Wireless signal drops with Vista

[DanPics]

Is anyone else having problems with the wireless signal be dropped intermittently with Vista Home Premium? I found a few sites on the internet that leads me to believe it is a common problem with Vista.

Thanks,
Dan

[Motley]

No not really, sounds like a driver issue. Make sure you have up to date drivers for your wifi card.

[Michael_Lambert]

NO issues here,

I use Vista Home pRemium on two laptops no issues and on a desktop with no issues.

[prime80]

We had that issue at work with our new vista laptops. An updated Intel wireless adapter driver fixed it completely. Check and see if there's a newer driver for your adapter.

[KarlosDaJackal]

Not a problem with Vista. What is a problem with Vista and has been since launch is drivers, particularly wireless drivers. At the start there where almost none, and as they started to show up they where not great.

I recently switched Wireless card, because its only had a beta driver for the last year and it tended to drop a lot. By switching to another card, or booting up xp or linux, my old card would work fine with the XP or Linux drivers.

So get a new driver if you can, if you can't you may need to consider a new card.

[Moppie]

A wireless signal can drop for a number of reasons.
Don't automatically assume the problem is with the OS.
A bad driver, or hardware failure could cause the problem, as could problems with your wireless router, or interferance from other devices and signals in your area.

[neil_g]

or interferance from other devices and signals in your area.

had this A LOT recently. problem being that the majority of routers ship with the wireless channel settings the same, which leads to huge interference.

first thing i do with a router now is to change the channel to something random.

[TheHoff]

^^ good advice above. Also realize if you're on a Wifi "G" network, you're sharing the space with newer cordless phones. Going to "N" gets you to a different set of frequencies and usually to clearer space for your bandwidth.

[tedBalog]

I've had an issues with wireless connectivity on my laptop ever since I downloaded SP1, as has a friend. It almost seems as if the wireless card has stopped working properly, requires me to restart before it works again.

[Old Fart]

It has been my experience that many of the drivers built in to Vista are perhaps to generic, and as such I try an use manufacturers drivers where ever possible.

[neil_g]

yup. never ever use generic drivers. always get the latest off of the hardware vendors website.

[psimanc]

Yup had exactly the same issue with my wife's PC since buying it last November. Tried updating drivers, etc. Everything bar changing the wireless card.

[psimanc]

Contacted the manufacturer of our wireless card, Belkin and they suggested changing the channel number to 6 which seems to have done the trick.

[tempest68]

Contacted the manufacturer of our wireless card, Belkin and they suggested changing the channel number to 6 which seems to have done the trick.
When at home and I "look around" at available wireless networks, it seems like ALL of my neighbors are all using the same channel. Changing to a channel that none of my neighbors were using improved the situation. So I would suspect you should be good-to-go.

[neil_g]

i used to use netstumbler iirc

[KarlosDaJackal]

Thats funny, the default on everything seems to be 11, no wonder people have issue. I changed mine to 6 about a year ago, and since then we have a spread of half my neighbours on 6 and the rest on 11. So now I've moved to 1 :rolleyes:

[Motley]

I always change my routers to channel 1. Best signal for me.