5GHz Wi-Fi losing connection intermittently

[Paul R]

I recently bought a dual band router (TP-Link Archer C20). My router is placed about 12 ft from my room. Whenever I connect to the 5GHz band from my Android phone with bluetooth On the network gets disconnected intermittently after 20~30mins.

I turn off Wifi on phone and then again connect to the same network and it works fine but then again after some time the same thing happens, but it does not happens om the 2.4GHz network. Also only my phone is on the 5GHz network in my home and I also monitor how many devices (3 all total) are connected to both networks. This does not happen while Bluetooth is off. I should also mention that there are two concrete walls diagonally between my room and the placement of my router.

 

Should I change the channels or adjust the band width in the web page settings of my router.

Please help.

Thank you.

[Falcon1986]

4 hours ago, Paul R said:

I should also mention that there are two concrete walls diagonally between my room and the placement of my router.

There's the likely culprit.

 

Read the FAQ in 2.4/5GHz.

 

4 hours ago, Paul R said:

Should I change the channels or adjust the band width in the web page settings of my router.

It's worth doing a channel analysis before changing anything, so you're not changing settings blindly. Try WiFiman on your phone.

[Paul R]

7 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

There's the likely culprit.

 

Read the FAQ in 2.4/5GHz.

 

It's worth doing a channel analysis before changing anything, so you're not changing settings blindly. Try WiFiman on your phone.

I did just that with Wi-Fiman and found that my room has -70dBm signal. It also says the quality being as fine. What should I do next.

[Falcon1986]

2 hours ago, Paul R said:

I did just that with Wi-Fiman and found that my room has -70dBm signal. It also says the quality being as fine. What should I do next.

-70dBm is sufficient for low bandwidth uses. You want to be between -30 and -67dBm. The precipitous fall in signal strength on 5GHz is likely due to dropoff from concrete penetration.

 

Look at the wireless channel usage. Are any other networks in the neighborhood overlapping with yours? Check both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectra.

 

As far as finding a solution, there are many options which involve no/little cost to more cost depending on what you want to achieve.

 

For starters, what is the signal strength on 2.4GHz in the room? Do you get better speeds?

[Paul R]

1 hour ago, Falcon1986 said:

-70dBm is sufficient for low bandwidth uses. You want to be between -30 and -67dBm. The precipitous fall in signal strength on 5GHz is likely due to dropoff from concrete penetration.

 

Look at the wireless channel usage. Are any other networks in the neighborhood overlapping with yours? Check both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectra.

 

As far as finding a solution, there are many options which involve no/little cost to more cost depending on what you want to achieve.

 

For starters, what is the signal strength on 2.4GHz in the room? Do you get better speeds?

Yes 2.4 GHz is much better around -50dBm. Also there are no overlapping bands, I checked.

[Falcon1986]

14 minutes ago, Paul R said:

Yes 2.4 GHz is much better around -50dBm.

If you're satisfied with the performance on 2.4GHz, then this is the simplest thing to do.

 

16 minutes ago, Paul R said:

Also there are no overlapping bands, I checked.

You're lucky. Not many people can say this for 2.4GHz. Very often, neighbours' WiFi will overlap causing interference.

 

What are your wireless settings on the C20? For 2.4GHz and 5GHz?

[Paul R]

42 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

If you're satisfied with the performance on 2.4GHz, then this is the simplest thing to do.

 

You're lucky. Not many people can say this for 2.4GHz. Very often, neighbours' WiFi will overlap causing interference.

 

What are your wireless settings on the C20? For 2.4GHz and 5GHz?

I don't have many neighbors with Wi-Fi. I don't mind the 2.4GHz network but it doesn't provide the full speeds, it caps at 40Mbps.

The 5GHz network allows full speeds. The setting are all on auto for channels and width.

[Falcon1986]

6 minutes ago, Paul R said:

The 5GHz network allows full speeds.

What speeds are you supposed to be getting from your ISP?

[Paul R]

2 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

What speeds are you supposed to be getting from your ISP?

70~80Mbps

[Falcon1986]

21 minutes ago, Paul R said:

70~80Mbps

40Mbps on 2.4GHz with the C20 are expected speeds.

 

Achieving 70-80Mbps won't be possible on 2.4GHz with this router, but can be on 5GHz. However, that's without the 2 layers of concrete walls.

 

You can try playing around with the 5GHz channel width to see how it affects speed. While higher channel widths allow for greater speed, antenna output power is lost which might further reduce the range.

[Paul R]

4 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

40Mbps on 2.4GHz with the C20 are expected speeds.

