Losing internet connectivity while on a call

[michaeljc70]

My desktop, which uses wireless N, loses connectivity many times when I am on a VOIP call. Usually, it loses internet access, but sometimes all access to the network. I cannot even get to my router login sometimes.

I know it is not a wireless interference as I've had the same router, wireless card and cordless phone for a long time.

It cannot be lack of internet bandwidth as I cannot even get to my router login which doesn't even hit the internet.

It seems like the Linksys phone switch is somehow causing my router to disconnect wireless clients (I haven't tried wired clients yet).

Any ideas?

[usa2k]

I know it is not a wireless interference as I've had the same router, wireless card and cordless phone for a long time.
...
Any ideas?

Neighbors with new hardware?
Can you try wired to eliminate the possibility?

[michaeljc70]

After reading a gazillion posts on the web, I moved my cordless phone a few feet away from my router. I have a DECT 1.9ghz phone and my router is 2.4ghz, so this should not make a difference. However, after a few calls, the internet on my desktop has been fine.

I will watch it over the next few days and see if it holds.

[stevech]

yes, any wireless device that transmits and receives needs to be about 2-3 ft. away from any other such device. Despite the frequency difference, sometimes the receiver is just overloaded.

[kodiak]

Sounds like you've resolved your issue, but I had a similar issue a while back, so I figured I'd chime in.

In my case (and I think this was even before I switched to VOIP) my router began dropping Internet connectivity seemingly randomly. Wired connections still worked, but wireless completely stopped. Resetting the router always fixed it, for a while, but a day or two later it would stop again.

At the time I had a router that was about five years old. I have a background in computer networking and couldn't come up with a diagnosis, so I figured the router was just getting worn out. I went out and bought a new "N" router, hooked it up, and two days later my connection dropped.

At that point I went looking at the actual WiFi signal (which I should have done initially, but didn't think to). I found an open source WiFi scanner and, over a couple of days, I watched what was going on. I live in a neighborhood of old houses turned apartments inhabited by young professionals--so there are tons of access points that I can see.

Both of my routers were set to pick a channel automatically. My observations showed that the new one frequently jumpped between channel 1 and channel 11, but I never saw it on any other channels. My scanner showed that most of the access points I could see were also on channels 1 and 11. I switched my router to use channel 3 exclusively (there were no other APs using that channel at the time I checked). I have not had an issue since.

I'm not sure why routers gravitate to those two channels, but if you are living in a densely populated area and the issue returns, you may just have a saturated WiFi channel.

--Jason

[usa2k]

On 2.4Ghz channels actually overlap as well.
Channel 3 would still overlap the frequency range of channel 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

[voipinit]

^ True, there are really only 3 channels that are separate 1,6 and 11, all other channels overlap with one of those 3. Hopefully one day this will change.