Customer's WiFi keeps randomly dropping

[ZATZAi]

Westell? Doesn't Verizon use them as well. I wonder if it's a small NAT Table like on Actiontech routers, different companies I know but worth Googling. That's the sort of behavior you see from Actiontechs, were as the network gets more utilized (New devices, P2P, Streaming) it starts crapping out. And then it's not because the hardware is failing, it's just poorly designed, so replacing it with an identical unit won't fix it.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Do a site survey? Perhaps there is a neighboring business with a wireless network that steps on the toes of this one. Check on channels, make sure you client is on non-overlapping channels that are not mixing up with neighbors.

Around where I am, Frontier took over from AT&T and keeps using the Motorola units that AT&T used for business setups. They're actually decent. For residential they had 2-Wire utter crap...those are horrible. Dunno what they might be using lately for residential.

If this client of yours has a residential gateway, I'd suggest that they step up to a business grade package with a business grade gateway. I actually do prefer putting in our own routers...and bridging the ISP gateway...typically that is for better expansion, spreading out dedicated access points around the office, and having better control of port forwarding and other ACL features that ISP supplied gateways often lack. BUT..for a simple small business that has no servers running a firewall that need port forwarding...honestly many business grade ISP gateways do the job just fine.

 

[gilesitis]

Could the welding still interfere with the wifi even though it is taking place out in the bays which are partitioned off from the office?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Can, yes. Esp arc welders. Bounce all over the walls and ceilings. Do you know what kind of welders they have?

Torch welders...no problem of course.

 

[gadgetfixup]

We have Frontier with a Westell modem and ran into this twice at our shop. The issue isn't the modem or interference. Frontier is rolling out updates and they need to walk you through switching to PPoE and provide you with the email address and password. You will need to call them two or three times typically to get someone that knows the issue. Like most here, I would have bet on the modem being defective but I've resent mine twice now for this exact scenario and still using the same Westell we've had for 6 years. Get back on the phone to Frontier and you'll find someone aware of the issue and help you get it fixed.

 

[gilesitis]

Is this an update to PPoE? I believe all the connections in this area are already using PPoE.

 

[gadgetfixup]

We never had an entered username and password. Our Westell worked for years without an issue until just over a year ago. Our wireless was dropping out within minutes after rebooting the modem. Even wireless users in the same room as the router. I was ready to throw it in the trash and replace it. It occurred to me it was property of Frontier so I called them thinking I could get a free replacement at least. I got someone that knew her stuff, she had me go to settings and enter an email address and password I'd never set before. Amazingly it worked and stopped dropping out wireless.

The second time it happened our Internet went down and Frontier asked us to do a modem reset. Of course that didn't fix anything because the whole area was without service but it cleared all the settings. Well when the service came back up our modem started this nonsense again of dropping wireless users over and over within minutes after rebooting. I went in and entered the email address and password they had me use before and it worked! It's been about 8 months now since the last time I did this and that same Westell connects dozens of wireless users a day without a hiccup.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Get another router. We have ATT dsl at home. When we first got it, we tried to use their wifi. One day was ok. Next day, speed was like half what it should have been. Hooked up a little netgear I'd been using previously, disabled the wifi of the ISP device, speeds shot up to where they should be and no issues for over a year.