 

Achieving 70-80Mbps won't be possible on 2.4GHz with this router, but can be on 5GHz. However, that's without the 2 layers of concrete walls.

 

You can try playing around with the 5GHz channel width to see how it affects speed. While higher channel widths allow for greater speed, antenna output power is lost which might further reduce the range.

So, the main issue here are the walls. But what if I change channels, will it affect the range.

[Noble3212]

Lan connection/ Signal boosters go brrt

[Falcon1986]

6 minutes ago, Paul R said:

So, the main issue here are the walls. But what if I change channels, will it affect the range.

Nope.

 

To get full speeds, an ethernet connection directly to the router will be best. Be aware, though, that your router only has fast ethernet ports (10/100Mbps).

 

Other no-cost solutions include moving your C20 to a closer location, away from walls, removing it from any closet and placing higher up off the ground. Or moving the location of your PC or reorienting the wireless antennae. Again, don't crowd the antennae against the wall or obstruct them in any way.

 

WiFi range boosters/extenders should only be considered if you can at least get a decent signal at an appropriately-placed location halfway between you and the primary router, and if you're willing to deal with the increased latency. A better alternative would be replacing the C20 with a mesh system, but you'll still have challenges with WiFi penetrating those walls.

[Paul R]

1 hour ago, Falcon1986 said:

Nope.

 

To get full speeds, an ethernet connection directly to the router will be best. Be aware, though, that your router only has fast ethernet ports (10/100Mbps).

 

Other no-cost solutions include moving your C20 to a closer location, away from walls, removing it from any closet and placing higher up off the ground. Or moving the location of your PC or reorienting the wireless antennae. Again, don't crowd the antennae against the wall or obstruct them in any way.

 

WiFi range boosters/extenders should only be considered if you can at least get a decent signal at an appropriately-placed location halfway between you and the primary router, and if you're willing to deal with the increased latency. A better alternative would be replacing the C20 with a mesh system, but you'll still have challenges with WiFi penetrating those walls.

I don't have any issues with my PC as it's connected via Ethernet, only my android phone suffers from speed related issued. As for the height it's sufficient from the ground as well as clearance on all four sides. Other devices in my home don't support 5GHz so they are fine. As for a mesh system it doesn't justifies the extra  investment compared to the my usage as other devices are literally in a line of sight to the  router. So that leaves the placement of the router, which I think I will consider as right now I don't have enough fibre optic cable to move the router from its current position. I still don't get to understand that just two walls away can make such a huge signal speed difference.

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

I don't have any issues with my PC as it's connected via Ethernet, only my android phone suffers from speed related issued.

If the speed instability is only on your phone, do you really need more than the 40Mbps that 2.4Ghz can give?

 

What make/model of phone? Is there any other phone/device you can test on 5GHz to rule out that it's not an issue with your phone's WiFi antenna?

 

1 hour ago, Paul R said:

I still don't get to understand that just two walls away can make such a huge signal speed difference.

It's not just 2 walls. You said they're concrete walls. If there's steel in there too, that makes it worse. You wouldn't be experiencing the same kind of signal attenuation if these walls were made of just wood and plaster.

 

2.4GHz travels further and is likely to penetrate objects better because of its shorter wavelength, compared to 5GHz. However, 5GHz has the advantage of higher potential speeds since much more of the spectrum can be used.

[Paul R]

48 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

If the speed instability is only on your phone, do you really need more than the 40Mbps that 2.4Ghz can give?

 

What make/model of phone? Is there any other phone/device you can test on 5GHz to rule out that it's not an issue with your phone's WiFi antenna?

 

It's not just 2 walls. You said they're concrete walls. If there's steel in there too, that makes it worse. You wouldn't be experiencing the same kind of signal attenuation if these walls were made of just wood and plaster.

 

2.4GHz travels further and is likely to penetrate objects better because of its shorter wavelength, compared to 5GHz. However, 5GHz has the advantage of higher potential speeds since much more of the spectrum can be used.

My phone I use is a Samsung A50. I don't think it's the antenna cause other places, like just the room besides mine has a very good signal(~-50dBm). I wouldn't mind 2.4 GHz but sometimes Twitch doesn't play full 1080p with out buffering and stuttering on this band. I just mostly watch Twitch with little social media. But I just spent  extra for this dual band support.

Maybe my only option is to change the position of the router.

[rcarlos243]

It could be due to DFS channels

 

Do you live close to an airport?

 

certain channels on 5GHz is used by radar and if your router detects something it would drop your connections on 5GHz.

 

 

[Paul R]

No, nowhere near any airport... Thank you for the reply though.

[Paul R]

Thank you to all who answered.