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General discussion

Wifi issue but not sure why

Mar 31, 2017 2:58PM PDT

Comcast 100/20 service. 2 laptops win 10 (1 year old), other win 7 (6 years old).
2500 sq ft house, built in 2004. had comcast since day 1 with no real issues.

Trying to give as much info as possible.

Last 3 weeks my wifi signal has been awful. 5 MB dl speed. I have tried it all. Finally had comcast come out. They told me the signal looks fine. My cable is good. So we broke it down piece by piece.

1. If either laptop is connected via cable to the modem my connection is great

2. if either laptop is connected via cable to the router connection is great.

3. wifi has been bad on both laptops.


He said its probably the router, but did some resets (which I had done) but suddenly i was getting 85 MB dl on wifi. He said if it stops working its the router. Sure enough a day later i was back to slow wifi.

So I bought a brand new router archer c7 which had amazing reviews. Got it installed and ready and still have 5 MB dl speed on wifi.

I took both routers over to my moms house and they both work fine with my laptops over at her house.

I have been able to have great wifi in my house in all rooms and even outside in the past.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thank You

Discussion is locked

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check wirelss settings in router
Mar 31, 2017 3:32PM PDT

Insure they are set to broadcast at 100% power. Next is to try a USB wifi device in each laptop and see if the wifi speed is restored. If so, although a bit rare, then both internal wifi are dying.

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I had a C7 which was lackluster out of the box.
Mar 31, 2017 4:08PM PDT

What fixed it? I installed TP-Link's latest firmware, factory reset and set it up one more time.

Much better.

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answering questions
Apr 1, 2017 6:33PM PDT

The wifi is broadcasting at 100%. I went got a USB device for wifi and had the same issue on both laptops.

The new router had the latest firmware.

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that leaves interference
Apr 1, 2017 6:43PM PDT

Are you using both laptops next to each other? They can interfere with each other. Check for other local wifi signals and the channels they are on. Your meighbor may be interfereing with the same channel. Try with your router set to a different channel than the strongest one in your neighborhood.

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makes sense
Apr 1, 2017 6:57PM PDT

that was what i was thinking.

Ran a program called Xirrus scan. I saw about 16 networks available. I am on channel 1 while almost everyone else is on 6, 8, or 10. Also I am on frequency 2412, while everyone else is 2427, 2437, 2457.

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use this
Apr 1, 2017 7:03PM PDT
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good idea
Apr 1, 2017 7:11PM PDT

good idea sadly only channels 1-11 are available.

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try a dual antenna in USB
Apr 1, 2017 7:24PM PDT

I use this one and it's inexpensive too. I'm able to piggy back a shared signal from neighbor over 100 ft away at 52 Mbs with it.

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How are the signals
Apr 2, 2017 5:23AM PDT

from the other 16 networks ?
If they are strong and yours is not I would still suspect the router .

I would return the router anyway and get another .