First of all just to give a brief overview of my home network:
I am using the ASUS RT N56U as the main wireless router to connect to the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) in the living room. To extend the wireless coverage in my study room, I deployed the ASUS RT N15U running on Wireless Repeater mode (The N15U also has the Router mode as well as the Access Point mode). 2 PCs are connected to N15U's gigabit ethernet ports, the printer is connected to the USB port and my other work laptop is connected to the wireless network extended by the N15U.
Initially I was thinking that the ASUS router and repeater must have been acting up to give me weird connectivity issues (the 2 PCs and the laptop start to have intermittent Internet connectivity at around the same time in the evenings). Could it be due to the extra load in the evening caused by the 2 PCs, 1 laptop, various mobile phones and tablets that are connected to the home network, thus causing the strain to the equipment?
I even bought the Linksys E2500 as the replacement for the main router.. but the problem persisted.
...until I read that such wireless connectivity issue could be related to the fact that more and more wireless base stations/routers are springing up among my neighbours - This could cause interference to the wireless signal and effectively lower the connection speed or even cause disruptions.
Immediately I tried changing the N56U's control channel (to a channel that is less used - 13. I found that out by performing a wireless network scan via the N15U) and narrowing the channel bandwidth from 20/40MHz to only 20MHz. Voila! the wireless network speed improved tremendously and the network bandwidth test (for my laptop) at speedtest.net yielded up to 20Mbps upload speed, which I am quite happy with (considering that the laptop is at the other end of the apartment away from the main router and is also connected via wireless).
Now I have to scratch my head to think of what to do with the Linksys E2500 router.
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