Maximum PC

Hiya folks,

I'm pulling my hair out at home, my wireless network performance has been up, down and all around, but I can't seem to make head nor heinie (sp?) of it.

/shakefist

Here's the lowdown:

My ISP: Roadrunner, 10Mps bandwidth
My modem: RCA DCM425
My router: D-Link DIR-655
My switch/extender/hub? (dunno the terminology) Netgear WNDR3300
wired-only connection, exclusively to my room & peripherals

the wired goods :
1 ps3
2 xbox360's (added as media extenders)
1 samsung series 7 tv
hp c6180 printer
my system: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller ethernet adapter

the wireless goods:
2 laptops (roomies')
1 android smartphone
my system: 802.11n wireless LAN card (disabled, because my wireless range sucks)

I'm running Norton 360, superAntiSpyware, and a VPN connection to reliablehosting.com. I have set the following services to connect to the internet exclusively through the VPN tunnel:
All Internet browsers
Vuze
Network sharing is on for my public folders

My SSID is invisible
all my internal router IP addresses are reserved, so no conflicts should be occurring
IGMP multicasting is on
MAC addresses access control is on
Port forwarding for 2 programs:
Vuze & Blood Bowl, both to my computer.

The symptoms:
AFAIK the wired devices work fine most of the time. The few occasions it's been wonky have been b/c of hack attacks or Road-Runner flub-ups. The true problem lies with the wireless connections- when they degrade, I can't reason out the 'why' of it and unfortunately, my roomies are the ones who are having the issues and they aren't super reliable with specifics of what they're doing when the problem arises.

I think that's all I can think of, what the heck can I do to troubleshoot this?

Thanks in advance!

I believe your running two routers, but if configured properly shouldn't be an issue. In any case, update the firmware on the D-Link, just use that one and see if the wireless is still flaky.

heya, thanks for the reply:

I forgot to mention that my secondary router, the netgear, I wiped the firmware, it's running the DD-WRT firmware instead. Now here's the embarassing part...I can't remember the fracking IP address to it, I just tried to login to the DD-WRT and I'm coming up with bupkis. I do believe that I have it set up as a hub, so that I can get more ethernet connections in my office. I checked the Network Map and it's only showing up as a hub, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If I wasn't specific, disconnect the Netgear for troubleshooting purposes, update the firmware on the D-Link and see if the wireless flakes out. If it still does, then it's probably the D-Link. DD-WRT *might* help in that case, but it isn't magic.

I'm inclined to agree here - most likely, the problem is rooted in that you're running two routers on your network, and one (if not both) isn't configured correctly.
It is possible to run this config sucessfully; but, it requires careful configuration of the second router.

Can you provide details on the exact config of both (once you remember the logon info for the Netgear router)?
Which one is operating as the router proper? DHCP (and, routing functions) disabled on the second one? Wireless on/off for one of them (and, which one?)

To Airheadq: Heh, yeah I didn't catch that at all. I'll try that out.

To cup: I'll get on that too, thanks!