My stupid router -- help?

[WVUFAN]

I have bad luck.

For about the last month or so, I've been running a Pitboss Civ game, and initially it was fine (I'm running it on my wireless connection). Then, my connection started dying.

Since my roommate (who is hardwired to the router instead of having a wireless connection) was having trouble too, I thought it was out cable modem. So I called the cable company, who switched out the modem. Twice. Then I thought maybe it was the Pitboss game eating up bandwidth. Nope, it actually take up an extremely small amount. All this time I've been asking consistantly if it could be the wireless router.

After weeks of spotty performance that I believed was due to my cable connection -- after weeks of calling the cable company in to switch out the modem, doing checks on everything under the sun -- after weeks of my connection dying pretty much each night and causing me no end of annoyance and poor performance for the Pitboss game -- it all came to a head last night.

My router died. No connectivity on the router, but if the computer is hooked directly to the modem, it works fine.

My question is -- anyone has a suggestion for a good, cheap wireless router?

[terpkristin]

What do you qualify as cheap?
Buying online or going to a store to get it (where you'll pay more)?

What brand(s) is the router(s) that died? I've had ok experiences with NetGear and LinkSys in the past, I've been using a LinkSys for the last 9 months with relatively few problems (now that I've said that, watch, it'll die).

/tk

[Draft Dodger]

Belkin's router is usually under $40
http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=423601

[WVUFAN]

My old router was a Netgear router. I bought it from Netgear about a year and a half to 2 years ago, but the company I work for sells it too. Here's what I used to own:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008SCFL/

I would consider cheap something below $60 bucks. I get an employee discount if I order it from Amazon.com, but I'm perfectly willing to buy it at a store if need be. I just want it as soon as possible, and I'd like it to be easy to set up since I'm a network newbie.

[terpkristin]

Then in that case I recommend:

The Belkin one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1099392876098
D-link router: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1134699413821
D-link router with amplifier: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1134699413343
Linksys:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1051384663529


I'd recommend Linksys first but that's because I've had good experiences with them and their customer service.

/tk

[path12]

I've got a D-Link and it's been nothing but a problem. Matter of fact I'm looking for a replacement myself.

[CraigSca]

I've had so much trouble with my wireless routers that I bought my last one at Radio Shack and paid an extra $12 for the replacement at no cost option. It's already paid for itself.

[Draft Dodger]

with the new info, I'd echo the Linksys suggestion. good tech support and lots of online documentation for their products

[DanGarion]

Good does not = Cheap. What do you consider cheap?

I suggest getting a Linksys WTR54G.
Especially one of the ones that supports 3rd party firmware. Like the ones listed here.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php...ported_Devices

Best router out there, period.

[WVUFAN]

Originally Posted by dangarion

Good does not = Cheap. What do you consider cheap?

I suggest getting a Linksys WTR54G.
Especially one of the ones that supports 3rd party firmware. Like the ones listed here.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php...ported_Devices

Best router out there, period.

You have a good point. I should say inexpensive instead of cheap. I would prefer to spend less than 60 bucks, but am willing to pay more if need be.

The other option I thought about (and Runtheball suggested to me) is that I buy a "hub" and run a cord up to my floor of the townhouse (the cable connection is on the ground floor of a 3 story townhouse, so it's a good 50-60 feet to where my computer is. Would it be less expensive to buy a hub and 60 feet of ethernet cable?

[Franklinnoble]

Not really. Unless you buy the cable in bulk somewhere, and make your own connections... in which case the tools and everything would be more than what a decent wireless router would cost.

I have a D-Link, and it's not too bad.

[ThunderingHERD]

I have a similar problem with my router, a Linksys. I have two PCs that connect to it wirelessly and a third connected with a cable. Whenever I turn the third computer all the computers start dropping packets like crazy. Works fine with the third computer hooked straight up to the modem, though.

[WVUFAN]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

I have a similar problem with my router, a Linksys. I have two PCs that connect to it wirelessly and a third connected with a cable. Whenever I turn the third computer all the computers start dropping packets like crazy. Works fine with the third computer hooked straight up to the modem, though.

