Troubleshooting WiFi can be tricky...

Don't you hate it when your interwebs goes down? It's been happening to me a lot lately where I would lose all connectivity, yet my cable modem and router both say everything's fine, and I've been racking my brain trying to figure out the source of the problem.

Like many, my first reaction was to call tech support. When I called, I asked if there was an outage in the area, since it seemed as though I was connected to my router but not pulling any web sites, I assumed it was an outage. Having worked tech support for a living, I'm sure my ISP's support was going to love my call.

When I called about a week ago, the tech said he saw a "lot of packet loss" on my cable modem, and there wasn't an outage, so I had the option of having a tech come out or visiting the office and having my modem replaced. My wife was on the cordless phone so I couldn't ask her what time she'd be home to send a tech out, so I chose the latter. 

But after I hung up, I got to thinking more about what might be the lowest common denominator to the problem, and it did occur to me that it was raining when these outages occurred, so I went outside to where the box was connected from the main line to the house and noticed a lot of growth from an untrimmed forsythia bush around the box (along with a spider or three), so, at 10PM at night, after a monsoon, I grab the trimmers and decide to prune the forsythia away from the outside box. My wife had hung up the phone and came out holding the flashlight wondering what the hell I was doing...

Once I completed the pruning, my internet connectivity was back. So I was happy that I might have fixed the problem. But I noticed the issue return last weekend. It had rained briefly but not a lot to make me think there was the same problem as last time.

One of my kids was on the phone and asked if we were having internet problems because her friend was having the same issues. So, I chalked it up to an actual outage and tried again an hour later, and it was fine.

So earlier tonight, it happens yet again. No internet. I was at my ropes end this time. I called tech support on my cell phone (I couldn't use the home phone because my wife was talking to a friend about a rash on Lauren's head) and had to wait 5 minutes for a tech. I ran outside to check the box (it hasn't rained since last Friday) and all was fine. I went downstairs and rebooted the modem and my WiFi router twice. Then, as my wife hung up the phone and asked me what was going on, the tech came on the line and miraculously my internet came back up.

We spent a few minutes with tech support discussing my options, and once again I decide I probably need to swap out the cable modem, so I get off the phone with tech support, then it hits me...the home phone!!!

Now I start to replay all the outages and sure enough, the HOME PHONE was in use every single time. I have bundling through my cable provider for TV, internet, and phone service. My initial instinct was that one service was screwing up another.

I hop back on the phone with tech support and tell them about my discovery. But the tech support guy had one up on me that I hadn't considered, yet should have thought about first. He simply asked "do you have a CORDLESS phone?"...

And that's when it struck me, my 2.4GHz cordless phone was interfering with the 2.4GHz WiFi router I just acquired 3 weeks ago.

It appears that they're on the same channel and when I get a phone call, the cordless phone is transmitting a more powerful signal between the base and handset and simply kills my WiFi.

So I was foiled by my own cordless phone. And I'm left with a decision. Get a different phone, set my WiFi router to a specific channel that may not be covered by the cordless phone, or perhaps ditch the home phone entirely, which we've thought about doing anyway.

But I'm still trying to figure out the "packet loss" from the first call. Lazy tech near the end of his shift perhaps? Or was there was some legitimate issues with the outside box and the forsythias?

To be continued?

EDIT: Changing the wireless channel on the WiFi seems to have done the trick.

It pays to check your ground!

The last few months I've seen some strange things amiss at my house that are out of the ordinary. I lost some electronics to lightning in April. My computer, a couple of wifi routers, cable modems from my ISP, and possibly a couple of appliances in the kitchen all became victims of lightning. Not a direct hit, but, as I have had occur before, static from a nearby strike ran in and toasted the stuff.

I suspected I had an issue with my ground system, but wasn't sure the best way to deal with it. I talked with one ham on the radio about it and he said it was imperative that I check my grounding system. But things seemed fine with my electronics and as a precaution I began unplugging most of the sensitive electronics such as my TV, ham equipment, and cable equipment.

After my TV went out last month (due to what was eventually an unrelated issue) I called my friend Jason (KF4VDX) and he showed up the week before Christmas to check things out. My wiring in the house was fine and we changed out a breaker for the living room as it was needed anyway. Then we looked at the ground rod and discovered that the clamp to the rod was completely eroded and my ground rod and ground wire were BARELY touching!!!

The weather forecast called for thunderstorms the next day, and it was 10 o'clock at night when we discovered this, so the hardware stores were closed and I had no clamps here, so we ran to Walmart and looked for something...ANYTHING that would work in a fix. We settled on an automobile battery clamp and got the grounding issue settled. The next day I went to the hardware store and bought TWO ground clamps to ensure this would not happen again. Unfortunately with the rain (it was near constant the next several days) I couldn't get to it safely until the day after Christmas when I got back from a trip to the zoo with the family.

While I was at it, I took the wiring from my antenna and secured it to the electrical ground as well. Up until then I had it secured to a different ground rod. I was encouraged to put them on the same ground.

So life lesson learned. Sometimes, when I try to be a better ham, some of the most basic things are overlooked.

Medical devices get FCC approval for 400 MHz

Via Bloomberg BusinessWeek:

Medical devices designed to help paralyzed patients move won U.S. regulators’ approval to use a block of radio spectrum for transmitting wireless signals to incapacitated limbs.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that give access needed by so-called advanced microstimulator devices that use implanted electrodes to stimulate muscles with the help of a wireless controller worn outside the body.

While the devices may be a medical breakthrough, using spectrum that amateur radio has (on a secondary basis) ranging from 413-457 MHz (amateur radio uses 420-450MHz) puts at risk the use that amateur radio employs for public safety and service on the 70cm band. Besides, there is plenty of spectrum available for these devices. Since UPS isn't using the spectrum they asked for from 220-222MHz, why not give it to these devices?

The ARRL has more detailed info, which you can read here.

Out for the weekend

I'm going to take my family camping this weekend. The first time we've gone in 5 years.

I'm not big on the great outdoors, but I'm willing to suffer just to see how this turns out.

I plan to take the spare time and catch up on past editions of TWIAR/International and (hopefully) have some content for this blog forthcoming.

This campground sold me on the fact they have Wi-Fi!!! Now that's roughing it!!!

My sister-in-law (ex-ham, got her license at 13, let it expire) will be holding the fort until our return, and she just returned from Iowa (away from those tornadoes, thank heavens) and minding the cat.

Until then, have a good weekend.