APS causing wifi connectivity issue

[Brad Johnson]

I've been fighting an intermittant wifi connection drop issue on my Samsung Galaxy 3. It was constantly dropping and reconnecting to wifi from my UVerse router. It just dawned on me that it's dropping consistently when I hit APS. Every time, like clockwork, and on both the native browser and Chrome. It will occasionally drop on othe sites, and often shows a reconnect when it comes out of hibernation, but with APS it's virtually 100%. I have edited hibernation setting for wifi, set the router to a low-competition channel, and fhe router sits about 10 ft from my chair with a direct line of sight. I've been keeping count and in the time it's taken me to type this it's dropped/reconnected seven times. That's re-friggin-diculius.

It's bad enough when just browsing. It gets several times worse when posting/editing.

What the...!? I have no idea where to even start diagnosing something this odd. Any suggestions?

Brad

[never_retreat]

NSA having trouble on the connection interception?

[wmenorr67]

We all know who is at fault.

[Brad Johnson]

Trying some new settings on the router. Changed from the default WPA/WPA2 security settings to strict WPA2-PSK(AES) only, and switching from b/g to g only. Staying with channel 3 as it's still testing as completely vacant, and WiFi Analyzer indicating the closest occupied channels as 1 and 6.

Maybe that was the trick as it hasn't cycled a single time while I've been typing this. That in itself is a marked improvement. Speed also seems a tad better. Not celebrating just yet as it's fooled me before, seeming to straighten up and fly right then suddenly taking a nosedive. Time will tell.

Brad

[Blakenzy]

We all know who is at fault.

My thoughts exactly...

[Brad Johnson]

Half an hour without a single connectivity reset. Haven's seen that in weeks. Also, Speedtest is verifying improvements. Pings have been averaging 65 ms. It's averaged right at 50 over a five-test series. Connection speed would vary swing wildly during tests. Now it's rock solid, varying no more than 0.5 Mbps during the entire test period. Again, not holding my breath but this is a significant improvement that's beginning to evidence consistent repeatability.

Also, speeds continuing to be noticeably better, as is responsiveness to page commands and interactions.

Any thoughts on why the encryption and/or standard changes would have produced the APS-specific issue? Is there something inherent in the page's connection/traffic/communication/etc that would result in handshaking, service, or connection instabilities? Or is it something to do with it being a high-traffic connection and I'm only noticing it because my internet delving is normally limited to a few specific sites? I'm genuinely curious about the underlying whatevers that might be in play.

*edit to add*
Had a couple connection cycles in the last 1.5 hrs so not a 100% solution. Still, it's definitely improved. Reconnect takes less time, too. Speeds remain solid. My desktop also gained some speed and stability improvements.

Brad

[AJ Dual]

I have lag I only notice at APS, on 4GLTE with my S5, at home on ATT U-Verse, in hotels, and on my work's LAN.

It's never done anything like disconnect my WiFi, but I do see strange hangs with APS on all my devices.  I just figured we're a low bandwidth, low powered corner of a rack somewhere in the bowels of GeoVario.

Or there's some IP/routing update or some other adjustment that we could benefit from on the NOC/Co-Loc side, or an update or optimization in the SimpleMachines bulletin board database and we've been overlooked because we're so small, and don't generate any revenue.

[Doggy Daddy]

because we're so small, and don't generate any revenue.

  What about the weekly dues I send to Dunaway?

[Marnoot]

That lag where the first subforum loads, then it hangs, then the last one loads. Or the first few posts load, then it hangs a bit, then the rest load. That lag has been around for a year or so. I remember there was a post or two about it when it first started, but nobody seemed to have any idea why it had started. Some server-side issue I'm sure.

[Brad Johnson]

Still having intermittent wifi drops. Changed the router's transmit power from 400mw to 100mw. Maybe it's heat-related. I dunno.

It almost seems like it may be a handahaking, synch, or security verification thing. Doing more testing and any site or app that's wanting constant connectivity seems to be triggering the drops. If I do a post edit it almost brings my phone to it's knees, the wifi drop/reconnect cycle happening every few seconds. Also seems to be more common if I'm in the phone's default texting app.

Could it also have something to do with DHCP or maybe auto IP addressing? Maybe the phone is timing out if the router's assignment capabilities are.slower than what the phone expects?

Brad

[KD5NRH]

Need a better antenna:
http://www.amazon.com/USB-Yagi-directional-Antenna-802-11n-2200mW/dp/B003LLS5JI

[Brad Johnson]

I keep a fan on the electronics stack to keep things cool. Sucker is noisy so  turned it off earlier to do some voiceover work. In about twenty minutes the wifi crapped out entirely. I checked the modem and it was very-uncomfortable-to-the-touch hot. Fan back on and after a few minutes it was noticeably cooler. Viola!, wifi was back up, though still spotty. Definitely heat related. AT&T is supposed to be out tomorrow to replace.

Brad

[Brad Johnson]

New modem/router up and running. Motorola Arris NVG589 courtesy of Uverse. Couple of highlights...

Wifi power:
The new router at 15% transmit power has a better signal than the old router's 100% setting (400 mw). Don't know if that's an indication of how good the new router is, or how bad the old router had become. Likely a combination of both.

Speed:
I have 18 Mbps service. The old router was usually around 15-17 Mbps. The new router is consistently 21 Mbps. Am I going to call and complain? No.

Ping:
I had gotten the old router down to a consistent 50-55 ms ping. I thought this was pretty good because I'd been rocking along at around 65 for several years. Over a five-test series the new router is a rock-steady 36 ms.

General use:
Response times are noticeably improved. Performance on my wifi-connected desktop is comparable to hard wired. A simple SpeedTest comparison between connection types showed exactly zero difference in performance. With the old router there was a marked performance disparity between connection types.

Phone:
No connection drops since connecting to the new router. Will be watching it like a hawk to see how it does over time.

Brad

[Brad Johnson]

24 hr update...

Speed, ping, and performance improvements remain unchanged. No more wifi drop. None. Nada.

Seems to be a little extra load time when starting a youtube video, but other than that it's all good.

Brad

[KD5NRH]

Speed, ping, and performance improvements remain unchanged. No more wifi drop. None. Nada.

So scout goes away for a bit and suddenly your wifi works.  Coincidence?