That's what it has been doing the past few weeks, and I attributed it to maybe the Pitboss software eating up bandwidth. Now, though, I can't connect wirelessly to the router at all, and the computer hooked up directly is giving an error of "This connection has little to no connectivity".

When I disconnect the router and hook the computer up to the cable modem, though, it works fine.

[Mustang]

Oh.. a router thread. Maybe someone has an answer for this.

Bought a linksys wireless router yesterday. Computer that I put the adapter on, I noticed that I had 2 selections I could log into. (Ch 11 and 6...) Ch 11 is setup to be secure but, 6 isn't but, I can connect to both. I thought it would be straightforward to just remove ch 6 but, I'm not having any luck at finding any option to disable this channel or to at least enable encyrption and rename it to something other than 'default'

Seems pretty simple of what I want to do but, I'm drawing a blank at what I'm missing because I'm just not finding what I want to do.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Oh.. a router thread. Maybe someone has an answer for this.

Bought a linksys wireless router yesterday. Computer that I put the adapter on, I noticed that I had 2 selections I could log into. (Ch 11 and 6...) Ch 11 is setup to be secure but, 6 isn't but, I can connect to both. I thought it would be straightforward to just remove ch 6 but, I'm not having any luck at finding any option to disable this channel or to at least enable encyrption and rename it to something other than 'default'

Seems pretty simple of what I want to do but, I'm drawing a blank at what I'm missing because I'm just not finding what I want to do.

Sounds to me that one of the networks you are seeing is a neighbors. Change the name of your router and the other one will probably remain Linksys. That's because it's not yours.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by path12

I've got a D-Link and it's been nothing but a problem. Matter of fact I'm looking for a replacement myself.

Ditto...stay away from the D-Link Di-624...it's a piece of shit!!!! D-Link admits to it not working correctly...yet they haven't pulled them off the shelves...idiots!!!

Via the office...this what I'm getting...should arrive any day now:

http://www.fortiwall.com/productcart...idproduct=4908

It's for testing purposes as we're looking at using other hardware in our work environment...so, the boss thought it would be a great idea for me to "test" this router offsite so our environment wouldn't be affected...good for me!!!!!

[dixieflatline]

I have a D-link and it too has been fine. Running for about 2 years now. We got ours free after mail in rebate and I would assume that if you look around for things like that you should be able to get a very good deal. Places like hxxp://slickdeals.net/ often have some very nice finds.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by dangarion

Sounds to me that one of the networks you are seeing is a neighbors. Change the name of your router and the other one will probably remain Linksys. That's because it's not yours.

Guess I could turn my router off too.

I thought I err'd in setup though somewhere because I remember going through setup once and it said channel 6 but, I thought I didn't complete setup but, maybe I did. That is why I thought I had 2 channels setup. But, I was informed that the router is setup with 1 channel and that you don't setup multiple channels and then select at the computer you sign on with. (that a true statement?)

I'm fairly inexperienced in the router world so... didn't know if I was being stupid or just missing the obvious.

[WVUFAN]

Quick question: how can I tell if I have a "dynamic IP" as opposed to a "static IP"? When I do a search to see what my internet IP is, it seems to be the same each time I check.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

Quick question: how can I tell if I have a "dynamic IP" as opposed to a "static IP"? When I do a search to see what my internet IP is, it seems to be the same each time I check.

My IP changes everytime I disconnect and reconnect. Check it Power off and then log back on.

[Runtheball]

I think this is up to your ISP. If you had a static address before you switched routers, it's still a static address. Even static addresses are periodically changed (once or twice a year in my case) by your ISP.

[Franklinnoble]

Are you wondering if you currently have dynamic/static on your PC, or whether or not you're supposed to?

Most cable ISP's are static - but you might have what they call a DHCP reservation, so your PC is configured by dynamic, but the ISP assigns the same IP every time.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Are you wondering if you currently have dynamic/static on your PC, or whether or not you're supposed to?

