[SOLVED] My USB Wireless adapter connects fine to Mobile Hotspot but will not connect to the home network most of the time

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
So I have been having issues with connecting to my wireless network for about a month now and I can't figure it out. So every other device in the house works fine, but my gaming computer. I only have like 8 devices connected on my Grande issued router. I have tried flushing the DNS, Forgetting the network, uninstalling the wifi drivers, installing new wifi drivers, just about everything. I want to say it's my USB Adapter, but seeing that I am typing to you just fine on a hotspot network and Tried it on a buddy's home network and it works just fine? It will sometimes connect for a couple of hours and then disconnects and I try for hours to get it back working.

My Specs
Intel I7 8700K
Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti
Linksys WUSB 6300 USB Wirless Adapter
MSI Tomahawk Z370 Motherboard
 
Last edited:
Solution
It is not likely congestion from other devices in your house but I guess it could be. Only you would know if you have other people using a lot of bandwidth in your house.

It is much more likely it is interference from your neighbors. Could be they got a new mesh system and put in a bunch of nodes. These mesh systems attempt to use every radio channels there is so everyone stomps on each other.

Used to be we could get good coverage and speed with a fairly weak signal. Now with all the interference it takes much more signal levels to get good transfer rates. Many people to "solve" this put in repeaters and mesh systems. This just makes the problem worse for everyone else who then also has to buy repeaters.
Almost seems like...
Are you sure it is not just a simple lack of signal issue. Where did you have the hotspot compared to where the router is.

Wifi in general does not like the big metal boxes desktop machines are in. The antenna a located way to close to all that metal and it blocks the router signal. I would first try a USB extension cable to get the device away from the computer and see if it works better,

Have you tried moving the computer closer to the computer just to be sure it is not some software setting, then again if is sometimes works it is more likely just signal issues.
 

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
Are you sure it is not just a simple lack of signal issue. Where did you have the hotspot compared to where the router is.

Wifi in general does not like the big metal boxes desktop machines are in. The antenna a located way to close to all that metal and it blocks the router signal. I would first try a USB extension cable to get the device away from the computer and see if it works better,

Have you tried moving the computer closer to the computer just to be sure it is not some software setting, then again if is sometimes works it is more likely just signal issues.

It's weird you say that because when I do get internet on my home connection I don`t even get 200 MB most of the time In Download speed on a 600 MB connection. Could it just be congestion? Also my router is on the other side of my house,but the wifi has worked just fine for a year now. My house is like 1600 square feet.
 
It is not likely congestion from other devices in your house but I guess it could be. Only you would know if you have other people using a lot of bandwidth in your house.

It is much more likely it is interference from your neighbors. Could be they got a new mesh system and put in a bunch of nodes. These mesh systems attempt to use every radio channels there is so everyone stomps on each other.

Used to be we could get good coverage and speed with a fairly weak signal. Now with all the interference it takes much more signal levels to get good transfer rates. Many people to "solve" this put in repeaters and mesh systems. This just makes the problem worse for everyone else who then also has to buy repeaters.
Almost seems like a evil plan by the wifi equipment manufactures.

200mbps is actually really good if you are getting that, most times to get more you must be very close to the router and even then it is not going to be much higher using the wifi device you have. It might have a 1200 number but that is a bunch of lies, you will be very lucky to see 300mbps maximum out of it.
 
Solution

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
Does interference also cause signal loss as well? Because right now I am actually on the home connection I will probably be kicked off at any time, but it's showing full bars. I also forgot to add when it decides to act up It will connect to the network for about 10 seconds say that there is internet and then disconnect me. When I run a trouble shooter it sometimes says it's the DNS and Sometimes it says it's a adapter issue, or a wire issue. Does that make any difference?
 
DNS error message like that are almost useless. Of course you are going to have issue resolving DNS names when you have no connection to the internet. It is like saying the lights do not work in your house after a tornado flattens it.

Wifi stuff is extremely hard to troubleshoot. The wifi chips keep everything locked up and seldom give you any reasons why a session fails. It can disconnect if it gets too many errors. Most times it does not act like your is. It would be more common that is constantly connects and disconnects.

What makes this very strange is you say the adapter works in another house. Maybe there were different drivers. Other wise this looks more and more like bad adapter.

I would try the standard stuff you try with wifi. I would try to connect to the other radio band. If you are using 2.4 try the 5g band. Next you can try to change the channels you are using on the router. If you have really strong interference on some radio channel maybe others have less.
There likely are no radio channels that do not have many people using them and the scanning programs are pretty useless. It is much more important how much actual usage of a radio band rather than just how many other routers are on the same channel. There unfortunately no way to tell if the neighbors routers you see a very active or not.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Your Linksys WUSB 6300 USB Wirless Adapter is a dual band adapter. One possibility is that your router has chosen WIFI channels that are not compatible with your device's driver. You can test this by going into the GUI on the router and changing the WIFI channels from "auto". Put the 2.4Ghz on channel 1, 6, 11 with a 20Mhz channel width. Put 5Ghz on a channel less than 50 with a 40Mhz channel width. These are the most generic WIFI settings and available in EVERY country. Some countries prohibit some WIFI channels. If there is a mismatch between the router and the adapter, you can have a situation like you describe.
 

