Comments for Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

Comment from Tom Roberson on 2008-12-03

2008-12-03T18:00:02Z

A: 802.11b works when no other protocol will.
B. Unless you constantly transfer large files from computer to computer on the same local network, anything above 802.11b is a waste of time and expense, as your cable or DSL is less than half (a quarter?) the speed of even slow 802.11b.
C. 802.11n usually works in the same room, but reliability gets compromised by every wall, structure, tree, car, couch or any other item between you and the router. Other than self-gratification of having the hottest bestest more than your friends, N tends to make flakey connections. I have to turn N off frequently just so my customers can actually function with wireless internet through their home/office. B works everywhere. G usually does. N, ehhhh, hope we get it.
D. Local coffee house. Everytime the phone rang, the internet connect was reset. We tried other routers, all channels, B, G whatever. They had to ditch that phone before it was fixed.

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

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Comment from Eli Coten on 2008-10-31

2008-10-31T10:44:42Z

802.11b is compatible with 802.11g and therefore uses the same frequency. Perhaps its possible to edit the article to read 802.11b/g as these days all new devices are either 802.11g or 802.11n (which I think is also b/g compatible but supposedly offers 125Mbps max throughput).

Wireless G is most common at the moment with all new laptop and most new computers sold with it by default. All public wi-fi hotspots are also wireless G its only people who bought equipment 6+ years ago when Wi-fi first came out who will still be using B. Either way for the purposes of this article and interferance with cordless phones there is no difference between B & G (thus for clarity the article should probably include both)

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

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Comment from Jon on 2008-10-30

2008-10-30T14:37:01Z

One other thought to throw in the mix - I have seen several situations where these 2 wireless devices can be impacted by a wireless mouse as well. When the usb dongle is too close to the cordless phone the mouse can stop functioning properly too.

Moral of the story? Near your computer, use a corded phone with a speaker or a wired headset. After all, who wants to spend 30 min talking to tech support while craning their neck sideways to hold a cordless phone in place?

Jon

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

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Comment from avoidz on 2008-10-29

2008-10-29T13:10:33Z

I prefer to use a fixed phone line for a number of reasons, one of them being this one in question. Another is power-outages - who you gonna call? Unless you want to make a pricey mobile call.

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

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Comment from David on 2008-10-28

2008-10-28T18:10:08Z

802.11b?

You think 'b' is most common? Where'd you get that from?

Isn't 802.11g (note the 'g') more common?

802.11b predates 'g' by some time - there are still a lot of installations running it. But you're quite right, 'g' would be growing in deployment, and could have overtaken it by now.

- Leo
29-Oct-2008

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

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Comment from Chris on 2008-10-28

2008-10-28T17:19:11Z

Simply change the channel your wireless router is broadcasting on (see your router settings). You generally want to be 3-4 channels above or below what your phone is on. Every channel is 5MHz apart from a neighboring channel. You generally want to be at least 13MHz apart (25MHz perferred) for optimal performance.

Think about it like tuning your radio. If you are trying to listen to 100.3 and set it to 100.2, you may still hear 100.3, but receive interference from another network. The channels are only clear if the frequencies they are broadcasting on are far enough apart, but at one point, the signal is perfect.

True, you generally might now know what channel your phone is on in, say in that 2.4GHz range, but you can test and see the 3 extremes. Channel 1, 6, then 11 and see which one works best for you.
A lot of new routers, allow automatic detection of the best broadcasting channel. A lot of older ones are set to 6 by default.

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

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Comment from Arjun on 2008-10-23

2008-10-23T17:46:56Z

The best solution would be either use a regular fixed wire phone and continue using your wifi or using a LAN card type normal regular modem and using a cordless phone. In this case the above soultion is the only one that can solve the problems of disturbance and drops.

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A comment on: Why does answering cordless phones cause some wireless connections to drop?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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