DLink Router

[#1]

In January last year, PN very kindly supplied me with a nice new DLink router, which has been fine, but in the last month or so, the wifi connection seems to have become very flaky.  The router will disconnect from wireless computers and then reconnect for some reason.
There have been no changes around the house to speak of.  It's set to autoscan for the channel, but it doesn't seem to matter what channel it finds.  I even tried to set it on one of the main channels, and it doesn't seem to make a difference,  OK naturally the number of networks in the area has risen in that time (there are 4 others showing at present), but in each case the signal is weak or virtually non-existent.
Can I do anything to improve the matter, or is the router failing already.
John

[#2]

Have you tried a cold reboot switch it off and on again in the last week or two?

[#3]

Yep 

[#4]

What about signal strength indications at your various PC's?
There are a number of measures that can be taken to increase signal strength - some very cheap, others are expensive!
E.g. try raising your router by a few feet; check all external aerials are vertical.

[#5]

Yes, from personal experience with my router I recently found that raising it up on to a higher shelf actually improved the signal strength by roughly 20% without actually moving it any closer to the PC. I would also advise setting a channel in the top end of the numbers available like 12 or 13.

[#6]

Thanks
I'll try those things (I did set it to 13 before, and totally lost wifi.  I had to go on using a cable, and change it back  :-\.)
John

[#7]

I think 13 is illegal in USA, Japan but allowed in Europe
In any case 11 doesn't clash with the 3 allowed channels (if allocated properly)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

[#8]

Thanks for that - I've manually set it to channel 11 (let's see how that works)
John

[#9]

Still losing signal all over the house from time to time.  It's been fine up until the last couple of months, now every machine seems to lose wifi signal.  As I said, there are a lot more wifi networks around now (I looked a couple of days ago and there were 3 on channel 1, including mine, 3 on channel 6 and 3 on channel 11)  It's very irritating to lose signal every couple of minutes.  Sometimes it reconnects on its own, and other times I have to manually reconnect it.
In that it's just started happening, could it be something failing in the router?
John

[#10]

hulls,
You could always try/borrow another router. It could be that the wireless side of the router has ceased to function properly.
I have come across this with several customers' routers where the wireless side has failed in this way - the only solution was to replace the router.
Brian

[#11]

Thanks Mr Chips
I was thinking it could be something like that, although the router's just over a year old.  I'd consider an N router, but it would mean replacing usb dongles at the same time.  I suppose I could always ask nice old PN to sign me up for another year and see if they'll let me have another router. 
John

[#12]

John,
If you do purchase an N Router, you will not have to replace your USB dongles - they will still work with an N router, albeit at the G rate.
Regards,
Brian

[#13]

Try using inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider) to check what other channels are being used around you - then try selecting something different.

[#14]

Its a relatively common problem with wireless router/modems; I've got two previous m/cs in the cupboard (one by Buffalo,one by Corega) which still work perfectly via ethernet but the wireless has failed. The symptons with both were random loss of signal and disconnections.

[#15]

Nice to know about the N router - thanks.
I used Netstumbler to check what other networks were around, and their channels. but most of them must be on auto, because the channels change regularly.  As I understand it, the best channels to use are 1, 6 & 11, and as I said earlier on one occasion there were nine networks identified (3 on each of those channels) 
John