I have something weird happening around my house, Starting a couple of months ago my wifi signal in the house got weaker after several years of the same setup. I put in a repeater to help with that problem. About the same time my remote for the Roku was having trouble getting to the Roko that was located behind the tv. To solve this I used an extension HDMI cable so the Roko can be seen by the remote. It had worked fine for years sitting behind the tv. Also I have a video system from 2 remote wifi IP cameras. I have an external antenna to get the signal to the house and now both cut in and out a lot. I didn't have this problem before. I know you guys help each other a lot and I thought someone might have an answer. Could something be interfering with the signals or is it just stuff wears out? Thanks for any help. This is a great place and a great bunch of people here.
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Download a free app like "WiFi Analyzer" (Android) or use a laptop program like "NetSpot." Walk around your house. You will be able to see if your channels are being crowded by signals.
Log into your router's admin page. Manually switch your 2.4Ghz wi-fi channel to 1, 6, or 11, and your 5GHz to a higher channel.
Turn off your primary Wi-Fi for 10 minutes. If the interference on other systems persists, the source is likely external. If it clears up, the source is likely something inside your house.
Think back to a couple of months ago. Did you get a new kitchen appliance, a new smart toy, or a new LED landscape lighting setup? Unplug the new additions one by one to see if the signal stabilization returns.
Signal jammers could also be a thing, but it's rare (and illegal).
thanks for the suggestions I will work on when I get the time.
I had a smart plug experience. I would be able to set it up. Coworker a few feet away could not; some times she could.
We played this game for months. A smart plug or Apple Home Device will spam all the wifi or what ever they are on; those channels with max signal across all channels. This is so a phone searching for this new device can set it up.
If you have a device like this it could be spamming the local area impacting other things.
Anyways that is one thing to check.
thanks for the suggestions I will work on when I get the time.
Wifi is a black art. If you aren't technical or computer savy I'd pay a friend to help you troubleshoot it. Your symptoms point to too much radio noise in your area and your routers can't compensate. It has probably been going downhill for years but you didn't notice. If you live in a large apartment complex there are probably +20 wifi SSIDs in the vicinity. If you live in a home then this usually isn't a problem but a neighbhor may have set up a new router on your same wifi channel causing issues which should be easy to fix.
I'd do this in this order;
unplug the extender. They are notorious for making matters worse. They increase radio noise and cause issues. Routers and computers talking is like talking in a noisy restaurant so as ambient noise goes up convos go down, i.e. connection speeds go down and you get dropouts.
Turn off your network and all devices including printers. Do a network scan on a laptop or phone app to see how many SSIDs are nearby and what their power level is (i.e. how close) and what band 2.4 or 5.0 GHz and channel they are using. Change the settings in your devices to use different band or channel to the closest, strongest foreign SSIDs.
If your routers are old then replace. Newer routers have better tech to handle radio interfence but you still may have to do step 2).
Tips and caveats:
Many ISP routers are mostly locked down these days and have no user configurable settings for wifi other than SSID and password. The wifi in my ISP router is off and I have my own Netgear wireless access point that has three external antennas for better coverage and is fully configurable.
ISP routers are supposed to have algos to change the wifi settings on the fly to find the best band/channels/speeds (so called "smart wifi") but they often get it wrong. A power cycle reboot doesn't clear the memory so if your router is newer but been running for a few years do a hard reset and reprogram it.
If your ISP router is really old (>5yrs) then call and get it replaced to a new model. This alone might solve the issue.
Main router and any access point location is key and the "black art" element of your problem. Moving them 3ft to the left/right or up/down can fix issues, nobody knows why. Also, don't place them on or near metal like a fridge or metal filing cabinet.
Step #2 above is a bit tricky even if you have a configurable wifi router. Do a search as there are tutorials on how to solve radio interference and setting band/channels and other setting to minimize interference but it gets complicated.
thanks for the suggestions I will work on when I get the time.
Fatality's answer seems pretty thorough.
On a simpler level... Your modem and or router could be failing, when they go you get "wavy" connections. Another poster talked about the connectors, those also cause fade. The coax or the couplers/splitters all wear out eventually. Lastly if your getting signal from a cable company your local node could have issues. Call them each time your signal fails and they'll fix it eventually to make you leave them alone.
thanks for the suggestions I will work on when I get the time.
Also check if any of your system needs an update? Even the TV AND WIFI need updates, yours may not be on auto.
Thanks i'll check it out
I would call the cable or fiber company first and have them check it out, that should be no charge to you. If they problems is intermittent, and sounds like it is, they can use a sniffer and record the signal. If that doesn’t resolve it, try removing some Wi-Fi devices one at a time and see if you can isolate the problem.
thanks for the suggestions I will work on when I get the time.
Not a techie, but is your hardware old? We had issues and got a new box from the internet company. We still had issues and when they helped us troubleshoot it ended up being that we replaced the box but not the cable itself. Replaced the cable and it seemed to resolve. The new cable came with the new box but we figured the box was the important part. Lesson learned.
was going to say. I had a copper connection, which was failing on a daily basis, and had fiber installed. Now connection is far more stable.
If you are relying on a signal from a tower, it is possible that you are falling behind on the 4G/5G transition. My phone, for example, could no longer connect, even though it worked perfectly, because too old. So updating equipment is the solution.
thanks for the suggestions I will work on when I get the time.
Yes, it is possible for the amplifiers in your router to burn out.
There are a few things externally that could cause slowdowns. Upgrades to local RADARs. 5 GHz wifi routers are designed to avoid interfering with radar signals.
Upgrades to the cellular network. There is a 5G band at 2.5GHz, so if those signals are really strong or the equipment not good quality, it could cause interference.
I had a problem with the 600MHz 4G signals interfering with my cable modem. The building did have crappy old wiring. I fixed that one by getting rid of cable and using my 4G phone's hotspot. KEK
If a neighbor upgraded their router it may be operating on a difference frequency now, causing congestion.
Unfortunately the real nasty interference sources won't show on a wifi scan. Only a spectrum analyser or software defined radio will find such things. Although maybe an RF field strength meter or diode+LED RF detector might work. I detected a device in the wild that transmitted so much it slowed my wifi. From the signal characteristics I suspect it was either a badly designed wireless headphone, or a jammer.
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/16/the-simplest-way-to-spot-2-4ghz-rf/
Do you have any computers connected by Ethernet? Are they affected? Divide and conquer.
Some data connections like 4K HDMI or USB 3.0 have the right frequencies to cause interference.