off topic - router/broadband/mac help

MartinP · Post by **MartinP** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:44 am

Sorry to ask here, but I'm getting desperate and you lot are SO knowledgeable

Over the last few months, I've been getting really hacked off with my Netgear Router 'hanging', meaning that I have to reboot several times a day in order to use t'internet.

So, I went and bought another one, but it looks like the same thing is happening. I've moved the router to another phone socket, changed the ADSL filters, and unplugged all other computers, but still no change.

So are there any other factors which might be affecting the system and causing the router to hang? Could it be some communication down the phone line from my broadband supplier? What else is there?!

For the record, I'm using a MacbookPro laptop, Tiscali broadband and a Netgear DG834PN wireless router. I don't think it's anything to do with the laptop though, as it will also often hang when I'm using my desktop G4 instead.

Any help would be much appreciated...

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:09 am

If its a new problem and you've tried a different router and nothing else has changed I reckon the ISP provider or the BT line. Our router at work has fits of doing this, especially during hotter months. Reboot it and it always connects straight away again. Its been changed a few times so I suspect its an external/provider fault.

They also time out sometimes if its in-active, to prevent this I just used to leave BBC radio player just running in the background so there is some activity.

My one at home also does a similar thing and mine is different products and provider than yours. Suspect its BT, I still only get 600kbps on a good day.

MartinP · Post by **MartinP** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:33 am

Just attempted to contact Tiscali's support centre in some far flung country. They told me it couldn't be the line or the service they supply and then told me that it could be my microwave/mobile phone/halogen lamp interfering with it!

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:49 am

Plug it in your master socket and physically disconnect every other phone.

If it still doesn't work reliably then it's either your line or time to spend on a decent router. I used to have netgear and got miffed off with it crashing so bought a Draytek and never looked back

bullett · Post by **bullett** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:44 pm

I have had several Netgears and they work well.

What do you mean hangs? can you get to the admin page (192.168.0.1)ok? Just web pages hang.

What version do you have? Try updating the firmware this worked wonders on a very old one I used to have, big improvements on stability.

Also make sure you have a filter on every socket in the house, especially sky boxes and the like. Do not try and run multiple ADSL modems from the same line.

Try using the master socket. Remove the faceplate from the socket closest to the ingress point and you will find a 2nd port behind. Plug in directly - this does mean you have no phones but tests the line.

Finally have a look at the setting and values you are getting. Go to router status from the admin page and open the Show Statistics page. Post up a screenshot or tell us your noise margin.

MartinP · Post by **MartinP** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:34 pm

The router is using v1.03.39 - the latest firmware according to the netgear site. ADSL filters are all over the place and I am only running one modem. Here is the grab from the modem status page...

When I say 'hangs', I just mean that I can't access the internet or email until I reboot the router. I can dial into the modem without problem and usually reboot remotely rather than have to unplug it.

Thanks for all your help so far guys.

jpinhorn · Post by **jpinhorn** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:28 pm

It’s your line. Some thing that BT call blue beads need replacing. They are small plastic and metal things that BT uses to join cables in the street cabinets or up the poles. It is very hard to get your ISP to fix this problem but if you call BT a few times and say your voice line is crackly they have a legal requirement to fix it. Don’t mention your adsl problems just say some times your voice line isn’t useable because of the noise. PM me your number if you need any further info on this. I am a network engineer by trade and have seen this problem quite a few times. John

jpinhorn · Post by **jpinhorn** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:36 pm

As a small aside for all adsl users getting BT to clean up your voice line will give you much better speed. Takes a call or 2 to get them to do it but if you keep calling they will sort it. Just dont mention adsl or they wont want to know. John

bullett · Post by **bullett** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:45 pm

Your stats look good.
Next time it goes funny take a look at the same thing. When mine used to do this I got a very high noise margin (billions) I needed to reboot to solve this.

If it drops below 5db you will get very slow connection.

MartinP · Post by **MartinP** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:08 am

Thanks for your help everyone. Oddly, since I a) moved the router to the primary phone socket b) disconnected the G4 from the network and c) called Tiscali and mentioned that other people had had the problem until Tiscali 'cleaned' up the line, it has been okay. In fact, I managed a 33 minute Skype call to Australia without it dropping out once.

I have now moved the router back to where it was (hard-wired into the G4 and broadcasting wirelessly to the Macbook Pro), and will see what happens. If the problems come back, then I guess I'll have to move the router back to the primary socket and buy an airport card for the G4.

smallspeed · Post by **smallspeed** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:58 am

never had a problem with my netgear router, has worked faultlessly for 4yrs.. i did have a problem with tiscalli though and they denied all knowledge of anything being wrong.. then i moved to sky and they found a fault on my line which was routing my connection all over the place. they changed it to a more local switching office or something and that cured the problem (plus download speed went from 12.5mb/s to 16

)
personally i think the problem is tiscalli with their stupid "dial up broadband". my dad still uses them and its so slow..

he had a similar problem to you and found it was the isp's dynamic wan-ip arrangement which changed ip addresses all the time rather than just everytime you re-connect (sky changes every 10days i think). this means you can be 1/2 way through doing something happily connected the the internet and your wan-ip changes but nothing polls your router to update its information for the connection, hence everything falls down..

i have got around this with a dyndns account and some port forwarding on my router at home so i can always access my home network, not sure whether something like this would also work for your problem if it is related to the wanIP changing?..

personally though i would just run away from tiscalli and get an ISP that leaves you connected 24hrs a day so you dont have to fiddle around waiting for connection and such like.. if you use skype then this has the added bonus of letting you use a phone handset that plugs straight into the router (or wifi) effectively leaving you with a skype phone handset thats permenantly connected for receiving or making calls, like a normal phone..