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[Peter]

Hello all hope the cold not getting you down?

We are having a problem with my wife's laptop wifi not keeping it's WiFi connection.
I reenter the key code as instructed and sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't.
It may stay connected for a few hours and then we loose connection again.

We are Windows XP service pack 3 The hub is BTHub3-3K7F with BT Infinity broadband.

Can anyone advise please?

Peter

[JGO]

First thought, is the cold getting the laptop down ?  If it has worked through cold spells before OK but first thing to ask. You could prove it with a bit of GENTLE ! warming with a hair dryer say.

Do you use the WiFi for anything else ?  does that work OK ?

[Peter]

Laptop not in a cold environment, in living room so cosy.
Router on the other hand is next to my desk top pc and the room is unheated.
WiFi not used for anything else though, my internet connection is stacle.

Peter

[JGO]

OK so it looks like the WiFi ;  the WiFi path, the laptop end or the router end.

Suggest move the laptop about to see if that improves it. If this doesn't help  can you test the laptop on another, say public, WiFi network ?  It this says Laptop is OK it looks like the router's WiFi output is suspect; can you borrow another known good laptop to see if the works with that ?

[Peter]

Thanks JGO, I just ran the BT desktop help prog and that couldn't repair it, again I've done all the usual things I know of, restart the hub, (which is only a few months old) etc; as a matter of fact i've just now got the laptop connected again, it was fine from yesterday AM until about 3 ish today, I'll get my son to bring his laptop for trying, although as the fault is intermittent it make take some time to correct.

Thanks again.

Peter

[Ezzer]

It might be worth going into the router setting and changing the wireless 'channel'
This changes the frequency range of the signal a bit in case its interacting with something else in the loacality. I seem to remember something about a certain make of washing machine which caused the occasional problem.
Other wise check for piles of mains wiring or appliances next to the router. Just by moving such things around a little bit or moving the Router a couple of feet could help.

I had a task where a houshold were having issues connecting to the net. The router was sitting on a filing cabinet in an upstairs office. I moved it on to the desk next to the cabinet and problem solved. having all that metal in the way was blocking the signal (there was a hot water tank in a cupboard right next to the cabinet) 

[Black Sheep]

Ezzer's right about moving the channel setting. I've overcome a few 'wireless drops' using this method. Even though the Hub 3's have 'Smart Wireless Technology', I've yet to see it in action.

Try the uppermost channels initially 9,10 and 11 and see if this improves your connection. It's achieved by accessing your Hub Manager by typing 192.168.1.254 into the URL, then following the prompts. The password is on the little token that's fitted on the top-rear of the Hub itself, or on the printed label on the underside of the Hub. Good luck.

[Peter]

Thanks Ezzer, channel was set on 11 so I've reset to 10 for now, see how that goes.

Peter

[sheddyian]

I've found inSSIDer to be a useful program to find which channels are free / clashing with those you're using.

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

Install it on the laptop in question (I think it's Windows only), and you can get plots of other wireless devices transmitting on different channels, and their signal strength. 

I've used this to good effect to find the least used/weakest/empty channel to set my modem/router to use.

Ian

[Peter]

Many thanks to everyone, since I reset the channel Mrs B's laptop is connecting ok and keeping connected.

My wifes sends her thank too.

Peter

[Black Sheep]

Result !!  Thanks for the feedback.

[Peter]

I also downloaded the WiFi Anylizer for any future trouble.

Peter