# Wireless CCK causing wifi interference



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

About a month ago, I installed a wireless CCK to replace my powerline connection that had died, with the help of the info in this post. http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/210533-powerline-died-how-to-install-cck/page-2

Since installing the CCK, we have had frequent wifi problems with other computers in the house. Connections have become unreliable, with lags and complete dropouts. The worst one is the PC that is located furthest from the router, and the CCK is closer to the router than that PC. Since this is the only thing that has changed on the network, I'm assuming that the CCK is somehow interfering with the other connections.

I'm not terribly savvy on wifi networking. We have an ASUS RT-N66U (dual band) router. I have gone into the router software, but don't really see anything that would explain the problem. I do not know if there is a way to see which clients are connecting to which band, but I assume most are connecting to the 5GHz band.

Is there something easy I can do to try to troubleshoot this? Or should I try the wired route with the CCK? At the router location, I have an R16. Someone mentioned on my earlier thread that I could connect the R16 to the CCK using a splitter and a band stop filter, and hard-wire the CCK to the router. Is that correct, and where can I get the splitter and BSF? And what exactly would the setup look like? (What is the diagram of the connections?) Does the CCK connect to the router via Ethernet? Where does the splitter go? Where does the band stop filter go? Will any of this adversely affect my HR20-700, which has a DECA connected to it?

Thanks.


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

Is this how the connection would look?

Wall --> splitter

splitter1 --> CCK coax in

splitter2 --> band stop filter --> R16 Sat1

CCK Ethernet --> router

If correct, would my HR20 connection still work ok?

Or am I way off?


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

that looks good.
Once configured you can log into the WCCK and disable the WiFi.


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> that looks good.
> Once configured you can log into the WCCK and disable the WiFi.


Where/how do I do that?

And can you confirm that nothing needs to change on my HR20? Thanks!


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

If your HR20 is currently working, changing the CCK to wired from WiFi isn't going to change it.

To log into the CCK, you'll need to look at the router to find the IP address of the CCK.
Typing it into your browser should bring up the CCK gui asking for user and password which are admin


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

What is the correct splitter to buy, and where can I get both that and the band stop filter? Thanks.


----------



## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Consider that your Wi-fi having problems can be due to many reasons; many of which may lie outside your home. If there's someone a block away that is fading in and out of sharing a frequency with your router, this can cause issues. If someone has added a cordless phone or wireless bridge in the area, this can cause a panic for available frequencies.

Most devices use the 2.4GHz band unless you configure them otherwise. Home automation systems, some RC "toys" and Bluetooth also use the 2.4GHz band. Even the RC71 remote control resides in that band.

You might try turning off one band or the other to see if you can escape the contentious frequency.


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

eileen22 said:


> What is the correct splitter to buy, and where can I get both that and the band stop filter? Thanks.


If this is a wireless CCK, it has an output with a termination on it, so you can use its internal splitter to feed your R16 by connection it to the "chained" connector.
otherwise http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=SPLIT2MRV&ss=87886

and the filter http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=BSFR01&ss=87890


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

harsh said:


> Consider that your Wi-fi having problems can be due to many reasons; many of which may lie outside your home. If there's someone a block away that is fading in and out of sharing a frequency with your router, this can cause issues. If someone has added a cordless phone or wireless bridge in the area, this can cause a panic for available frequencies.
> 
> Most devices use the 2.4GHz band unless you configure them otherwise. Home automation systems, some RC "toys" and Bluetooth also use the 2.4GHz band. Even the RC71 remote control resides in that band.
> 
> You might try turning off one band or the other to see if you can escape the contentious frequency.


Once the CCK is off the WiFi, should the problem continue, these steps would make sense.


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

I finally had time to switch the CCK to a wired connection over the weekend. It was very easy, and thanks to VOS, I knew that I had to disable the Wi-Fi on the CCK. Everything is working great in terms of the Whole Home network and internet connectivity there.

Unfortunately, this did not solve my wireless problems with my other wireless devices on the network. I'm still having daily dropouts of internet access on two of my laptops. The laptop that I'm writing this on now is five feet away from the router, and is dropping bars constantly, or dropping the connection altogether. The only remedy is to wait a few minutes for the connection to re-establish itself.

I have no idea if someone in my neighborhood has added something that is causing this. The only recent changes within our house was the wireless CCK, and a new firmware update on the router. Further, I have determined that even though my laptop's wireless card is supposed to be able to connect to the 5GHz band, it does not see it. I did some research on this, and found that it is a problem with others who have my same Dell laptop and wireless card. I changed the SSID on the 5GHz band, and my iPhone and iPad immediately were able to see both bands' SSIDs, but my laptop does not. So I can't turn off the 2.4GHz band, since it is the only one that will work for me with this machine. This also confirms for me that the problem is on the 2.4GHz band.

