Internet randomly cutting out

Casual

I'll start out by saying I know nothing about routers. Nothing at all. I would appreciate it if advice given here be put in a way an idiot could understand.

Basically put, my wireless internet randomly cuts out, it can usually be fixed by turning the router off and on again and sometimes by running the troubleshoot tool. It's also been getting steadily worse, tonight has been particularly bad with several cut outs and the usual fixes not seeming to work for longer than 10 minutes at a time. I realise that this is the shittiest description of the problem ever but like I said, I know nothing about routers.

Are there any simple fixes I could try myself?

EDIT: It's probably also worth noting that my download speeds are less than half what they should be.

Esh

Call your cable company?

Dhalphir

First step in troubleshooting any Internet issue is to isolate where the problem/s are coming from.

First you want to rule out whether its your wireless or the entire router that's fucked, so plug in your router to your PC via ethernet cable. If the problem goes away, you need a new wireless router. If it doesn't, you still might need a new router, but at least you know the problem isn't restricted to wireless.

I don't know how the cable setups work in the US, but if they are like they are here, you have your router which is connected to a cable modem which is connected to the wall. Connect your PC directly to the modem and take the router out of the equation - if the problem goes away, it's the router, if not, it could be the connection itself.

phoo

Dhalphir is right about figuring out if the problem is with your wireless or your router. Isolating the problem is the first step. The second step is learning more about the behaviour - is there a pattern, what are additional symptoms?

If it is the wireless and not the router, the problem may simply be what channel you are on. Wifi is a radio (of sorts) and there are a couple of channels people get set to as default. And just like on a radio, you can't hear anything when everyone talks at once. Change the channel to something that is less common and the problem could go away. This is a setting in your router.

If it is the router, there are a whole number of issues it could be. It could be anywhere from trouble with your provider (but that would unlikely to be fixed by a reboot of the router) to trouble with the HW of the router. Sometimes those routers just have to be power cycled and having to do it constantly is a sign of trouble. BUT, do what Dhalphir says first and see if your trouble largely goes away when you plug in an ethernet cable instead of using wireless. I think it will.

Casual

Thanks for the replies, first thing I'm in the UK not the US. Secondly I noticed my phone can still use the wifi just fine even when my PC can't. Restarting the PC also seems to temporarily (sometimes extremely temporarily) sort it. So my new suspect number one is the wireless card in my PC. I already ordered a new one so I should get that sometime next week. Hopefully this will be as simple as replacing the card I'd certainly rather it be the card than the router because that I can fix.

phoo

Are you certain your phone is using wifi and not its gsm radio? They are not the same.

The first step in troubleshooting this is to plug the ethernet cable into your computer and not use wifi to see if the problem still occurs. Wifi has different channels whether you are in the US or the UK, it's just that the frequencies are slightly different. It doesn't really look different as an end user (I think there may be a subtraction or addition of one channel?).

Casual

Yeah I'm sure the phone was using the wifi. It had the wifi signal on the screen and the net speed difference between 3G (don't even get 3G where I live for the most part) and wireless is very noticeable. Getting an ethernet cable to my PC is easier said than done, pretty much the reason I'm using wifi in my desktop in the first place is because I don't have much choice.

kime

If you are sure that your phone has continuous, uninterrupted wifi, then it sounds like the issue is with your computer... Is the wireless built-in, or a USB thingie? If you can, you should try to buy a USB WiFi thingie (they aren't too expensive), plug it in your computer and use that to connect to the network. If that works, then you can just stick with it, problem solved (and now you know that the problem appears to be with whatever hardware your PC was using to connect before).

If it doesn't, then I dunno haha. It'd be strange that your phone can pick it up, but two different pieces of hardware attached to your computer cannot.

I'm not an expert at this, though, so if money is tight you should wait for someone else to vouch that this is a good idea :P

phoo

You said you already paid for a new wifi card. Hopefully that fixes it for you. If not, get into your router and change the channel you are broadcasting on. I'm assuming that things worked great under similar circumstances at one time and you aren't trying to use the wifi around a concrete wall, etc.

There's also strength of antenna to be considered, though generally one in a card should be better than what is in a phone. There are ways to boost the signal, though it requires access to the card.

If neither of those fix the problems, it's time to start trouble shooting the router and internet connection.