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So lately i have been having network stability issues with my two tp-link 8970B routers. the network is set up like this:

Router1 (connected to internet) --wifi-- Router2 --lan-- pc
                                                 --lan-- laptop
                                                 --lan-- raspberry pi  

This setup has worked for me for a while now but during the last couple of weeks it has gotten almost impossible to download bigger files from the internet. whenever i start a download it will work just fine for a couple of minutes, but after about 10-30 minutes the speed will decrease to something around 10-50kbps, stay there for a minute or so before the connection breaks up entirely. now while all the clients and router2 say that they are still connected, I cant pull up router1s' webinterface or any other website. this will go on for maybe a minute or so when after that everything will start again from the top.

for the last couple of days i have connected the laptop via wifi directly to router1 without any problems, which makes me think that its some problem with the wifi-bridge. other things i have tried without making any kind of difference: resetting both routers, updating the firmware so they are both the same version, switching router1 for 2. also for the life of mine i cant think of anything i changed in the settings before the issues started. so yeah, i'm open to suggestions if anyone can help.

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  • You have not discounted yet the possibility of hardware malfunction in one of the two routers. You should hook them up directly to the Internet in turns, and link your pc directly to the Internet-facing router, and see whether there are noticeable performance differences between the two cases. Oct 31, 2015 at 8:04
  • I actually did test that, but it seems I didn't point that out too clearly in my initial description. I swapped both routers to see wether that would make a difference. Right now I am using router2 as the internet-facing router.
    – nlg
    Oct 31, 2015 at 11:18

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While it is possible its a problem with hardware, Its also very likely that the issue is one of congestion. There may well be a number of other routers "in earshot" of your device, and when they are transmitting you have issues. (Likewise, when you are trying to transfer big files you are killing a limited space).

There may not be a lot you can do without additional hardware - but you can start by doing a survey of other devices in earshot of your router to test the theory. There are a few ways to do it - the way I find easiest (but it may not be the most accurate) is to download "Wifi Analyser" on an Android device and use that to view the network.

If noise is the problem (and I'm betting it is) - you can try the following:

  1. Change the channels your devices communicate on.
  2. Upgrade the routers to 802.11ac - In addition to having more speed and space, you also get the 5 gig band, which is bigger, less noisy and degrades faster - which means less interference from neighbours.
  3. (Its a bit difficult with a dual Antenna device, but you may be able to use directional antennas (or higher gain antennas) to improve the Signal to noise ratio).
  4. Maybe you can replace the Wireless link with a Powerline connection - ie Ethernet over Power - this can work well, but that depends on your wiring and distance.

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