Internet connection - turn it off and on again PITA
mrc1
Posts: 852
So we moved four weeks ago and our new place had existing telephone hardware.
Did some shopping around and went with Talk Talk for phone and internet as they had a good deal going. They sent through the gubbins, we set them up and all was well.
We now are getting a really annoying problem where the wifi connection access goes from "Local and Internet" to just "Local". Whenever it does this I obviously can't use the internet and the only remedy seems to be to manually disconnect from the network and then reconnect. I have tried to establish a pattern of this happening but it is seemingly random.
I work from home and am using the computer basically from 9-6. Some days it happens maybe once or twice, but others it does it well into double figures. The same thing happens when using phones/tablets on our wifi so I don't think it is a problem with the laptop? Equally the wifi signal doesn't appear to be an issue as the strength always shows as five bars (and we are never more than 15m or so from the box).
I called Talk Talk who to be fair were pretty good. They ran a series of remote "line tests" which came back that there are no problems with our line. The guy said that he believes it may be a "connection speed issue" and passed it on to the next level up the chain. They have now come back saying they can't identify a problem.
This leaves me a bit stumped as the problem is still occuring but they seemingly don't have a fix.
So my questions:
1. The actual telephone socket is in the spare bedroom (which is still a dumping ground of unpacked boxes post move) but there was an existing extension cord thing from that socket into the sitting room laid under the floors (I'd guess a cable length of around 20m) which is what the phone and wifi router are plugged in to. I mentioned this to talk talk who said that wouldn't cause a problem, but could this be a cause?
2. Failing that, any ideas on the cause and what I can do to resolve it?
Did some shopping around and went with Talk Talk for phone and internet as they had a good deal going. They sent through the gubbins, we set them up and all was well.
We now are getting a really annoying problem where the wifi connection access goes from "Local and Internet" to just "Local". Whenever it does this I obviously can't use the internet and the only remedy seems to be to manually disconnect from the network and then reconnect. I have tried to establish a pattern of this happening but it is seemingly random.
I work from home and am using the computer basically from 9-6. Some days it happens maybe once or twice, but others it does it well into double figures. The same thing happens when using phones/tablets on our wifi so I don't think it is a problem with the laptop? Equally the wifi signal doesn't appear to be an issue as the strength always shows as five bars (and we are never more than 15m or so from the box).
I called Talk Talk who to be fair were pretty good. They ran a series of remote "line tests" which came back that there are no problems with our line. The guy said that he believes it may be a "connection speed issue" and passed it on to the next level up the chain. They have now come back saying they can't identify a problem.
This leaves me a bit stumped as the problem is still occuring but they seemingly don't have a fix.
So my questions:
1. The actual telephone socket is in the spare bedroom (which is still a dumping ground of unpacked boxes post move) but there was an existing extension cord thing from that socket into the sitting room laid under the floors (I'd guess a cable length of around 20m) which is what the phone and wifi router are plugged in to. I mentioned this to talk talk who said that wouldn't cause a problem, but could this be a cause?
2. Failing that, any ideas on the cause and what I can do to resolve it?
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Filters in all telephone sockets thave have appliances fitted? Might be worth replacing with new ones, again process of elimination.
Not a technical answer but it might help.
(seriously though, as above, plug the router into the master socket and for trouble shooting remove all over devices from extensions and the like. Also check the wiring in the master socket. I rewired mine at my old house and got a much better connection - you only need certain wires connecting and might find (like I did that extra spurs were wired in causing noise on the line)
Found a nice trouble-shooting page http://angleseycomputersolutions.wordpr ... band-line/ which shows that only lines 2 and 5 need to be connected
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ETA may not be an issue, if you have the newer BT Master faceplate where your phone line enters the house.
Its the only socket in the house (on a front facing external wall) so am assuming it's the one!
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Do you have more than one network device on your home network? Ours has a router, a switch further down the chain and a NAS HDD plugged in via ethernet that also dishes out IPs (even though I configured it not to). The gist of it is if I have to cycle the power it has to be done in the right order otherwise PCs etc try to use the wrong IP from the wrong device. Power up the router, then the swtich, then the NAS box and all is well. Any other permutation and internal connectivity is ok but no internet access.
This does mean I have to face unpacking the spare room though....
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As per the advice I connected the wifi router directly to the main socket with a filter in place. Seemed to be fine yesterday. But today I am losing internet access almost every five mins (listening to Down The Line on the Radio 4 website (a very funny prog if anybody hasn't heard it before) and have had to reconnect about 6-8 times). Only way to get round it is to disconnect and reconnect to the wifi.
Digital phone is at the other end of the house, we don't have any other kit that could be causing issues (only hardware is the wifi router and the cordless phone).
What I don't get is why it was fine yesterday but terrible today - could environmental factors be involved?
I'm going to try KB's socket wiring suggestion at the weekend but other than that I'm a bit stumped.
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If that truly is the fix it suggests it's the link between your computer and the router -- i.e. the WiFi signal.
Do you have a network cable you can try? (Variously and often incorrectly called Cat5(e), RJ45, patch lead).
If switching to wired makes it all shiny-happy, then it's the WiFi link. As you've just moved, I'd hazard a guess that you're using the same WiFi channel (frequency) as one of your immediate neighbours, and you should try changing your channel. Channels 1, 6, and 11 are the usual ones to try, because they don't interfere with each other (i.e. 6 doesn't interfere with channels 1 or 11. Two WiFi routers both on channel 6 next to each other aren't good).
If changing the router doesn't work, then it's possible that upgrading the WiFi drivers (if available) or firmware on your router (if available) might well fix it, as there are sometimes incompatibilities between specific bits of hardware. Sometimes these incompatibilities are noticed by the manufacturers and fixed in new versions of software.
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Also consider changing the router settings to only broadcast on 802.11b. I have to do this to force my devices to stay connected at all times. The max bandwith is only 11Mbps (more than my max download speed) on this setting but If I try using any of the newer settings my iphone and ipad drop every 5 minutes and it is infuriating. My laptop also suffers on anything else.
I blame the censored sky sagem router. The old Netgear one was fine (until it broke).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0084Y9N3O
An 11Mbps wireless connection may generally only be good for half that speed.
Then the quoted 11Mbps is megabits, the internet connection will generally be quoted in megabytes. 8 bits in byte.
Your 11Mbps might actually be throttling your net connection to ~687KB
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We live in a Victorian flat conversion and ended up buying an Asus RT-N66U as it sends out a mighty signal on 2.4 & 5GHz. Setting it up took 5 minutes and it should go well, going by the other people's experience.