Connectivity but not signal strength varies with location

[macman104]

So, that may have been a long title, but I wanted it to describe my issue. The condo we go to every year recently installed wireless for the place. However, they did a poor job. Some condos can connect, some have a weak signal, some have none, some are in my situation.

Right now, if I sit outside of our room, I get a full signal and connection. However, if I go inside our room, I can usually get a near full signal, except I get "limited or no connectivity" when trying to connect. The issue comes and goes. Sometimes, I'll have internet in our room for 1 minute, to 10, or an hour. Then it'll have the connectivity problem for any random number of minutes (or hours). This means that if at 1:30am I want to use my internet, I have to go outside and either bring a table and chair with me, or sit on either the concrete steps or concrete floor.

I've tried my best to avoid posting and just read through various forums, but no threads seem to adequately address my issue and resolve it. With that explanation my computer is a

Windows XP SP2
Dell Inspiron 600m

I have tried:

the Microsoft KB article for the non-SP2 related issue
the Microsoft fix for the SP2 related issue
the WinsockXPFix.exe
the registry edit suggested in one of the above links

I've also tried the:

netsh winsock reset catalog
netsh int ip reset reset.log

Links I've looked at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/10/24/484381.aspx
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=41787
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=30162
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=201136
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=201345
http://forums.vnunet.com/message.jspa?messageID=777341
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/forums/windows-xp/kb884020-failure-message-65099.html
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/maintain/troubleshoot.mspx#3
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=60861
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=60596
http://www.pchell.com/support/limitedconnectivity.shtml
http://whizblaze.com/network/xphotfix.htm
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Another-Limited-No-Connectivity-t89677.html

Also, since it's possible you may request this information, I've attached a text file which has ipconfig /all, network scan, and pathping yahoo.com output for when I'm connected and when I have the limited or no connectivity problem.

Hopefully I've provided anything you might request and we'll be able to solve this problem.

Just to reiterate (as if my post isn't long enough already ;)):

Go outside my room - always can connect
Inside my room - goes between the occasional connection and limited connectivity (while keep a medium - very strong signal strength)

OH! I almost forgot to mention that when I do the repair (on a occurrence where it will fail), my packets received goes up to 4 packets, and then doesn't increase, while my packets sent continues to go up. I read something about the computer decreasing how often it requests packets if it sense an issue, and slowly climbing back (exponential growth or something), dunno if that has anything to do with it, but I thought I'd mention it. Read about it here (http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/~noamk/netlab/class5.pdf), which I found in my searches for a solution.

Apologies for the length, but i wanted to be as thorough as I could.

I appreciate any assisstance you can provide in this matter, I will do my best to answer any question, or perform any further testing needed.

EDIT: I've managed to obtain screenshots of the wireless router's setup pages. Hopefully these help some. The file was too big to upload here, so I put it on my webpage. You can get the zipped archive at www.iit.edu/~dmarell/Server%20Screenshots.zip

[mjc]

Sounds a lot more like an interference/sheilding issue than a configuration one...

A couple of questions about the condo...

What kind of construction is it? Block/brick? Steel frame?

What other kinds of wireless device does it have...cordless phones, remote controlled lights/fireplaces/air conditioning? (IR items like TVs don't matter...just RF devices.)

Where is the router located in relation to your unit/computer?

[macman104]

Sounds a lot more like an interference/sheilding issue than a configuration one...That's what I was thinking about. Would that explain the issue where I still get a good signal, but a limited connection?What kind of construction is it? Block/brick? Steel frame?We believe it's possibly sheet rock underneath, but it's got kind of a stucco somethin' or other on the outside (I can find out tomorrow from the building manager). It is in florida, so it's open air, not like a hotel. All the floors/walkways are concrete.What other kinds of wireless device does it have...cordless phones, remote controlled lights/fireplaces/air conditioning? (IR items like TVs don't matter...just RF devices.)In the unit there is an AC, a cordless phone, I have a cellphone, and a wireless USB mouse if those matter also.Where is the router located in relation to your unit/computer?I believe it's in the office. But, literally, if I step 10-15 feet out of our room, I have no issue.

I guess I'm confused by the limited connectivity despite the strong signal, is that common? I tried using a static IP, but I couldn't access any pages (I'm gonna go explore the public DNS servers I saw mentioned on another forum thread.). Is the packet's being received stopping at 4 important/significant?

Let me know if more info is needed.

Thanks.

[mjc]

Stucco... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stucco)

Most stucco is built on top of a wire mesh...effectively creating a Faraday cage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage).

And yes, a signal subjected to that kind of treatment could cause a limited/no connectivity situation. The fact that once you are outside, you get 'connected' tends to support this conclusion (that the signal is at least being partially blocked). A quick test to see if the type of construction is at least part of the problem would be to see what kind of FM radio reception you have inside...if it is poor, then the likelihood of the construction causing the problem is high (same goes for cell phone reception...unless you are really close to a tower).

So could interference from another device, such as a cordless phone. For the phone, somtthing as simple as changing the channel that the router uses could be an easy 'fix'.

[Paul Komski]

A cantenna (http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=cantenna&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) could be a solution if the signal is just weak and you have line-of-sight. However, since you appear to have a good signal outside you might just need a simple outside-antenna with a pig-tail back to your PC.

Also came across this type of external USB antenna (http://www.wirelesspro.co.uk/product/repeatit_802_11bg_usb_hotspot_booster_range_extend er/) which avoids a pig-tail. It is probably OTT in the context of this thread but worth knowing about.

[macman104]

Interesting...I guess I always considered signal strength to be related to connectivity. So my computer can detect the signal, but some of the data is being lost, correct?

I personally don't have any issues with cell phone reception, but I do know that some people have issues in the condo. Would the ability for the computer to connect also be computer dependent I assume? I ask because I am making this response on my mom's computer, while if my computer is in the same spot as her's it is not able to connect. Also, pardon my further inquisition, I'm also a CS minor, so I'm naturally intrigued :).

I assume all of those things agree with your conclusion that it's some sort of interference?

I think I will look into the cantenna and the other antenna option.

[Paul Komski]

There are much better networking geeks around here than me but all sorts of factors can lead to a bad or intermittent signal. The "no or limited connection" message (which can show with both wifi and cabled connections) can be due, once again, to many factors. I have seen it occur simply due to weak wifi signals and also cured by changing a NIC. I have also had NICs that work on the same dual boot PC from WinXP but not from Win2K - so presumably driver issues or other networking components can also come into play.

Wifi always prefers direct line-of-sight and just some trees bending in the wind can be enough to distort reception (and transmission of course) and be worse in summer than winter. Where the signal has to go through walls I have been advised to put the antenna as close to the wall as possible - whether or not there is any truth or value in that suggestion. You seem to have an adequate signal in one location so it just seems sensible to move the antenna rather than the whole PC. If using USB then I believe there is huge variation in effectiveness from one device to another.