Wireless problem (Long)

[J57ltr]

So for the last few months I have had some problems getting my laptop to connect or even see my wireless network. Sometimes it will see it for a few minutes then I will get disconnected. If I refresh I might be able to see my network but if I refresh again it might disappear then come back. Sometimes it works for days other days like last night it would show connected at 54mbps then I would notice it get slower to load a page and it would drop to 36 then 24 then 5.5.

It all started several months ago when my wireless B router started to go out. Even with my tower plugged in I would lose connection and I would have to cycle power to get it working again. I was talking to a neighbor who is an IT guy and he gave me a BNIB Netgear wireless G router. I installed it and had no problems, it was directly connected. I was able to connect the laptop wirelessly and everything was all good.

I left to go out of town for several days and used the laptop with no issues while out of town. When I get back I was not able to connect. I thought that I had changed a setting or something. Went through everything on the laptop and the settings on the router with no luck. My neighbor came over and tried it with no luck. At this point I had a wireless USB and connected it to the main computer installed the driver and disconnected the cable from the router. I was able to connect it so I figured it might be a range problem. I brought the laptop upstairs and still could not connect (nor did it see the network). My neighbor gave me another BNIB Netgear router same model and version. I tried it and no dice, so then he brought me a D-link wireless router. This time he came over and got it going and we had some problems still getting to connect.

This time I went through the same process to see what the problem was and I connected the wireless USB (disconnected the cable) to the tower this time I was still unable to connect. I installed the driver onto the laptop and disabled the internal wireless card setup the USB wireless and was unable to connect. I took the laptop to work and was easily able to connect. I went out of town and have stayed at more than 7 hotels (3 in 1 week) and have never had a problem. About 3 weeks ago I removed the modem and router from upstairs on the computer desk to downstairs to downstairs where I use the laptop. It worked fine for about a week and I just decided I would just connect the tower to the USB wireless and deal with it. Here the last few days it started doing it again except this time the tower drops out as well. Sometimes if I lay the laptop on the coffee table it will start to pick up a stronger signal. I feel like its some sort of interference but I think I have tried everything. Here is a list of other things I have tried:

Moved router and modem
Tried laptop other places
Disconnected the 5.8 cordless phone
Tried 3 different routers
Had no problems in this house for over 2 years


Sorry so long but I figured the more info the better.

Jeff