Hmmm, interesting reading. What I did not pull out of this was, is it one particular device that is causing the problem, like an Android phone?
802.11N was in draft for so long, there are all kinds of crazy configurations out there, hardware and software based. For the longest time I had problems when I tried to log in with an Android phone to my WiFi, it would always take the router out, the final solution, lock the IP in the router and physically enter it into the phone(Handshake/DHCP problem?), I have never had a problem since with NO OTHER DEVICE. Quite honestly I don't think 802.11N has been around long enough for all the draft stuff to catch up. I think I did see someone actually turn off the Short GI, good call, most older radios do not have that fast of an AGC circuit to compensate, unless it is a newer design.
Seems we have a lot of knowledge out here, myself, Masters degree in electrical engineering emphasizing on RF communications with 35+ years experience.
The 2.4Ghz Industrial, Scientific and Medical(ISM) band is crazy noisy to start off with. Honestly, to have someone put out 1500 watts in this band is NOT unheard of(Microwave oven anyone?), YOU just can't do it with a WiFi network because YOU are considered to be a secondary user of this band, secondly, you have to be licensed to radiate more then 4 watts ERP on this band, but never forget, you are a secondary user and therefore must put up with the INTERFERENCE on the 2.4Ghz ISM band.
Seeing we have so many experienced people out here, have we tried to scientifically eliminate what 802.11N device is causing the problem(s) like I did at home? A lot of HARDWARE(ASIC in nature) is coming out these days that is not 100% compliant with the 802.11N spec (they call themselves DRAFT). One vendor mentioned above, Atheros, has so many revisions on it's ASIC's, it makes you wonder WHY, if the simple fix was just firmware, why did Atheros actually revise the hardware? Lets not forget the Ralink RT2770/RT2750, it is so deaf they are paying people to take them on Flea Bay. Is it D-Links fault that a certain chipset is buggy or has no tolerance for error? I see Cisco gear all the time that has had 100's of revisions, why? It would be great if we could use FPGA's and CPLD's to design with and simply fix every problem with a simple firmware revision, but with ASIC's this is impossible! ALL manufacturers have hardware design problems, especially with the wave of new smart phones and laptops coming out, there is no way to 100% test for every condition a piece of hardware/software will encounter in it's life, at the rate new phones and laptops are being released. Are people out here really under the impression that every revision of a chipset was a die shrink/upgrade?
As Furry said, this forum exists for US/WE to try and help each other. I have a brand new Android phone waiting at home as I type that has a 5Ghz radio in it, why? To get away from the over crowding on the 2.4Ghz ISM band. My routers at home put out quite a bit more then the standard 15-20Mw, but I still have interference as indicated by a spectrum analyzer. Heck, just the recent M and X class solar flares we have had is enough to knock out comms from HF to Microwave, but we expect our home routers to be rad hardened or something, all for a 100 bucks or less.
I have had to take a LOT of Netgear and Cisco routers out because they won’t work with other stuff. So let me see, Dlink, Cisco/Linksys, Netgear….. Who is left? I was thrown off the Cisco forum for posting my findings on their JUNK and trying to find a solution. Just a couple of weeks back I had to take a Netgear router out of a friends home because it would not work with his NEW tablet, Netgear worked with everything else. I put D-Link in, now everything works fine again. Can you say DRAFT “N”?
One person posted above that they do lots of WiFi installs. So I assume you install something that works 100% of the time? Can we get the name of the manufacturer and P/N of the equipment? Because I sure could use something that is wireless and works 100% of the time with no 802.11N problems for 100 bucks, if they make it in dual band, can I get that P/N too?
Figure out what is causing the problem by adding 1 device at a time. But I know without a doubt, Xbox slims and Android phones/tablets are high on my suspicion list.
Lunch is over,
Later!