Troubleshoot Wireless Router Problems

Reboot the Router

Have you tried rebooting it? Yes, once again,is the solution to many network problems. Whether websites are failing to load, everything network-related seems slow, connections are dropping, or your wireless is flaking out, you may just want to try rebooting your router.

This shouldn’t be necessary, but many routers seem to need an occasional reboot to keep working well. The reboot process is simple on most routers — unplug your router’s power cable, wait a few seconds, and then plug it back in. If you have separate modem, you may also want to try unplugging your modem’s power cable and plugging it back in after a few seconds. Some devices may have a power switch, but the unplug-and-plug-back-in method applies to all routers.

If you have to frequently reboot your router, the manufacturer’s firmware may just be unstable and buggy. Installing an alternative firmware like DD-WRT might help.

Check for Overheating

Like any other electronic device, routers can fall prey to overheating. This overheating can damage the router over time or just make it unstable. Check your router’s temperature to see how hot it is. If it seems very hot, ensure that it’s getting enough airflow. If the vents are blocked or you have the router in a hot location — like on top of a tower PC that heats up — overheating could be causing instability. It’s also possible that past overheating may have damaged the router.

Verify Cables Are Securely Connected

This may sound like a no-brainer, but we sometimes forget to check the most obvious solution before moving on to more complicated ones. Someone may have accidentally pulled on or kicked a cable, causing it to unplug or become loose. You should check all of the cables involved and ensure that they’re securely connected.

Be sure to check the power cables to your router and modem, the cable between your router and modem, the cable between the modem and the wall socket, and each Ethernet cable plugged into the back of the router. Check each end of the cable and ensure it’s securely connected — it could look connected but be a bit loose.

Change the Wireless Channel

If you’re in a location with a lot of wireless routers nearby, like an apartment building, there’s a good chance your router is subject to interference from other wireless routers sending signals on the same wireless frequency. Determining the optimal wireless channel for your area and changing your router to operate on that wireless channel instead of a more congested one can reduce this interference, improving your wireless signal.

Three Wireless Display Technologies That You Probably Own But Don’t Use

Want to relay your smartphone’s or laptop’s display onto a larger screen without wires? No, it’s not science fiction. You can wirelessly output video from computers and smartphones today. Wireless display technologies use WiFi to output video to compatible adapters. You only need a display adapter, which connects to a monitor and a WiDI or Miracast compatible device. Most modern devices are compatible with the technology. There’s also Apple’s proprietary technology, AirPlay.

Noticing wireless display technology on all my devices, I recently set up a Miracast adapter. This article summarizes my experience. While setup doesn’t require much effort, it can require a bit of leg work.

WiDi

Intel developed the Wireless Display (WiDi) technology as a means of streaming video and audio from compatible devices. WiDi inhabits on most modern Intel motherboards, in particular all Ultrabook-branded laptops.

Additionally, WiDi will also soon receive support for Miracast in its 3.5 incarnation, meaning that the two major wireless displays will actually converge. This is practically unheard of among competing standards. Typically, they fight to the death.

WiDi shows up in many second generation Intel Core-series processors. Ivy Bridge through Haswell can incorporate WiDi, although it does not exist on all Intel computers.

AirPlay

AirPlay, unlike WiDi or Miracast, is a proprietary technology. It’s only compatible with Apple TVand other officially vetted brands. You can’t purchase an adapter that will stream to any device, as you might with WiDi or Miracast. AirPlay’s great advantage over other wireless display standards is its ability to function with AirPlay enabled-speakers.

Apple intended for the technology to allow mobile devices to function as remote controls and streaming devices. It licenses out AirPlay to a variety of audio-equipment manufacturers — such as Sony, Pioneer and Philips.

Overall, AirPlay possesses far fewer vices and foibles than Miracast.

You can check out AirPlay in action below:

For some apps that allow you to output display to other operating systems, check out AirDisplay.

Miracast

Miracast is based on WiFi Direct, which enables handsets to communicate with one another, without connecting to a network. It uses WiFi as a direct means of interfacing with another computer. Miracast uses a variation on this technology to allow the output of audio and video, without a wired interface. However, the Miracast specification makes no provision for audio-only devices, such as MP3 players.

On the downside, Miracast is a new format. As such, it has suffered from a huge number of teething troubles, including display quality issues, lag and instability. I’ve experienced a great deal of issues related to compatibility. Miracast devices don’t work well with all versions of Android. For example, my Android 4.2.1 device failed to output display when it updated to Android 4.2.2.

How I Set Up My Miracast Device

Here’s a shot of the Netgear Push2TV PTV3000 device – it’s both Miracast and WiDi compatible, meaning I could choose to output the display from either my smartphone or my personal computer. It’s also capable of running off the power provided through a USB port. I ran it off of my display’s USB ports.

Setting it up was super simple: I plugged the device into a power source and then activated Wireless Display on my smartphone. From there, simply choose the appropriate display from the list and connect to the Push2TV device.

The Push2TV PTV3000 device wasn’t cheap – at $60 on Amazon – and it didn’t set up very easily. It required a firmware update before receiving compatibility with my Android 4.2.1. To Netgear’s credit, they continually improved the firmware until it finally functioned properly. You can watch video of it in action below:

On the downside, Miracast’s implementation in Netgear’s Push2TV device remains experimental. The most recent firmware update of my Nexus 4 broke compatibility with the Push2TV device. Also, simultaneous Bluetooth and wireless display doesn’t work; only one or the other functions at the same time. However, some custom ROMs permit both to function at the same time. Using a custom ROM, my Nexus 4 functioned briefly as a desktop alternative, pairing a Bluetooth wireless keyboard with a mouse. For the curious: You can read more about my attempts to turn my phone into a desktop-phone convergence device.