Wireless Router

Discussion in 'Networks' started by ffreeloader, Sep 11, 2007.

  1. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Does anyone have any experience with one of these? My Netgear, at only a little more than a year old is giving me fits. I upgraded my internet account from 3 to 5 megs and if I download more than just 3 or 4 megs at the rated speed of my connection the router drops out and I have to reboot it to reconnect it again. It doesn't do this at 3 megs and below, but if I get a fast download link it kicks out in 30 seconds or so. That's a major pain when I'm doing 500-700 mB downloads.

    So, I'm looking to upgrade this hunk of junk I have and was looking to see if anyone had used the Buffalo router.
     
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  2. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    You've already upgraded the Netgear's firmware, I assume?

    Unfortunately, I have no experience with any of Buffalo's products.
     
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  3. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Yeah, there are no more firmware upgrades for this thing. It's been a piece of junk since I got it. Originally, right out of the box, I could only get dial-up speeds to WAN connections with it. It was so slow I couldn't believe it. I upgraded the firmware and it took off, but gradually over this last year it's been doing worse and worse, and then this bit about having to reboot it multiple times whenever I do large downloads is just the last straw.

    It seems that Newegg's customers like it, and it's been reviewed to death, but you never know who is writing reviews, and what their motivation is.
     
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  4. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    ffreeloader,

    What make and model is the wireless NIC you're using to access the wireless router?
     
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  5. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    What does that have to do with anything? However, I have two wireless cards. One is built into my laptop, and the other is a netgear usb device that came paired with the router itself. The problems happen using either device. The problem is not related to the card on the client end of the system.

    The router drops right out of sight. You can't even find it with a scan to find wireless networks until it has been rebooted. It just flat out quits functioning completely on the wireless side of things. Basically, it crashes.
     
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  6. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Freddie

    Why don't you get a Linksys WRT54G? You can flash them with modded firmware based on SLAX that allows you to do things on them that will probably resolve the problem you're having with your connection.

    It could admittedly be a lot of things causing the problem, but since it seems to punk after downloading a certain amount of data, its more than likely something like the router getting saturated with TCP connections and not tearing them down quickly enough. After a while, this type of behavious will kill the stack stone dead. If you got a WRT54G you'd be able to change either the number of connections allowed, or the time it takes to pull down idle connections.

    Plus, they're only about 60 bucks on EBay

    Just a thought.
     
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  7. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    You might have just got a defective one. :( I have a Netgear WGR614 that works wonderfully... what model do you have?
     
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  8. Spilly

    Spilly Kilobyte Poster

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    I used a lot of Netgear wireless boxes and had 1 or 2 faulty ones here and they had similar faults just as you described.

    On the whole they were no different from any other make however the did have better tech support.

    I sent the faulty ones back direct and got an exchanged unit from Netgear no probs.
     
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  9. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    It's a WGT624 v3.
     
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  10. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Yeah, but, :twisted:

    I think the Buffalo can be flashed the same way. At least I know some of their models can be anyway. And, it has that 300 mbs bit going for it too. Admittedly, that's only with compatible NICs, but it is there for when I upgrade in that area later too.

    How much additional configurability in the security end of things do you get with the open source firmware? I've never really looked at that end of things very much at all. By the time I realized it was available I'd already purchased a router that didn't allow that. :(
     
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  11. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Without your sales slip? :(
     
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  12. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Perhaps you do have a faulty unit? I use the DG834G box and it works fine.

    Is there anything that may be interfering with the wireless connection?
     
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  13. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Not that I know of. I have tried using it in a couple of different houses and it's been a little flaky in both places. And where it's sitting there is nothing closer than about a meter away that might emit enough electrical interference to bother it. However, even with that piece of equipment shut down I still have problems with it.
     
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  14. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    See if Netgear will give you some love and exchange it for you.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
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  15. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    Well, I am not very good about registering purchases and I do not have the sales reciept anymore, so I haven't even considered that, but I suppose it is probably worth a try. All they can do is say no.
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA, A+
    WIP: LPIC 1

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