intermittent wireless

[telfus]

okay here's the lowdown

we have cable internet, one computer directly connected with ethernet, and two laptops with wireless cards. when the computer one is connected straight from the modem he gets perfect, consistent internet. we hooked up a wireless router and it worked just fine for almost a day. the problem is that all of the computers sometimes can connect to the internet and other times can't, even though the signal is perfect. (this is including the one that is directly connected through the router. if we take the router out and reconnect the one computer directly to the modem he gets perfect internet again. what could be causing this and what are some solutions. (again, i don't think the actual cable internet is at fault here)

thanks

[mjc]

Make/model of router, flavor(s) of Windows, static or DHCP on the wirelessly connected computers, any other wireless networks in range, other 2.4 GHz electronic devices nearby (cordless phones, baby monitors, etc)...

[telfus]

ok the router is a belkin wireless G
windows xp pro
dhcp
picks up two other security-enabled networks with barely any signal
no other 2.4ghz devices

[mjc]

Belkin routers, at least in my experience, have a pretty poor track record...but the first thing to try is a different channel.

The other two networks that are picked up could be interfering, so see what channel each of them is and then set the router to something else.

If that doesn't improve things then try to assign each of the wireless machines a static IP instead of using DHCP.

[telfus]

how is all of this affecting the computer that is hooked up via ethernet? when the wireless computers can't access the internet, neither can that computer...

[mjc]

It could be that DHCP is assigning more than one machine the same IP...so you have an IP conflict. This can happen with poor signal quality on the wireless connections (among other things).

Signal strength isn't the only factor in determining a good stable connection...you can peg it out a 100% but if the signal is 'dirty' you still won't have a good stable connection.

That is why I suggested changing the channel first...if it is because of the other networks nearby interfering, then something as simple as changing the channel could clear up the conflicts. Assigning static IPs, of course will eliminate any IP conflicts from mismanaged DHCP connections.