USB memory stick disrupting Wi-Fi

[Bryn]

I think I am entitled to a free upgrade from my current Virgin Media supplied router. I will investigate further.

Upgrade to "Virgin Media Hub 3" due to arrive next Tuesday. Meanwhile, no other USB 3.0 memory stick has yet caused the problem. Reviews vary from assessing it as pretty poor to entirely adequate. Surely it's got to be better than what I have, t basic Virgin Media hub from around a decade ago.

[Anastasius]

We are on Zen having ditched BT many, many years ago happily. With Zen, we run their FritzBox! (who said the Germans didn't have a sense of humour?) mesh network. It works flawlessly despite thick Georgian internal stone walls ad a microwave cooker (or two). Over the years, I've had stuff from nearly all of the usual suspects - NetGear, TP-Link, D-Link) and eventually had a problem in one way or another. Not one with the Mesh network. Exceptional IMO.

[Bryn]

We are on Zen having ditched BT many, many years ago happily. With Zen, we run their FritzBox! (who said the Germans didn't have a sense of humour?) mesh network. It works flawlessly despite thick Georgian internal stone walls ad a microwave cooker (or two). Over the years, I've had stuff from nearly all of the usual suspects - NetGear, TP-Link, D-Link) and eventually had a problem in one way or another. Not one with the Mesh network. Exceptional IMO.

AVM Fritz!Box
Not exactly a cheap option (the AVM Fritz!Box range). I will see how the Virgin Media 'free' router goes before splashing out. The Fritzboxes do look good though.

[Bryn]

Upgrade to "Virgin Media Hub 3" due to arrive next Tuesday. Meanwhile, no other USB 3.0 memory stick has yet caused the problem. Reviews vary from assessing it as pretty poor to entirely adequate. Surely it's got to be better than what I have, t basic Virgin Media hub from around a decade ago.

Delivery now put back until Wednesday.

[Quarky]

Over the past few days, I have been having lots of problems with my Wi-Fi connection dropping out for no apparent reason. That is until I noticed that the drop-outs seemed to coincide with LED activity in PNY 128 GB USB 3.0 memory stick I was using (there was no file transfer activity between the laptop and the USB stick at the time). Let's try removing it, I thought, just in case. Sure enough, Wi-Fi stability was restored. I carried on working for several hours with the memory stick unplugged and no further disruption occurred. So, I plugged it back in and within seconds lost Wi-Fi connectivity. Can anyone here offer an explanation? Could it be increased power usage which is the cause? I will experiment with other USB sticks and report back. Very curious.

Oops! Can a Host please correct "disruptin" to "disruption" in the thread title, please.

Might be loss of power - I mean the LED is using up power and USB 3 doesn't have enough to function. Which is what you suggested.

I mention this because I'm just buying a USB extender cable, and the longer cables have an amplifier built in to boost the signal.

[Bryn]

Might be loss of power - I mean the LED is using up power and USB 3 doesn't have enough to function. Which is what you suggested.

I mention this because I'm just buying a USB extender cable, and the longer cables have an amplifier built in to boost the signal.

I don't think so. Not only does powering the cooling fan in a laptop stand from USB not cause any such problems but, as mentioned, the problem does not occur if said memory stick is plugged into a USB 2 socket on the laptop.

[Quarky]

I don't think so. Not only does powering the cooling fan in a laptop stand from USB not cause any such problems but, as mentioned, the problem does not occur if said memory stick is plugged into a USB 2 socket on the laptop.

Well I can see you and Dave have already had a good look at this.

Maybe the memory stick is generating RF interference when in 3.0 mode sufficient to disrupt WiFi, but in 2.0 mode, since speeds are much slower, any RF generated will not interfere with WiFi.


Other than that, I'm always suspicious that Windows 10 (if you're using that) will initiate a drop out for the most trivial of reasons.

[Bryn]

Well I can see you and Dave have already had a good look at this.

Maybe the memory stick is generating RF interference when in 3.0 mode sufficient to disrupt WiFi, but in 2.0 mode, since speeds are much slower, any RF generated will not interfere with WiFi.


Other than that, I'm always suspicious that Windows 10 (if you're using that) will initiate a drop out for the most trivial of reasons.

See https://www.intel.com/content/www/us...nce-paper.html

The router I am getting an upgrade for is confined to 2.4 GHz. The new one will be dual-band. I will, in the meantime, try the aluminium foil trick on the miscreant USB 3.0 memory stick.

[Bryn]

See https://www.intel.com/content/www/us...nce-paper.html

The router I am getting an upgrade for is confined to 2.4 GHz. The new one will be dual-band. I will, in the meantime, try the aluminium foil trick on the miscreant USB 3.0 memory stick.

Wrapping the body of the USB stick in a single layer of kitchen foil does indeed seem to have done the trick. Taking it off again restored the problem.

[Quarky]

Wrapping the body of the USB stick in a single layer of kitchen foil does indeed seem to have done the trick. Taking it off again restored the problem.

Congratulations.

May be, when you get your Dual Band Router, the 5 GHz band will not suffer from USB 3 interference.

[Bryn]

Congratulations.

May be, when you get your Dual Band Router, the 5 GHz band will not suffer from USB 3 interference.

Oh, pretty much for sure. The known interference problem is specifically with the 2.4 GHz band.

[Dave2002]

Wrapping the body of the USB stick in a single layer of kitchen foil does indeed seem to have done the trick. Taking it off again restored the problem.

I did wonder if that would actually work. Now that you know that it does, what are you going to do with the memory stick?

[Bryn]

I did wonder if that would actually work. Now that you know that it does, what are you going to do with the memory stick?

Oh, I'll just make up a little foil sleeve to slip over it when in use, though that might not be needed once the new dual-band router is installed.

[Anastasius]

AVM Fritz!Box
Not exactly a cheap option (the AVM Fritz!Box range). I will see how the Virgin Media 'free' router goes before splashing out. The Fritzboxes do look good though.

You get what you pay for, Bryn. They do what they say on the tin. Zen 'rent' out the repeater for a nominal monthly sum and if you have any blind spots will give you a second one FOC.