Trouble with WiFi/Broadband

[Rosalind Mitchell]

Since last November I have been operating my computer wirelessly, using
an eTec ADSL router in my bedroom where the phone input is, and a Belkin
wireless adapter attached to my computer in my work room.  Before going 
wireless I was using a Linksys ADSL2 wired adapter and working in the 
bedroom.  This wasn't very satisfactory, and that's why I went wireless.
This arrangement has been working fine until a week ago.

Last Monday I got up, switched on the computer, and there was no broadband,
apparently, although all the lights were showing on both the router and the
adapter.  I checked all the connections but the broadband stayed resolutely
off.  Until 4.30 in the afternoon when it came on again, quietly, as if 
nothing had happened.  I breathed a sigh of relief and got on with life.  
That night I switched off the computer as usual.

On Tuesday I got up, switched on the computer, and...  No broadband.  I
cursed and found other things to get on with, almost relieved that a big
distraction had been taken away (but then I realised how amazingly hard it
is to do lots of techie stuff without online documentation.).  At
around 4.30 in the afternoon it came on again.  Aha, I thought, this ties in 
with the working day and no doubt there's some works going on around here 
with the cabling.

That night I left the computer running, with the idea of determining at what
time the broadband went off.  So, on Wednesday morning I got up, checked
the computer, and...  everything was fine.  On Wednesday night I left the
computer running again and on Thursday everything was hunky-dory again.  So
on Thursday night, mindful of my responsibilities to the planet, I switched
off before going to bed

On Friday morning I got up, switched on the computer and...  No broadband.  I
found other things to do.  4.30 came and went and nothing happened.  So I
began to panic, until at 5.00 it quietly came onstream again.  On Friday
night I left the computer switched on again and then, last night, thinking 
there was no working day to worry about, I switched off.

This morning I got up, switched on, and...  no broadband.  As it was Sunday
I decided to disconnect everything, give the box a thorough de-dusting, and
fire it up again.  No broadband.  So I disconnected the Belkin adapter and
the eTec router, wheeled the computer through to my bedroom on its trolley,
dug out the Linksys wired router and hooked it up.  Yay!  Broadband working
fine! So, I disconnected the Linksys, reconnected the eTec and the Belkin, 
and... nothing.

Because it's Sunday, the local works on the cabling theory is wrong.  The 
connection came back at about 5.30, which was just about the time that it was 
starting to get dark here after a bright, cloudless, sunny day, and I began 
to think that last Monday and Tuesday were pretty murky, rainy days, and 
Friday was bright but not particularly sunny, so on each occasion the service 
came back just about the time it was starting to get dark.  It seems, then, 
to be related to light conditions and/or weather conditions.  But, it wasn't 
doing this at all until a week ago, and at this rate, come June at this 
latitude I won't get any work done.  What else might it be, do you think?  
Sunspots?

Can anybody throw any light on what is going on here?  I really don't want to 
move my workstation back into my bedroom if I can help it.

Rosie
-- 
Currently Reading McEWAN, IAN: Amsterdam
The Book of Enitharmon: http://swanofkennet.livejournal.com
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