Extremely poor wireless performance with Netgear router and 10.5

[Matt T]

Ever since moving into a new apartment I've been having some *infuriating* issues with my roommates' Netgear router/modem (model DG834G).

Basically the wireless connection between the router and my iMac will randomly drop out several times a day for no apparent reason. It's particularly infuriating when I'm in the middle of sending a large important email and it just decides to drop out. It's not just when I'm using the connection either - even if I leave my iMac idle for a while it will drop out.

My roommates both use ethernet to connect to our network and they never experience any issues, so it's only the wireless that screws up. Reception isn't an issue - the network still appears in my Airport list after a dropout, however when I try to reconnect it simply says "connection timeout". There's probably about a 15-20 metre distance between my iMac and the router with a wall inbetween, but I really don't see why that should make a difference because it *can* connect and work probably, it just won't stay connected. After a dropout the only way to get online again is to hard reset the router.

Does anybody have advice for me please? Thanks guys.

 

[electroshock]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure about Oz, but in the U.S., defaults to channel 11 for wireless -- sometimes it works better if one explicitly sets it to channel 9.

However, the channel assignments varies on country and I'm not familiar with Australia's, alas. But something to think about: idea of changing from your current wireless channel to another, in hopes of lessening chances of interference. It does sound close enough I doubt you'd benefit from purchasing a repeater.

Another thing to double check is to ensure your Netgear router is at the latest available firmware revision level. Usually just a matter of visiting the website, entering model number somewhere, and then selecting firmware downloads and picking the latest one. Or with some wireless APs/routers, they may have an option to upgrade via their web interface.

Caution: if you do a Netgear router firmware update, save the settings to a local file and write down any changes. And have a downloaded router user manual so you know how to wipe and reload settings should it become necessary after upgrading the firmware.

 

[dazey]

I used to have a netgear router like that, kept dropping wireless, only letting some clients on etc. I think at the end of the day it was faulty, I ended up having to run it without encryption to get it to work even slightly towards the end. I still use a netgear but have one of the prosafe ones. I wasn't about to buy another consumer level one after my experiences.
Try changing the firmware (which may make it better or worse) but you may just have a dodgy unit.