Most cable ISP's are static - but you might have what they call a DHCP reservation, so your PC is configured by dynamic, but the ISP assigns the same IP every time.

Where I'm from you have to pay extra for static IPs, so I'd say that most ISPs use DHCP to hand out a dynamic address. With that said, the majority of them will set the lease times to a week or more so that you have the same IP for at least a week at a time. Odds are, if you rarely shut down your PC then you'd probably have the same IP for a very long time.

If you want to check to see if your PC is using DHCP...assuming you are on XP, click Start and then Run. Then type "cmd" without the quotes. A command prompt will appear...type "ipconfig /all" without the quotes. If your PC is using DHCP, it will say DHCP is Enabled.

[WVUFAN]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Are you wondering if you currently have dynamic/static on your PC, or whether or not you're supposed to?

Most cable ISP's are static - but you might have what they call a DHCP reservation, so your PC is configured by dynamic, but the ISP assigns the same IP every time.

Well, the Pitboss system requires a port forwarding. and upon researching I found that in order to do a port forward, I had to have a static IP.

Just trying to figure out why it's not working under my new Linksys router (which is a very nice router, and a great suggestion by terpkristin) and it did under my horrid Netgear one.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

Well, the Pitboss system requires a port forwarding. and upon researching I found that in order to do a port forward, I had to have a static IP.

Just trying to figure out why it's not working under my new Linksys router (which is a very nice router, and a great suggestion by terpkristin) and it did under my horrid Netgear one.

You do not need a static IP to enable port forwarding...where did you read that??

What is the model of your Linksys router??

[Franklinnoble]

I doubt you need a true static ip to do a port forward... you'd just need to reconfigure it if your address ever changed (which it shouldn't - most DHCP reservations are for three days or longer, so unless your PC is offline for more than that, you'll always have the same address).

[WVUFAN]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

You do not need a static IP to enable port forwarding...where did you read that??

What is the model of your Linksys router??

I think I have it. The Pitboss server requires a static IP, according to the gurus at CivFanatics. But I think I have the game back up and ready to go. We'll see when someone tries to log on.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Are you wondering if you currently have dynamic/static on your PC, or whether or not you're supposed to?

Most cable ISP's are static - but you might have what they call a DHCP reservation, so your PC is configured by dynamic, but the ISP assigns the same IP every time.

No most Cable ISPs are dynamic. .

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

I think I have it. The Pitboss server requires a static IP, according to the gurus at CivFanatics. But I think I have the game back up and ready to go. We'll see when someone tries to log on.

Ok this is what you do. Your internet connection is on a dynamic IP I can guarantee that. Your computer itself that connects to your router can be set up as dynamic or static depending on your preference. What I do at home is I have my router set up to hand out IP addresses from 192.168.1.100 on, but I configure my computer with a IP address in the 192.168.1.2-10 range. So I configure my computer with the IP address of my choice 192.168.1.2 the gateway IP 192.168.1.1 and and the subnet mask 255.255.255.0, along with the DNS Server addresses (these are subject to change to the settings your router is set to).

Then once I have internet connection you set up the port forwarding for the ports that need to be open to the IP address you have statically configured on your computer.

Another thing I do. With my router Linksys WRT54G and the firmware I have installed DD-WRT I use a dynamic DNS service that can be auto updated by my router. In the past I've used a client on my computer from a company called No-Ip.com, but lately I use the built in that my router allows from DynDNS.org. This allows me to always have access to my computer when I'm on the road (because I run a web, ftp, and remote admin server). But that might be overkill to what you require.

[Franklinnoble]

Well, when I had cable service four years ago, it was static. Guess things have changed...

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Well, when I had cable service four years ago, it was static. Guess things have changed...

What company?

Time Warner Cable has never been static for residentials. And I know that all our Adelphia and Comcast customers we are getting are not static.

[Franklinnoble]

Cox cable.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Cox cable.

Ah HA!