Chapter 4: Troubleshooting a Wireless Network
In This Chapter
Isolating the cause of wireless problems
Changing channels
Hardware that can improve wireless connections
Resetting your access point/router password
Wireless networks are great until something goes haywire. When a regular network doesn’t work, you usually know about it right away because the network simply becomes unavailable. You can’t display web pages, read e-mail, or access files on shared drives. The troubleshooting chapters in Book III address the most common problems encountered on cabled networks.
But wireless networks can cause problems of their own. And to add to the frustration, wireless networks tend to degrade rather than completely fail. Performance gets slower. Web pages that usually pop up in a second or two take 15 to 20 seconds to appear. Or sometimes they don’t appear at all, but if you try again a few minutes later, they download fine.
This chapter offers some troubleshooting tips that can help you restore normalcy to a failing wireless network.
Checking for Obvious Problems
Before you roll up your ...
