviewing-asus-rt-n18u-router-high-end-hardware-mid-range-price

https://www.asus.com/in/Networking/RTN18U/

http://www.amazon.in/Asus-RT-N-18U-...us rt-n 18u&qid=1481381211&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
 
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