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About once a day my wireless router slows down dramatically. Any ideas on what's wrong or how to troubleshoot it?

In particular, the upload speed is killing me. Where I might normally get 40 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up, when I'm experiencing the problem it's more like 4 Mbps down and 0.1 Mbps up.

Restarting the router fixes the problem. I don't need to restart my cable modem.

It started happening immediately after I moved. Here are the significant factors that may have affected it:

  • I work from home now, on my computer
  • I use two connections, one landline over VPN, one wireless w/o VPN (both experience the same problem)
  • I switched ISPs from Time Warner to Comcast (new service, new modem)
  • My wireless router sits much closer to my wireless device (laptop) than it used to and behind a giant monitor (interference?)

I have Belkin N+ Wireless Router with the latest firmware installed (1.01.19).

Mike M. Lin
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    2 things to try, (1) move router away from your monitor, it may not be the interference, but the metal in your monitor just in the way. (2) Try change the channel of your wifi. – John Siu Dec 10 '12 at 17:43

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If restarting the router always fixes the problem for a while, then some combination of software bugs and failing hardware is killing you. "Troubleshooting" is probably pointless, you already know all you need to about the router's behavior.

Check for newer software, but don't expect to find anything that helps. Manufacturers don't spend a lot of time upgrading the software for last year's products.

In short, buy a replacement and throw your old router away.

ddyer
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  • I'm a bit hopeful because my router worked fine before I moved 2 weeks ago. I'm also worried that if it has something to do with the router's interaction with my new modem, that the problem may happen with the new router. I moved the router farther from my other equipment. If I don't get good leads by tomorrow, I'll order a new one. Thanks for the reply. – Mike M. Lin Dec 10 '12 at 18:47
  • Suppose you do determine that the difference is an interaction between your new modem and your old router. You're still likely to be stuck. – ddyer Dec 10 '12 at 21:57
  • Moving my wireless router away from my computer monitor fixed this problem. I still have another problem with my router dropping long TCP/IP connections, but that's likely a configuration issue. – Mike M. Lin Jan 22 '13 at 05:36