Reply to: Keep losing connection to Netgear wireless router

[pmeswani]

On the flip side I had nothing but problems with Linksys routers but since I went Netgear I've had no issues.

Been using the current one (Rangemax WNR834B) for well over a year now and never had any disconnections, apart from Virgin media going down.

I've been using a Belkin N1 router on my Cable internet. Had a few minor problems here and there... and that was after I updated the router's firmware. Pretty nifty router, gives me detailed info on the Belkin screen.

[gadgetman]

On the flip side I had nothing but problems with Linksys routers but since I went Netgear I've had no issues.

Been using the current one (Rangemax WNR834B) for well over a year now and never had any disconnections, apart from Virgin media going down.

[Fred Bloggs]

Exactly, it is the router losing connection to the Internet connection that's the issue.

There is a known issue on some Netgear Routers. It's down to the chip they used. I had two Netgear 834GT's that wouldn't hang on to their connection. It has to do with long local loop I understand. I swapped to a BT Voyager 2 years ago and never lost a connection yet. Frustratingly the Netgears always "looked" as though they were connected even though they weren't.

[scooterscot]

4) Get a mac. It solves all the worlds problems.

scooterscot

Indeed. The Mac works fine the router lets me down...

[daviejones]

4) Get a mac. It solves all the worlds problems.

scooterscot

I agree...never have this problem on a Mac.....

[oracleslave]

A few thoughts...

1) As has been suggested - change the wifi channel, especially if there are many routers in your area broadcasting on the same frequency.

2) Static. Don't dismiss it the number of times I've seen routers drop the connection because of static build-up. Is the router sitting on a plastic surface or carpet perhaps? All transceivers should be grounded IMO.

3) Does your connection drop when watching flv video like iPlayer? Streaming connect has a real problem travelling any great distance from the exchange. You'd think living in the city would not be a problem, however, I'm served by an exchange some distance from the centre of town, which makes watching streaming content almost impossible.

4) Get a mac. It solves all the worlds problems.

scooterscot

[scooterscot]

I keep losing my internet connection. Most commonly this happens when my laptop (windows vista home edition) has been in sleep mode, though the connection also drops out while I am browsing too. The icon on the task bar tells me I'm connected ok but there is just no connectivity. The only way to resolve the issue is to pull the power cable out the back of the router, wait a few seconds and plug it back. Then I reconnect and everything is ok until the next time it happens. It drives me mad! Anyone got any ideas?

A few thoughts...

1) As has been suggested - change the wifi channel, especially if there are many routers in your area broadcasting on the same frequency.

2) Static. Don't dismiss it the number of times I've seen routers drop the connection because of static build-up. Is the router sitting on a plastic surface or carpet perhaps? All transceivers should be grounded IMO.

3) Does your connection drop when watching flv video like iPlayer? Streaming connect has a real problem travelling any great distance from the exchange. You'd think living in the city would not be a problem, however, I'm served by an exchange some distance from the centre of town, which makes watching streaming content almost impossible.

[Mustang]

Had a problem with our router here similar to this. It seemed to be caused by 2 issues: using a popular channel with lots of congestion around and also conflicts with the DHCP settings.

Changing both solved the problems and the connection worked well.

[VectraMan]

I had some problems with my old 11Mb Netgear router, but that went away when I swapped the wireless card in the PC for a different model. Which worked for a while, but then I had a client laptop (a Dell) that refused to work with it at all.

At that point I lost patience and bought some powerline adapters to use instead.

But I now have a newer 54G Netgear and I haven't had any problems with that.

Personally I think these problems just come down to WiFi being a bit crap. Use wires.

[chef]

ive had netgear a belkin and a few linksys routers over the years, Belkin's and linksys arent bad but never 100% stable, they seemed to age and require slowly more and more frequent reboots over time..

finally stumped up the extra cash for a Draytek Vigor and have never ever had a problem with it and its been up and running solidly now for more than 18 months, great signal, no fuss, i'd highly recommend Draytek

HTH

Chef

[voodooflux]

Had a Draytek for the last 5 years, cost me £220 at the time but has been worth every penny

Yeah, the only reason I switched away was that my Vigor 2600 wasn't ADSL2 compatible. The BeBox I have at the moment is possibly worse than a Netgear...

[stingman123]

Had a Draytek for the last 5 years, cost me £220 at the time but has been worth every penny

[voodooflux]

Hmm, not used them.....wouldn't use a Netgear again though.

Draytek are definitely worth a look if you're prepared to pay the premium - very, very reliable kit. The only Netgear kit I have at the moment is a gigabit router, which seems OK.

[voodooflux]

I've done this and always get internet connectivity via the cable when I can't connect via wireless

Right, so it sounds like a problem on the wireless interface - either with the connection itself or a problem on the router with respect to handling wireless traffic. Wouldn't hurt to try another channel - seemed to do the trick for me when I had a similar issue.

[wurzel]

Indeed, and it may also be worth connecting to the router directly via a network cable when the problem occurs to confirm that the DSL connection is actually OK (although the router home page you suggested should also give some indicatation of that).



That's why I went for a Draytek - a bit on the expensive side but worth it IMHO. Although at the moment I'm suffering with a BeBox

I've done this and always get internet connectivity via the cable when I can't connect via wireless