Wireless

[#1]

I am having issues with the wireless side of my router (Thomson585 v7)
Yesterday evening my Broadband/phone dropped off for a couple of minutes, when it came back, the x box  and desktop were  ok,  both wired connections, but my son and daughters laptops (Wireless connections) wouldn't connect all lights on the router were on and doing their  thing, but the plusnet connection was not showing in the available connections on the laptops.
I restarted the router five (5) times to no avail via the router admin same results each time all lights on router ok etc etc.
I then reset the router via the admin page same result, finally I reset it via the pinhole reset on the router and order was finally restored.
This seems to happen relatively frequently, whether it coincides with the connection dropping I don't know, I just get the kids home from school whinging that there laptops won't connect.
It might be ok for a couple of weeks there again it might go a couple of times in the week.
Any ideas?

[#2]

First thing I'd do is check for other wireless networks in your vicinity. Google 'Inssider', install it and check to see if you have any other WLAN's interfering with yours.
With regards to the figures that you'll see in Inssider, your network wants to have the largest difference in dB level, when compared to the next 'closest' WLAN, possible.
The TG585v7 auto assigns the wireless channel it transceives on, meaning it may change. With the help of Inssider, you can select a fixed channel that offers the least interference from other WLAN's.
I've had a few issues with 'limited connectivity' and my Vista laptop recently. It seems to be OK now after I switched off the wireless multicasting. My router is a TG585v8 though.
Paul
jim:quote

[#3]

I can recommend inSSIDer too!.... you can see the strength of available signals.... and of course, your own should be the strongest.... if your next door neighbour is on the same channel or 1 channel down you may find that moving the router to a higher position, and closer to the "operating laptops" will help.... but having seen which channel you are on, you can then go into the router and change the channel to one with the least (lowest) signal levels...

[#4]

Thanks I've just downloaded it and get "Wlan autoconfig appears to be stopped please start and run inssider again"
Guess what the daft question is    How do I start it?    I'm  running Vista 64 bit (I know, I know, sad isn't it  )

[#5]

Quote from: john50

How do I start it?

There's a 'Start' button in the top right had corner.
If that doesn't work, try the standard IT fix. 
This maybe stating the obvious (and no offence is meant when writing it) but, you'll need to have your WLAN up and running when using this tool.
Let us know how you get on.
Paul