Wi-Fi Wackiness

A 2.4GHz wireless phone may interfere with your
wireless access point. They are both using DSS (digital spread spectrum) modulation and since they are in close proximity (both in frequency and distance) the phone probably has enough power to desense the receiver on the wireless access point and cause the connection to drop. You could test this theory out by unplugging the wireless phone or temporarily switching to a 900 mhz phone. The 900 mhz phone shouldn't
interfere since the frequencies are far enough apart that the signal should be filtered out. You may still have problems if you have a neighbor with a 2.4GHz (or another wireless access point).

You may want to try retracting the antennas fully on the access point; you should still have enough signal for your apartment, but it may attenuate outside signals enough that your connection will be more stable. Microwaves do operate on a frequency that is close enough to cause interference. If you test and see that this is the cause a more expensive microwave may have better RF shielding. If you still cannot solve this problem you may want to contact someone
from the San Francisco Amateur Radio Club. A lot of us hams are techies. There is a Amateur Radio Television repeater in the San Francisco area that transmits on 2.412 GHz. By the nature of their interests, they have knowledge of 2.4GHz transmission and reception characteristics. They will also have receivers that work in this frequency range (although Spread Spectrum problems are harder to diagnose since they're spread over a broad bandwidth).

As an interesting side note, the original idea for spread spectrum radio transmissions was put forth by the deceased actress Hedy LaMarr in
a patent she submitted for guiding torpedoes (WWII vintage). There is an interesting site that goes into some detail. [George Skoubis]

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