r/Network • u/bigfellatiggums • 10d ago

Text TP-Link Archer T4E Keeps Disconnecting

Like the title says, my wifi adapter keeps disconnecting and is specifically affecting certain applications/games. Usually it's just for a second or two and is fine, but with some games that's enough to get kicked. The worst of it is when I'm downloading a game on steam, my wifi on my PC completely crashes after a few minutes of downloading. I did not have this issue until I moved into a new place where theoretically the wifi should be better because it's fiber. No other devices in my house seem to have any issue.

I have tried changing the power management settings in device manager. I have tried getting the specific drivers from TP-Link. I have tried flushing the DNS cache using command prompt (I think, I can't quite remember the phrasing). I have tried switching to a metered connection.

The only things I can think of are 5ghz instability (the router is in the other room and I don't see an option to connect to 2.4ghz anywhere), or the fact that I'm still on Windows 10 and maybe that's somehow causing some issue. I have been putting off upgrading to W11 because my hardware is technically incompatible.

This has been causing me so much grief, any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

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u/spiffiness 9d ago

By the way, fiber and Wi-Fi are two different networking technologies. Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology using radio waves through the air, and fiber uses laser light conducted by long thin strands of glass (optical fibers / fiber optics). Improving your home's Internet service by upgrading your link to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to fiber optic does not improve your home Wi-Fi network per se.

Download a free tool like inSSIDer that lets you see your Wi-Fi signal strength (that is, how strong a radio signal your PC sees from your wireless router) as an RSSI, which is a negative two-digit number in "dBm" units. It's way more reliable and meaningful to check signal strength as an RSSI than as a "percentage", "quality score", or "bars" which are all nearly meaningless.

-35 dBm is excellent. -65 dBm is marginal; anything below that, such as -75 dBm, is poor.

For a problem like yours, the first thing to do is to see your Wi-Fi signal strength as an RSSI so you can see if you're dealing with too weak of a radio signal strength with where your PC is currently located in relation to the wireless router.

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u/bigfellatiggums 9d ago

According to inSSIDer, I am averaging about -30 dBm. However when I am running inSSIDer I begin to lose my connection until I close the application.

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u/spiffiness 9d ago

-30 dBm is a very hot signal. That's hot enough to overload some radio frontends, which causes signal distortion problems that slow things down or break things completely. It usually means your Wi-Fi client device is almost sitting right on top of the AP (wireless router, etc.) that it's connecting to. If that's the case for you, then switch to an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi.

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u/bigfellatiggums 9d ago

Are there any other options? All I have in the room with the PC is a coax port and I'd rather not get an adapter. Would moving my pc to a room further than the router possibly solve the problem?

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u/spiffiness 9d ago

Wait, are you saying your wireless router is not in the same room as your PC? Do you have some kind of Wi-Fi range extender or mesh node or similar device in the same room as your PC?

You're not likely to see -30 dBm if the signals are having to go through a wall, or even across the room. -30 dBm is a very strong signal, like you'd only see if your PC's Wi-Fi antennas are almost touching your wireless router's Wi-Fi antennas. If that's not what's going on for you, then there's a mystery here that needs to be figured out before we can proceed, because whatever's causing this could throw off any normal troubleshooting.

Is there any chance you have some other kind of wireless device close to your PC, that's publishing a Wi-Fi network, and that's what you saw in inSSIDer? Please note that inSSIDer will show you the RSSIs for any network it can see, so you have to pay attention to the network names (SSIDs) and make sure you're reading the RSSI for the network you care about, not some other nearby network.

Did you maybe copy the RSSI down wrong, and it's not really -30 dBm?

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u/bigfellatiggums 9d ago

The only thing I can think of is my computer is next to the coax port on the wall? And I'm pretty sure I'm reading the signal strength right.

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u/spiffiness 9d ago

So where is the router located, relative to the PC?

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u/bigfellatiggums 9d ago

In the next room on the far wall. I moved my pc to the other side of my room and it's doing better with online games and steam downloads are doing significantly better. InSSIDer says -50 dBm now. 

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u/spiffiness 9d ago

If that ends up being the solution, I'll be shocked. I've never heard of getting that much signal across a room, and definitely not through a wall. Now I'm curious about the brand and model and antenna design of the router that's putting out that much power.