Win 10 - internet connection problems started

JohnB47

Thanks everyone. I left the laptop 'on' overnight, not putting it in standby and it's ok this morning. I'll need to leave it til tomorrow to try setting the router to one band. I'll get back to you with progress in the next few days. Thanks again. 

Jenni_D

Regarding the advice earlier to make sure your 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands have different SSIDs ... I agree with this as it has caused problems for me in the past. (Not a start from standby situation as I never use the option - I always disable sleep etc. and just turn off my laptop at night - but more like moving around the house and the laptop can't work out what to connect to. Setting different SSIDs on the router solved the problem).

neilmcl

steviebabes said:

neilmcl said:

That's assuming his laptop has a dual band wifi adapter?

The OP said 'The driver I have is Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160. It's what came with the laptop. I'l not do anything about that for now.'.

Thanks, I obviously missed that.

getmore4less

I have found that going to the network adaptor
A disable/enable cycle can sometimes recover a connection ..

JohnB47

OK folks. I'm looking to play around with this tomorrow, so I just want to decide on the strategy.

Point 1. I have already stopped the PC from turning off the network adapter when in standby. Everything is working fine but I haven't put the laptop in standby since doing that last night.

Point 2. It has been suggested that I make sure the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands have different SSIDs on the router and if not, then make them different. I can see how to do that - they are currently the same. (I'm just looking at the router settings and I see that our two mobiles are connected to 2.4GHz wireless and the laptop and an Amazon Firestick  is connected to 5GHz wireless).

Point 3. It has been suggested that I set the laptop to connect to either 2.4 or 5GHz. I can see, in the Network Adapter properties/advanced that I can set a Preferred Band (currently no preference). Is that it?

So, now I would like advice on which of these to do and in what sequence. Taking that I have already done Point 1, should I leave it at that for a few days, putting the laptop into standby accasionaly as normal and see what happens?
Or should I do, say, Point 3 at this stage too (set the laptop to prefer the 5GHz band) and leave it for a few days. Or should I do all of them at once??
I'm tempted to do things one at a time

Thanks for the help.

molerat

You just give the 2.4 and 5 bands of the router different SSIDs - I just added a 5 after the name.  The laptop will then see both and you can choose which one to connect to, just experiment as to which one is best - 5 is faster but 2.4 travels better.  The band you re-name will have to be signed in to again, the laptop should connect automatically to the one you don't change.

Jenni_D

molerat said:

You just give the 2.4 and 5 bands of the router different SSIDs - I just added a 5 after the name.

I found it was better to prefix the SSID to make them different. e.g. I prefixed mine with BT5G-

neilmcl

JohnB47 said:

OK folks. I'm looking to play around with this tomorrow, so I just want to decide on the strategy.

Point 1. I have already stopped the PC from turning off the network adapter when in standby. Everything is working fine but I haven't put the laptop in standby since doing that last night.

Point 2. It has been suggested that I make sure the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands have different SSIDs on the router and if not, then make them different. I can see how to do that - they are currently the same. (I'm just looking at the router settings and I see that our two mobiles are connected to 2.4GHz wireless and the laptop and an Amazon Firestick  is connected to 5GHz wireless).

Point 3. It has been suggested that I set the laptop to connect to either 2.4 or 5GHz. I can see, in the Network Adapter properties/advanced that I can set a Preferred Band (currently no preference). Is that it?

So, now I would like advice on which of these to do and in what sequence. Taking that I have already done Point 1, should I leave it at that for a few days, putting the laptop into standby accasionaly as normal and see what happens?
Or should I do, say, Point 3 at this stage too (set the laptop to prefer the 5GHz band) and leave it for a few days. Or should I do all of them at once??
I'm tempted to do things one at a time

Thanks for the help.

I can't find where I did it on mine but I simply disable the 2.4Ghz band on my USB Wifi adapter to force it to connect at 5Ghz only, so I imagine setting the preference on your would do pretty much the same. Just check in the Network and Internet settings under Wifi and select the Hardware properties and it should say which band it's connecting via.

Biggus_Dickus

JohnB47 said:

OK folks. I'm looking to play around with this tomorrow, so I just want to decide on the strategy.

Point 1. I have already stopped the PC from turning off the network adapter when in standby. Everything is working fine but I haven't put the laptop in standby since doing that last night.

Point 2. It has been suggested that I make sure the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands have different SSIDs on the router and if not, then make them different. I can see how to do that - they are currently the same. (I'm just looking at the router settings and I see that our two mobiles are connected to 2.4GHz wireless and the laptop and an Amazon Firestick  is connected to 5GHz wireless).

Point 3. It has been suggested that I set the laptop to connect to either 2.4 or 5GHz. I can see, in the Network Adapter properties/advanced that I can set a Preferred Band (currently no preference). Is that it?

So, now I would like advice on which of these to do and in what sequence. Taking that I have already done Point 1, should I leave it at that for a few days, putting the laptop into standby accasionaly as normal and see what happens?
Or should I do, say, Point 3 at this stage too (set the laptop to prefer the 5GHz band) and leave it for a few days. Or should I do all of them at once??
I'm tempted to do things one at a time

Thanks for the help.

Point 3. Preferred band...set it to “2.4G First” and give it a go!

Keep a careful note of the changes you make then if it all goes tits-up at least you can get back to where you started.

My Realtek 802.11ac laptop wireless adaptor has lost its marbles on a number of occasions,... and having a jiggle around with the Advanced adaptor properties has always sorted it. Sometimes just switching the settings around and then switching them back again has kicked it into life. My ‘wireless mode’ settings on occasion seem to have a life of their own,...it’s a bit mystifying tbh.

If you make any ‘changes’ ensure you do a full shutdown and re-boot,...not just a re-start!;...that ensures your changes will definitely be implemented. Sometimes it isn’t always apparent that the changes you make are immediately effective from the point you ‘Apply’ or ‘Save’ them. Some of the Power Option settings need a re-boot before they take effect, but there is no indication to tell you that.

 

 

 

Heedtheadvice

What was that technical term Biggus? When it all goes what...? Ah base over apex!

Just to throw another spanner in the fix. I had a lot of problems with a "hidden" wifi connection on the channel in use being a fairly high signal strength. It was causing poor connection. Turned out to be the Fire stick so it now only gets plugged in when it is needed. Seems to be a common problem.

Wonder if ensuring the laptop and stick are in different bands?

Also it would be good to inspect your wifi signals. Download a wifi analyser (I use the android Wifi Analyser) so you can see channels, strengths and interfering signals and can then instruct the router to use the best/lowest interference channel and see if you have signal dropouts.

Maybe do an inspection before you plump for a particular band? Pick 5Gb for speed if sufficient strength based upon data rather than a guess?