New wireless network cuts out frequently

[bradenm]

I'm fairly new to wireless networking; After waiting a month for madwifi drivers to work with amd64, I have my D-Link DWL-G520 working with wpa_supplicant, WPA_PSK, and madwifi; I'm using a D-Link DI-624 wireless access point (about 15 feet away, in the same room). However, much to my disappointment, the connection will occasionally stop working completely for about a minute, then be working again. This sometimes happens almost every five minutes, though at times I can use it for hours (rarely!) without noticing any loss of connection. This is especially frustrating when I'm trying to carry on an online conversation in Kopete, and my MSN account keeps going offline.

So, is this due to poor drivers, poor configuration, poor signal, or what? If anyone has had a similar experience or can offer advice, I would really appreciate it; I'm almost to the point of going back to a wired connection.

Below is typical output from iwconfig, when the connection _is_ working:

[massysett]

My experience is sometimes similar. My understanding is that wireless is just unreliable. Other access points, cordless phones, and even microwave ovens can interfere with it. Sometimes my wireless works well for days; other nights it just refuses to connect for more than two minutes. Sometimes changing the channel on the router helps; sometimes it doesn't. I had this problem under Windows, too, so it wasn't just a Linux thing. Even when my wireless works, transfer rates are slow--okay for web browsing; too slow to emerge anything other than the smallest package.

Some folks say moving the access point around can help--"avoid metal objects" and that kind of stuff. Also you might have a specific phone that interferes with it. Or, maybe your neighbor does--do you hear him talking on the phone?

My advice: run some Cat 5; it makes life a lot easier. Or wait until 802.11n comes out. Till then, wireless can be really unreliable.