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
So I tried to switch from 2.4 to 5G band by going into device manager and in properties under the advanced tab selected preferable bands and switched it to 5G and it has done nothing. I am going to do a test and grab my bothers adapter and get back to you guys with the results

P.S welp bad news my brother does not have a wireless adapter because his MSI X570 ace has built in Wifi. Also one thing b I noticed is my internet seems to go out like between 6 and 7 central time every time
 
Last edited:
Time of day makes it even more likely it is some kind of interference from another person.

It is not like a hardware or software bug know what time it is. I guess it could be something that runs on your pc at that time but generally you would know about that.
 

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
Time of day makes it even more likely it is some kind of interference from another person.

It is not like a hardware or software bug know what time it is. I guess it could be something that runs on your pc at that time but generally you would know about that.
Welp I had my ISP Re check on my connection and It seems they still can't find the issue and I have dropped 200 dollars plus on a new router and wifi adapter just in case and Still the issue persists, and Now I can only connect maybe an hour if that . I can't see it being a interference issues when EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR OTHER DEVICES CAN CONNECT JUST FINE EVEN IN MY ROOM WHERE MY PC IS!!! I am out of ideas HELP!!!!
 
Last edited:

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
So I found out something. The ISP (Grande) Provided me a Eero router pro and Eero wifi beacon which I guess is a wifi extender when they set up my internet? Could that be what is causing the interference? What should I do?
 
All repeaters cause interference, just their design in general causes this because cheaper ones all use the same radio channel to talk to the main router and the end devices. You double your risk of data collision.

Still this does not explain time of day issues.

It is easy to test I guess. Turn the repeater off and see if it solves your problem. It could be your pc unlike all the other ones is connecting to the repeater rather than the main router. You would have a extra radio hop in the path increasing your risk of data loss.
 
Disconnect the Eero beacon completely for a few days and see how you like the wifi with just the router.

Try connecting the USB wifi dongle to USB 2.0 instead of a USB 3.0 port if you have one. USB3.0 does tend to interfere with 2.4ghz wifi.

Otherwise, if you buy a router, or have one laying around. I would set the router to bridge more or as Asus calls it "media bridge mode." This allows the router to use all it's antennae to connect to the main router and then you connect it to your computer with an ethernet cable. A nice router like Asus will have significantly better radio hardware onboard than any usb dongle you can buy. I set up my Asus router this way and used it for several years when living in my apartment. It was the best way to connect to a desktop when you aren't allowed to run ethernet cable.

mb_0.jpg
 

animefan8910

Reputable
Jan 23, 2019
62
0
4,540
All repeaters cause interference, just their design in general causes this because cheaper ones all use the same radio channel to talk to the main router and the end devices. You double your risk of data collision.

Still this does not explain time of day issues.

It is easy to test I guess. Turn the repeater off and see if it solves your problem. It could be your pc unlike all the other ones is connecting to the repeater rather than the main router. You would have a extra radio hop in the path increasing your risk of data loss.

Okay guys thank for all the help I think I see light at the end of the road. My new adapter I cheaped out on it and I think it only runs 2,4 Ghz but the internet has worked fine so far for about a day crossing my fingers :). Right now it is connected to the router, so what you and bill001g said may be true about the repeater. A am just too scared to turn it off and all my devices on my repeater at 5Ghz not work anymore

P.s I am thinking about getting a night hawk R7000 which is supposed to have a range at 2500 Sq feet or about 200 feet way more then my 1 story house lols. Anyway if I were you I would stay Way from anything eero related. Literally seems like the Apple of Wireless OVERPRIECED JUNK
 
Last edited:
I've had the R7000 for years, a true workhorse. But the hardware NAT controller can't do much over 500-600mbps internet speed. Installing DDWRT or similar software forces it to use software NAT and can't do much over 300mbps internet speeds. It was a great router, but it's now showing it's age.

Personally, if I were you. I'd buy the Asus AC66U B1 revision. It has a good processor and great 3x3 radio circuitry. Set it to media bridge mode and connect it to your desktop via ethernet. If you can afford more, then get one with a 4x4 antenna.

The EERO sucks, you need the PRO model to get a 4x4 antenna, otherwise the normal eero is 2x2. If you're trying to use 2x2 for MESH, then you don't have a dedicated backhaul channel. So your bandwidth is cut in half. That's a garbage mesh system and it's just acting as a repeater. I'd much rather have a 4x4 main router and a 4x4 bridge on the PC side to utilize all 4 channels to maximize bandwidth, even with a lower signal strength.