I may have solved the clacking sound (see previous post) but I'm still having issues with pressure in my ears and a frequency sensation, don't know how best to describe it.
So here’s where I’m at. With both wifi channels (2.4 and 5.0) disabled on the router (Verizon G1100) I went to bed last night and felt a pressure around my ears like a huge ball of cotton over each ear creating a dense frequency sensation that obliterated the usual slight “white noise” that I hear in my ears at all times for most of my life. After a few hours of not sleeping, I went downstairs and unplugged the router and that seemed to clear things. Called Verizon today and they told me the upgrade last week changed the speed from 50 mps to 150 mps. I don’t know if the speed has anything to do with it but they said they can bump it as low as 75 if I keep the same router. Or the other option is to go back to the previous router we had. Thoughts? The previous router was an ATOE model MI424WRI... at least that's what the Verizon tech told me since I didn't record that info previously. As mentioned previously, I've lived here for 2 years with that router providing wifi through the house (and my upstairs laptop using ethernet only) and never had problems sleeping or ear pressure. |
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On January 24, "WiFried [via ES]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
> The previous router was an ATOE model MI424WRI... at least that's what the > Verizon tech told me since I didn't record that info previously. As > mentioned previously, I've lived here for 2 years with that router providing > wifi through the house (and my upstairs laptop using ethernet only) and > never had problems sleeping or ear pressure. Well then, the answer seems obvious -- go back to the previous router! Marc |
So I requested the old router be sent to be exchanged. As I'm waiting over the weekend, I want to report these symptoms.
Here's the situation again - I'm on the 2nd floor with a laptop that is ethernet-connected. I shut off both the 2.4 and 5 GHz channels and only turn them on when the landlady downstairs wants to use the internet. At night I unplug the router. I still feel the ear pressure when the router is plugged in, even if both wifi channels are shut off. There's another symptom I've noticed. When I plug the router in, it's not long before I feel the ear pressure. However another thing I'm noticing is feelings of agitation and rage! Seriously! As mentioned previously, I've lived here for 2 years and never had symptoms like this and the router and wifi channels (didn't know how to disable them anyway) were always on and plugged in. I'm praying that replacing this new router with the old model is the solution. |
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Do you think the new router has some unadvertised wireless signal? I know that the Comcast and CenturyLink routers these days have an additional wireless signal that is not wi-fi, and you cannot turn it off from the router. The Comcast one is for people who might be signed up for their home security systems.
Otherwise, I've had bad reactions to wired-only routers... it does happen. Marc |
Marc, I don't know about that but it certainly sounds plausible. I'm not savvy to any of this stuff. I did try putting a WIFI analyzer app on my phone and it did show a prominent signal when the router is plugged in but now I can't remember if I checked it with either of the two channels turned on or not. I will go back and check...
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I just checked with the 2.4 channel turned on. The WIFI analyzer app held downstairs shows this channel very high on the graph at -30 dbm. There are a bunch of others registering but I'm assuming they're all from neighboring houses as they're mostly around -90 dbm at the bottom of the graph. I switched the analyzer to search for 5GHz channels and nothing shows (I have that channel turned off). Now I'm going to unplug the damn router because my body and ears feel like they're going to explode!!!
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I've also heard of the newer routers having a hidden wireless modem in them. That could be the reason.
A couple of other thoughts I had was: 1) The router pushes some sort of new line noise onto the ethernet cables, which irradiates your whole house. Perhaps just a switch of speed (10M -> 100M ethernet, or 100M -> 1G) is enough? 2) The power adapter of the router is some sort of super-evil switching power supply, and is producing dirty electricity in your whole house. Number 1 is easy to test. Just unplug all cables and see if the pressure goes away. Number 2 is hard to test. You'd need to plug in the power adapter into another device and see if you get the same effect, or plug another power adapter into the router and see if that removes the problem. |
Thank you for the reply, Casper. Where would I switch the speed for ethernet, it that something I could do on the FIOS website, in the same way that I shut off the two wifi channels there?
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Start by pulling all the ethernet cables from the router first, to see if it helps. If it doesn't then there is no point in trying to figure out the rest. I'm not sure how the FIOS router web panel works. On _SOME_ routers you can change the ethernet speed manually through their web interface. In my own home, I can't do it on the router end, but I can do it on my Windows computer instead. This setting is found in the Device Manager under Network Adapters, and then in the properties of the network adapter driver that you find in there. Changing it there, will make Windows negotiate the selected speed when you connect to the router. But like I said, if pulling the cable doesn't help, then I doubt changing the speed will do much good. |
Regarding hidden networks in Verizon routers. Perhaps this is related?
https://superuser.com/a/1094678/89010
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UPDATE: I asked both a phone tech person and a tech guy that showed up at the house if there was a hidden channel installed and they both said no.... which could have been a lie, of course.
Anyway, I got the previous model router back in the mail and installed it. I got an ethernet cable for my landlord to hook her laptop direct to the router. The wifi feature is now disabled through the Verizon website and we're both running on ethernet. There is only one wifi channel now, back to just 2.4 GHz with no 5.0 GHz running. I feel okay now. No more ear pressure and ringing. Still don't feel GREAT... but that's something I've been struggling with for over 15 years. But at least I can function in this house for the time being... I say the time being because there was a news article here about smart meters being installed over the next year. My landlord has accommodated me so far but she is not the type to go along with defying the power company and trying to get an analog meter put back on. So don't know what kind of stuff I'll be dealing with in the future. Anyone live in an RV? I'm wondering if that might have to be my next step... |
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