As well as the previous solution, which didn't help me - it's not an Atheros card - I found another solution for my Windows 10 laptop that has an Intel wifi adapter. It constantly scans for other wifi networks, and drops the existing connection if it finds a stronger one. This even happens at home, where my and my neighbours' routers are not "open", and I am definitely authenticated to my own. My own router is nearly always the highest signal strength, but if someone else's momentarily gets through the ether a nanosecond faster, blam, the connection is dropped.
In the Intel driver (mine's a Dual-Band Wireless AC-8260, but I'm sure most recent Intel chipsets have the same option available), there is a option called Roaming Aggressiveness. Set this to 1. Lowest
, and it disables the search for stronger networks. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005546/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking.html
Frankly, unless you're striding through office buildings typing on your tablet and automatically logging onto a whole lot of Wifi endpoints as you do so, having the thing constantly seeking new networks seems like a waste of time.
To modify Roaming Aggressiveness in the driver config:
- type
ncpa.cpl
into the Windows search box (or type it in the start menu).
- this pops up the Network Connections control panel, and a laptop/desktop user will probably see Ethernet and Wi-Fi adapters in there.
- right-click on the Wi-Fi adapter icon and select
Properties
- click the
Configure
button on the driver property page
- on the
Advanced
tab, scroll down the Property list and set Roaming Aggressiveness to 1. Lowest
- click
OK
to all the settings pages you've just opened
Note that I previously had this set to 2. Medium-Low
, and didn't get much benefit out of it. Now, in a hotel with a lot of competing signals, it hasn't budged - no more drop-outs.
desktop
tag - not sure what are you trying to accomplish. I got an answer here suggesting a solution for a Windows Phone, while I'm on the desktop version of Windows, so the tag is required.Windows 8
tag didn't work for that person. I'm on desktop windows, since there's nowindows-desktop
tag, I'm using that one.