TalkTalk fibre wifi issues
Bob_Jenkins
Posts: 64 Forum Member
✭
Morning all..
We are having issues with our TalkTalk wifi signal and was looking for some advice.
The issues are that any device connected to the wifi seems to have connection issues. Both our android phones connect perfectly, no drops that we can see. However apps like YouTube, Playstore, Play Newstand seems to fail to connect or at least fully.
The browsers will also fail to connect 50% of the time. The router lights all look good, as does the signal strength, I've check the channel and this also looks good. At the same time our PC connected through wifi will also fail to connect properly, although it looks fine I get no connection errors in the browser.
Its quite odd as some apps such as facebook will run fine on the phones, as does the browser sometimes?! The TalkTalk network checker always reports no issues, I have also powered down the BT modem and TalkTalk router for the advised 20 minutes, and although the connections will work again, they will fail again at some point.
Rebooting the phones will sometimes resolve the issues, although the connection feels restricted with images failing to load.
Any ideas?
We are having issues with our TalkTalk wifi signal and was looking for some advice.
The issues are that any device connected to the wifi seems to have connection issues. Both our android phones connect perfectly, no drops that we can see. However apps like YouTube, Playstore, Play Newstand seems to fail to connect or at least fully.
The browsers will also fail to connect 50% of the time. The router lights all look good, as does the signal strength, I've check the channel and this also looks good. At the same time our PC connected through wifi will also fail to connect properly, although it looks fine I get no connection errors in the browser.
Its quite odd as some apps such as facebook will run fine on the phones, as does the browser sometimes?! The TalkTalk network checker always reports no issues, I have also powered down the BT modem and TalkTalk router for the advised 20 minutes, and although the connections will work again, they will fail again at some point.
Rebooting the phones will sometimes resolve the issues, although the connection feels restricted with images failing to load.
Any ideas?
0
Comments
If you can track down a copy of version 3 of inSSIDer (the last free version of this useful utility) and run that on your laptop that will tell you what the WiFi environment is like around you. It will show if interference is the cause and may point you at a clearer channel to set the router to.
Some routers have an Auto WiFi channel setting. Not entirely sure what that is meant to do. On my Router I set the WiFi to Auto and it decided to pick the most congested channel available rather than the much clearer channel 1 that I ended up telling it to use. So go figure!
But first thing to check is interference and if you can eliminate that then look to other causes.
I assume the app is available on other OS’s too.
I shall try and find a copy of inSIDDer and give that a whirl. SkipTracer, thanks I already use that app, did I miss something though? Is there a screen to show conflicts as all I could find was other networks and strengths and best channel.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en_GB
I have tried it out and it does have a display very similar to inSSIDer that shows the networks in a graphical form showing how they all overlap and relative signal strengths.
Yup. I see, so the more networks that overlap yours the worse your network is likely to be and the stronger their signal against yours the worse it gets?
Had a look at inSIDDer and it looks very good and I have no problems paying for quality apps, but pay as you go?! Mmm, no thanks.
So finding a channel that is clearer will help. You might not find a completely clear channel but go for one where any overlapping networks are significantly weaker than yours.
Pretty much my reaction when I saw that there was a version 4 available. I had already been using ver 3 so thought it might be worth an upgrade. Then saw it was no longer free so decided to stick with what I'd got.
Not so sure what you mean by Pay as you go though it looks like a one off $19.99 payment to me
http://www.inssider.com/inssider/
Oh, well I was looking here:
http://www.inssider.com/helper/
States $9.99 for 30 days or $69.99 for a 1 year licence!
Ah right. the Helper app is something different to the inSSIDer WiFi analysis tool.
There is a download of inSSIDer ver 3 here
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/inssider.html
if you want to try it.
Be very careful about the download. These sites often try to include other software and use a trick where the obvious down load button gives you the extras.
The following line near the top of the page appears to give the clean program
MajorGeeks.Com » Internet Tools » Diagnose, Monitor & Repair » inSSIDer 3.1.2.1 » Download
Brian
Which is the same URL as the first "Download@Majorgeeks" link under the green Download Locations banner.
Mind you I'm using AdBlock Plus which does tend to hide a lot of these spurious ad sponsored download buttons so there could be something on that page I'm not seeing.
The following link gives a review
http://uk.pcmag.com/inssider-for-android/33478/review/inssider-for-android
Brian
Further to my issues:
I used WiFI Analyzer last night to monitor my channel and it would seem ok. I'm on channel 11 (set to auto) but I only get 1 or 2 devices on the same channel as me with 1 or 2 sharing..
So this morning I used inSIDDer and decided to jump onto channel 10 which gives me a clear channel, just 2 or 3 devices sharing. This seemed to improve the issues. but i'm now back to the same issues!?
Lucky for me someone from TalkTalk contacted me this morning stating the router sounds like it has a fault and they will send me out a new one! I nearly fell over.. hope there is no small print.. ie Here is your new router and your new 12 month contract!! lol
I'll update the post if I get the router and the issues are fixed.
Thanks lonewaller, found it and considering purchasing it for my phone as we rarely fire up the PC anymore. I have to dust the keyboard everytime before use. :P
According to the review the Android insider app does not have all the features found on the DeskTop version (though they could be speaking about v4) nor does it currently have any Help available.
As you have v3 on your PC have a look at the Learning pages. There are good explanations about channels (eg Adjacent and Co-Channel Congestion) which can help find a good signal.
Brian
The router I now have is an upgrade from our previous router and supports dual bands, 2.4ghz and 5ghz. So we have both running and both run perfectly. Lucky for us all our devices are 5ghz compatible as we are the only people in the area on it!
Perfect. :-)
inSIDer is a handy bit of kit, but very unstable on our vista machine, if left running for any length of time you come back to 2 crash reports with the program freaking out in the background. Still, handy in the short term. :-)
I have stuck with WiFi Analyzer as I can test on all 3 floors.