I live with two other people and have noticed a really strange pattern with our internet connection. Whenever my roommate comes home and starts using her laptop, the Wi-Fi goes out. This isn't just a one-time thing; it happens every single time she uses it. My other roommate and I can be home all day without any issues, but as soon as she starts online work, the connection drops. It does come back after we reset the router, but it's frustrating because the same issue occurs even when she's alone at home using her laptop. Interestingly, it seems like her phone doesn't cause the same problem. She mentioned that her work Wi-Fi also has issues, but co-workers say it doesn't happen when she's not there. She's switched laptops twice since we moved in, and the problem persists. I've checked that we don't have too many devices connected at once - just our three laptops, phones, and a Roku, speed-wise we're on Wow internet with 600 Mbps down and 50 Mbps up. What could be causing this?
5 Answers
She might be using a program that's creating too many connections, like BitTorrent. Home routers have limitations on how many simultaneous connections they can handle. If she's pushing those limits, that could be why the Wi-Fi drops when she's online. Also, check if she's got any cloud storage syncing (like Google Drive) going on; that can choke the network.
Sounds like there might be something on her laptop causing this, like malware or a mining virus that's hogging bandwidth. I suggest running a Malwarebytes scan along with a couple of other antivirus programs to check for any infections.
Lol, mining doesn't really hog bandwidth the way you think it does.
Have you looked into possible IP conflicts? Sometimes, devices can mess with each other if they're set up incorrectly. It could also be an issue with her computer trying to connect too many things at once, overloading our home router's capacity. Maybe check your router's DHCP settings, or even consider giving her laptop a static IP to see if that helps.
That could explain a lot if her laptop is trying to grab an IP that’s already in use!
It might be something as simple as the laptop's Wi-Fi card causing issues with our router. I had a similar problem with my partner’s device. We switched from 2.4GHz to 5GHz and it fixed all our connectivity problems. Have you tried adjusting your router’s band settings?
Good call! Different bands can work wonders depending on interference.
From personal experience, something that often gets overlooked is the router's firmware. If her device is causing crashes, it might be a compatibility issue. Check if your router has the latest updates installed. Sometimes, a simple firmware update can resolve connectivity issues across different devices.
Yes! This has helped me before. Always good to keep everything updated.
Totally, I've been through that with cloud backups. They can really drain bandwidth.