Is my wireless affected by other networks nearby?

[Mosaic]

I have a secured wireless network which fluctuates in strength during the day. Typically it is at its best in the morning and weakest in the evening. I think I can be sure nobody else is using it, as it is secured - so, when my neighbours use their wireless, does this have an effect on networks nearby?
Or am I actually providing free wireless connectivity for someone who enjoys downloading in the evening?

[MarkRae]

If you're using WPA2 and MAC address filtering, there is (almost) no chance of any unauthorised use. However, all wireless routers have a page which shows attached devices, so you can easily check.

Far more likely is that this has nothing to do with your wireless network per se, and is merely the effect of peak hours eating into the available bandwidth and, as such, there's not much you can do about it. Google "contention ratio" for more detailed information...

[Buenchico]

There are two relevant points here:

Firstly (and probably most importantly), while your connection is wireless as far as your router, it's wired from there to to the internet. ISPs operate different 'contention ratios', which represent the maximum number of their customers who are effectively sharing a common connection to the internet. (If you want a connection all to yourself you'll have to pay for a 'leased line'. That's what major companies do but it typically costs around £300 per month).

If you're with a 'budget' ISP, you'll be hampered by a contention ratio of, perhaps, 20 to 1. (Some companies use even higher ratios). 'Full price' ISPs usually use contention ratios of between 15 to 1 and 10 to 1. ISPs who target their products at small businesses (such as Claranet, which I use) operate with a 7 to 1 contention ratio, but at a fairly high price.

So the chances are that your connection problems are on the 'wired' side of your router because the evenings are when most families are online.

Secondly, however, there's the problem of general radio interference. All electronic devices emit radio waves. (Put a transistor radio next to your printer, or to your TV, and you'll probably find that reception is swamped by interference). Your own electrical devices, together with those of your neighbours, will be creating interference which your router and PC have to filter out in order to receive accurate data. The more interference there is, the harder it is for those devices to do their jobs efficiently, so the slower the speed of data transfer. (Simply switching off your TV set might, for example, improve the data transfer speed but [ideally] you'd really need to persuade all of your neighbours to turn their sets off as well!).

Chris

[Mosaic]

Thanks guys.
Buddy Virgin media.....why do they lie????

[MarkRae]

In what way...?

[ChuckFickens]

I'm just wondering.

You say "fluctuates in strength"

Do you really mean your wireless signal level actually fluctuates? or do you mean your Internet speed fluctuates?

[Buenchico]

A bit of Googling suggests that Virgin Media's contention ratio might be as high as 50:1

Are you aware of their 'traffic management' policy?
See here:
http://shop.virginmed...affic-management.html

Chris

[hc4361]

Do you mean your wireless speed drops during the day?

[galeck1947]

You haven't stated what type of internet connection you have as this can have a bearing on the speed at which it works and the amount of traffic from your ISP server .
ADSL is slower than broadband cable due to its using the phone line and the distance from the exchange..If you suspect that maybe your neighbours network is interfering with yours then change to another channel.As Markrae says WPA2 is almost impossible to comprimise.

[fiesata]

Mosaic do you mean your speed is slower at night if so the reason has been pointed to by Buenchico

The throttling is 75% on many packages add that to another 49 people on your connection and there is an answer?