Does anyone have any other suggestions that I can try to fix this? Again, I'm not Wi-Fi savvy, so I'm afraid to change anything in the router setup without advice. I don't want to make things worse. Thanks.


----------



## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

You don't mention your router type, but it could be a heat problem causing the wifi to drop connections and re-connect. Reposition it away from any heat sources or put a fan on it.

You might also try going into the router GUI and setting the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands to channels away from the defaults. It's likely any neighbors are on the defaults.

The laptop may be an N wifi on the 2.4 band, not 5ghz. I had a Dell Inspiron that I changed the board to a 5Ghz, but now using a ASUS that has N protocol only on 2.4.

You could also get a 5GHz N band USB client for the laptop.


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

dennisj00 said:


> You don't mention your router type, but it could be a heat problem causing the wifi to drop connections and re-connect. Reposition it away from any heat sources or put a fan on it.
> 
> You might also try going into the router GUI and setting the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands to channels away from the defaults. It's likely any neighbors are on the defaults.
> 
> ...


Sorry, my router is an ASUS RT-N66U. I don't think heat is an issue, it sits up on a desk riser with airflow all around. It does feel a bit warm, but not unusually so. I've been using this router for a few years, but only started having dropouts in the past 5-6 weeks.

I just checked the router software, and the Control Channel drop-down is set to Auto, and has ability to select 1-11. Any suggestions on which channel to select? Is it worth it to download inSSIDer for 19.99? I see that this isn't free anymore, and I've never used it, but I have heard of it before as a good tool.

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron with an Intel Wireless-N 1030 network card (Win7 OS). It is supposed to work on 5GHz, but it doesn't, it only sees my 2.4GHz band. I thought about getting a 5GHz USB stick for the laptop, but we're having a similar problem with another laptop, so I was hoping to just solve the problem. Other laptop is a much newer HP running Win8. I haven't gone onto that laptop since I changed the SSID on the 5GHz band to see if it sees the SSID. It is my husband's laptop, and I despise Win8 so much that I dread the thought of doing any troubleshooting on it. His laptop is two rooms away from the router, and has many more dropouts than mine does, so I guess I need to check his out.


----------



## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

eileen22 said:


> I just checked the router software, and the Control Channel drop-down is set to Auto, and has ability to select 1-11. Any suggestions on which channel to select? Is it worth it to download inSSIDer for 19.99? I see that this isn't free anymore, and I've never used it, but I have heard of it before as a good tool.


Do you have any Android devices in your home? If so, Wifi Analyzer is a really good free tool that you can try.


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Seems you can still find the older version for free: http://inssider.soft32.com/free-download/?lp=dsa&tg=us&kw=_cat%3Asoft32.com&mt=b&ad=42897081558&pl=&ds=s&gclid=COi8sJ_39L0CFeMF7AodiBAABg


----------



## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

Reading the PDF of a googled 'Intel Wireless-N 1030' . . . they do a great job of NOT telling you what bands are covered.

My bet is it's only 2.4, especially if it didn't recognize the 5 after renaming the SSID.


And your question about channels. . . just get as far left or right of the default channels. Most of your neighbor's are going to be on the default channel.

Edit: I did find in some forum that the 1030 is only 2.4 Ghz. I'm sure that's the chip I have in this Asus laptop.


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> Seems you can still find the older version for free: http://inssider.soft32.com/free-download/?lp=dsa&tg=us&kw=_cat%3Asoft32.com&mt=b&ad=42897081558&pl=&ds=s&gclid=COi8sJ_39L0CFeMF7AodiBAABg


Thank you for the link! I downloaded inSSIDer, and I think I may have found the culprit. There is a wireless printer, HP Officejet 8600, showing up on the same channel as my router, channel 6. I have seen this pop up on my available networks over the past few weeks, it only shows up with one bar and isn't always listed. It must be a neighbor's printer. I have only noticed it there recently, within the same time period as when our problems began. I see two other networks on channel 1, and three on channel 2.

So what channel should I select for my 2.4GHz band, can I go up to the high end, say 8 or 9? Or should I go all the way up to 11? Thanks.


----------



## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

eileen22 said:


> So what channel should I select for my 2.4GHz band, can I go up to the high end, say 8 or 9? Or should I go all the way up to 11? Thanks.


Typically, people will recommend 1 or 11. Since there are two others already on 1, I'd go to 11 (insert Spinal Tap joke here).


----------



## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

Ok, I changed the 2.4GHz band to channel 11, and my network is now showing up on inSSIDer all by itself on that channel. We will see how it goes, I hope this solves the problem. Thanks to all!


----------

