@hakluke

Post by @hakluke

@hakluke · Oct 22

88%

Credible

I just solved the strangest tech problem I've ever come across. My wifi kept dropping packets, confirmed by ping. It would look something like the first image (packets dropping, then it comes back to life). After a while the connection would just stop working completely and drop all packets. If I turned my wifi off and on again, it would resume working normally. I thought this was a problem with my router, cables or ISP, so I went through the usual troubleshooting processes: checking settings, swapping cables, powercycling, etc. nothing worked. Eventually I started noticing that it would only happen when I sat in my office. I was taking a video meeting and it kept dropping segments of audio, making it hard to understand the other person. I unplugged my laptop from my monitor + keyboard because I wanted to try walking into another room. Immediately, the video started working perfectly. I thought it was because I was a few steps closer to my router - but that didn't really make sense because the router had always worked fine from that location. I started thinking about what I'd changed in my desk setup recently, the only thing I could think of was when I changed from using a USB-C <-> DP cable for my monitor, to using a HDMI <-> HDMI cable. I tried plugging my screen back in. Immediately, the packets started dropping. I unplugged it, the dropping stopped. It turns out my HDMI cable doesn't have enough shielding, so it was jamming my own WiFi signal with radio frequency interference I unrolled the HDMI cable that was sitting behind my laptop and draped the main length of the cord down behind my desk, and now my internet works perfectly. Apparently this is a fairly common issue?!