It drops in the middle of a card payment, a video call, or a print job. Somebody calls the internet company, they say the line looks fine on their end, and a day later it happens again.
A lot of the time, the internet company is right. The internet coming into the building is fine, and the problem is the Wi-Fi inside it. Here is how to tell which one you have, and what fixes each.
First, the free test: is it the Wi-Fi or the internet?
Before anybody buys anything, find out which side of the router the problem is on. It costs nothing.
- Plug one computer into the router with a network cable. A desktop works, or a laptop with a network port. Leave it there for a day, and when the Wi-Fi drops, look at that computer.
- If the plugged-in computer stays online while the Wi-Fi drops, your internet is fine. The problem is the Wi-Fi, and your internet company cannot fix it from their end.
- If the plugged-in computer drops too, the problem is the internet line or the modem. That one belongs to your provider, and now you can prove it.
Two more things to notice while you wait:
- Is it every device, or one? If one laptop keeps dropping and everything else is fine, the network is probably not the problem. That laptop is.
- Does it happen at the same time? Write down when it drops. A pattern is a clue.
What usually causes it, cheapest first
If the test says it is the Wi-Fi, these are the usual reasons, in the order I check them.
- Where the router sits. The router usually ends up wherever the internet cable came into the building: a back closet, under a desk, behind the filing cabinet. Wi-Fi loses strength through every wall, and metal like filing cabinets and shelving blocks a lot of it. A metal building or a metal-sided shop bay blocks even more. Moving the router costs nothing. Adding a second access point between the router and the room that keeps dropping costs a little.
- A crowded channel. Your Wi-Fi shares the air with every network next door, and in a strip center that can be a lot of them. The older 2.4 GHz band has only three channels that do not overlap, so it fills up fast. The 5 GHz band has many more, though it does not reach as far through walls. Moving the office computers to the less crowded band and channel is a settings change.
- The break room microwave. Microwave ovens run at nearly the same frequency as 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. If the drops happen around lunch, that is worth a look.
- A home router doing an office's job. The box your internet company installed is usually built for a household. Add a dozen computers, phones, the printer, the card reader and a guest network, and it can start dropping people. Fine first thing in the morning and flaky once everybody is in is the pattern that points here.
- Old firmware and factory settings. Plenty of routers never get touched after the day they are installed. Updates fix bugs, including ones that drop connections.
- Two routers fighting. Somebody added a second router years ago to reach the back room. Now devices switch back and forth between the two, and each switch can drop the connection for a moment.
- Heat. A router shut in a closet with no air, or stacked on top of other equipment, can overheat and restart itself.
- One laptop's power setting. If only one laptop drops, check whether Windows is allowed to turn off its Wi-Fi to save power. That setting alone can cause it.
If the plugged-in computer drops too
Then it is the line, the modem, or the provider. When it drops, look at the lights on the modem and write down the time. Call your provider with those times, and tell them a computer plugged straight into the router went offline too. That is a much harder complaint to wave off than "our Wi-Fi is bad."
One thing not to do: pay for a faster plan to fix drops. More speed does not fix a connection that keeps cutting out, and it does not fix a dead spot either.
What fixes it, and what it costs
| What I find | The fix |
|---|---|
| Router in a bad spot | Move it, or add an access point where people work. |
| Crowded channel | Change the channel and band. A settings change. |
| Microwave next to the router | Move one of them. |
| Home router overloaded | A business access point, or a second one. |
| Old firmware or factory settings | Update it and set it up properly. |
| Two routers fighting | Make them one network, or retire one. |
| One laptop dropping | Fix that laptop's setting or driver. |
| The plugged-in computer drops too | It is the line. I tell you what to tell your provider. |
A lot of these cost nothing but the visit. When hardware is the answer, I tell you what to buy and roughly what it costs. If you want me to get it, it is billed at my cost plus 20 percent, with the receipt.
Office network work is $85 an hour on site, with a one-hour minimum, and you get the price before I start.
Before you buy a new router
The easy mistake is buying a bigger router before anybody knows why the old one drops. A new router in the same back closet has the same walls to get through. And a stronger router only fixes half of it: the laptop in the back room still has to answer with its own small antenna. That is why the fix for a far room is usually an access point closer to it, not a bigger box in the closet.
Find out why first. The test at the top of this page costs nothing.
Get a straight answer
Text (405) 458-0864 with when it drops, whether the plugged-in computer dropped too, and a photo of where the router sits. If I can answer it in a text, that answer is free. If it needs hands on it, you get the price before I come out. I usually answer the same day, a day or two at most.
I come to shops in Del City, Midwest City, east Oklahoma City and Moore, after 5 and on weekends, so you are not closing early to wait on me.
One person, start to finish. When you text, you get me. Not a rotating tech, not a call center.