Strange home wifi behavior

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Gatecrasher3000

Gawd
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
580
Hi everyone, so I have been getting some strange behavior with my home wifi setup, and I was wondering if any of you had seen it before.

My problem:
When on mobile or my laptop, I am able to connect to my home wifi without problem. Browsing web pages or the reddit app/youtube usually loads links/videos quickly. However, some things do not work. Gifs, when clicked on in the reddit app, do not load. Also, when opening the tumbler app, tumbler never loads new content. It seems I have strong speeds in some applications, but not others.

My setup:
2 (one for each floor of my apartment) Asus RT-N66U wifi routers, with 250 mbit line. Router 1 is connected to the modem, and router 2 is connected to router 1. Each router has the same configurations, except with different IPs (xx.xx.1.x, xx.xx.2.x). I receive no problems when connect via cat 5.

My troubleshooting attempts:
Like I said I have a 250 mega bit line so I know speed is not a problem, plus each my phone and my laptop report 250mbit when testing the speed on speedtest/google speed test (although much slower on google speed test..). Using my laptop, I have run a packet loss test, but it reports 0% loss. I have been getting this problem since using only 1 router so I don’t believe the two routers are interfering with each other. I do live in an apartment, would channel interference create issues like this? Also, I never have connection issues on my systems that’s are connected via cat 5.
When using the wifi analyzer app, I receive strong signal throughout my apartment, I don’t believe it’s a dead zone issue.

At this point Im guessing it’s some little setting in my router’s settings that I don’t know about.
ANY suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank you!
 
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Turn off your routers and scan for existing signals and see what channels are being used, then put your routers on 2 different channels that are clear of the others.
 
Which port do you have connecting Router 1 to Router 2? Also are the names the same or different of the AP's?
 
Bandalo said:
Is Router 2 in "AP" mode?
Click to expand...
It is not, will change that tonight.

DrLobotomy said:
Turn off your routers and scan for existing signals and see what channels are being used, then put your routers on 2 different channels that are clear of the others.
Click to expand...
Will do, yeah when scanning with the wifi analyzer app it seems my wifi signals are right in the range where many other wifi signals are in. Would that cause problems like Im seeing?

VRT said:
Which port do you have connecting Router 1 to Router 2? Also are the names the same or different of the AP's?
Click to expand...
I have router 2 plugged into port #2 of router 1. The SSID/Passwords are the same, that way I can automatically connect depending on what floor of my apartment I am on. That is the correct way to do it, right?
 
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Yes. It would cause problems like that and others like dropped signal, dropped packets etc.

Those routers need their own clear channel just like a radio station. If some asshole is broadcasting illegally on 99.5 FM then you wont be able to clearly hear that station. Static is what you hear on the radio, and lost signals and data loss from routers. Same basic tech powers both.
 
DrLobotomy said:
Yes. It would cause problems like that and others like dropped signal, dropped packets etc.

Those routers need their own clear channel just like a radio station. If some asshole is broadcasting illegally on 99.5 FM then you wont be able to clearly hear that station. Static is what you hear on the radio, and lost signals and data loss from routers. Same basic tech powers both.
Click to expand...

Ok cool, Ill change my channel when I get home tonight and report back, thanks
 
Gatecrasher3000 said:
It is not, will change that tonight.
Click to expand...

That's the most likely cause IMO...You can't have two routers/gateways on the same subnet without running into routing problems. (like double-NATing).

Also, make sure you aren't using the "WAN" port on Router 2. You should only be using the LAN ports.
 
Bandalo said:
That's the most likely cause IMO...You can't have two routers/gateways on the same subnet without running into routing problems. (like double-NATing).

Also, make sure you aren't using the "WAN" port on Router 2. You should only be using the LAN ports.
Click to expand...

Really? So after changing router 2 to AP mode through the web UI, I should connect it via port #1?
 
Gatecrasher3000 said:
Really? So after changing router 2 to AP mode through the web UI, I should connect it via port #1?
Click to expand...

Yes...You don't want it acting as a router at all. You want it to simply be an AP. (or an AP and a switch if you want to use the other ports). You don't have to use any specific one of the LAN ports, but you shouldn't use the WAN port.
 
Bandalo said:
Yes...You don't want it acting as a router at all. You want it to simply be an AP. (or an AP and a switch if you want to use the other ports). You don't have to use any specific one of the LAN ports, but you shouldn't use the WAN port.
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks man, will try this out tonight.
 
**UPDATE**
hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I changed my two nodes channels to less busy ones, I also made my second node into a AP.
One, or each, of those things seemed to solve the issues, thanks a ton for your suggestions/help.
 
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