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I have some CAT6 wiring installed in my home with a general topology like following: Cable modem->router->(dumb netgear hub in the closet)->(Dell smart switch)->WiFi AP. I noticed that whenever I access the net via WiFi, network sometimes just stops transmitting data. Attempt to access router by IP in this case will just hang until timeout. Yet I can access WiFi AP. Eventually it will recover. I tried different WiFi access points and symptoms are the same, I don't think it's wifi problem. I suspect that it may be a problem with Dell's hub but since it's intermittent it's really hard to track down.

Dell switch is PowerConnect 2808 or something of the same line that I bought few years ago.

So how do I go about troubleshooting it further? Is there some good piece of software or some other tool that I can use to troubleshoot the problem. May be something that can ping router regularly and give me a time line of outages?

Any advice?

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how old is that Netgear hub? Is it really a hub? Also you should try pinging your switch,router, and AP with the -t switch (continuous) so you can see where the disconnect is. However I'm suspicious of the dumb hub. – Kyle Jan 22 at 23:43
I actually played with hubs. Netgear is actually a switch: GS108NA. It used to be in living room and WiFi AP was connected to it and Dell was in closet. I flipped them and also replaced Netgear with new one. – Alex Gitelman Jan 23 at 0:07
Since you've changed the topology, can you restate the problem you're having, if any, and supply the router/cable modem brand/model as well? Thanks! – Nevin Williams Apr 13 at 2:17
I replaced Dell switch with Netgear and hadn't have a problem since. My initial question was to find out if I there is better way to find the culprit rather than just replace network components piece by piece. – Alex Gitelman Apr 13 at 18:27
Nope, that's pretty much how it's done. (unless you happen to have testing gear more expensive than the parts you're swapping) – Nevin Williams Apr 18 at 2:16

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