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Author Topic: Linksys WAG354G  (Read 7961 times)

soms

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Linksys WAG354G
« on: August 24, 2006, 05:11:41 PM »

Hi all,

Just wanted some suggestions on this.

The named router is what I use here at the abode and which get plenty of use from all the family. As mentioned elsewhere get strange problems every now and again where the router is synced + connected but things dont work e.g. internet is down but instant messaging will still work or one pc is online and another gets no internet access.

My theory is this is to do with virtual circuits, although i hardly know anything about it, i believe routers and or service provider limit how many of these can be established?

This afternoon have had more than the usual number of problems, and the unsual disconnect/reconnect didn't work, think it was a PPP failure. So unplugged for 30 min and then tried again and was still a bit dodgy.

Funny thing is whilst this was going on the SNR margin went to a record high upon connection, a whole 18dB (although this soon fell 6dB in seconds).

I am thinking more and more I am just unlucky using this router and am looking at buying Netgear DG834G as people have noticed it can maintain connections well on low dB etc. (i know this is not v low dB, but if I went to max in future it could certainly go low).

Whenever I go to use a BT Voyager 105 USB modem instead, to check the service or run a speedtest, all is great. Unlike the router I also get a more consistant SNR margin. Whilst I know these are only short sessions I am getting 15.5dB ds SNRM continuously as I type.

This puzzles me, as I cannot understand why the router will get fluctuation and the modem not. I gather the connection failure could be caused by the router serving multiple clients whereas the USB modem just serves me.

One final observation - the upstream SNR is almost half on the USB modem than reported in the router. Modem reports steady 7.5dB, which is working great but just seemed a bit odd.

Sorry to bore you, but any thoughts on this? Thought this might be useful material for others to read also ;)

(Ps: BT Speedtest recorded 483Kbps on USB modem, 512k connection, which was quite impressive given some of the problems we get)
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roseway

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Linksys WAG354G
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2006, 07:10:33 PM »

That does all sound very odd, and I guess that the router must be suspect. I would assume that your modem is reporting the upstream noise margin incorrectly, because it's extremely unlikely that it would be less than the downstream margin. I've heard of instances where the equipment swaps the two values, so that could be what's happening in your case.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Eric
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  Eric

kitz

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Linksys WAG354G
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2006, 07:30:26 PM »

Just a thought soms....  I had something kinda similar a few years back and it drove me nuts trying to find out what it was.

Certain apps would drop, yet others would remain connected - I could still be on icq, yet not all of a page wouldnt load.. or a page would load and mIRC would disconnect.

I dont know which router you have but I had a SAR110 (same chipset as the voyager 205).. and what it was... is there is a setting in the router for the maximum no of concurrent IP sessions which by default was fairly low.

More info about it here
http://www.kitz.co.uk/tute/errors.htm
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soms

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Linksys WAG354G
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2006, 07:52:06 PM »

Hi guys thanks for the info.

I didn't realise the norm was for the upstream SNRM to be higher than downstream. It would be odd if the stats being reported were incorrect, as I am using the latest drivers for this particular modem (Voyager 105). I have posted the stats below so you can see what is being displayed.



Also unfornately the router doesn't provide access to the settings you suggest could the problem. I have tried telnetting the router but it won't have it. I cant see a telnet enable/disable control in the web cp, so i'll investigate if it even supports it! Thanks again all for the info so far.
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mr_chris

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Linksys WAG354G
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2006, 08:48:36 PM »

I don't think the WAG354G supports telnet, unfortunately. They're not massively configurable things, in general, unfortunately.

I had the pleasure(?) of dealing with one of those once - the damn thing just wasn't particularly stable. When trying to hook it up to one of those Netgear wireless media player thingies, it just didn't want to know half the time.. and the other half it kept dropping the broadband - although that could have been the Utility warehouse connection they had :roll:

The stats ought to be right though, and there's no reason that there should be a discrepancy.

However, I do have one thing for you to try. I have a feeling that I might know what's happening. The DNS cache on the router may be getting full. If as you say the router gets lots of use, it will 'remember' the IP addresses for loads of websites and eventually this can get full. It was a problem on some Dlink routers, no reason it might not be a problem on your Linksys either.

To get around this, specify the DNS servers for your ISP. They should be listed in the router status page where it lists your public IP address, gateway, etc. There should be two addresses. Make a note of these and transfer them into the network connection properties on all computers, under the properties for TCP/IP. You can leave the top part on Automatically obtain IP address if you want, just manually specify the bottom part.

If you're not sure how to do this, post back and I'll give some more detailed instructions.

Hope this helps :)
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Chris

soms

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Linksys WAG354G
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2006, 10:54:59 PM »

Thanks for that chris. I wil try that out first thing in the morning when I can find the original ISP letter which lists the DNS servers.

I will apply the settings on clients as you say as the router itself has no option to set ISP DNS servers. I remember for some reason it wasn't recommended to do this [set external DNS servers as preferences] but I will do it regardless if there is a chance it will help bring some reliablilty.

I presently write from Voyager 105 (again) - as earlier the router just wasn't ahving any of it, just ike earlier on.
 I know for sure the line is all fine as I can type right now using the modem, with a perfectly stable connection. Thanks for the tips so far. I will be sure to see what happens (if the thing  actually connects!)

Interesting that now its night time the SNRM has droped 1 to 1.5dB, probably all those unecessary streetlamps down nearer the exhange!

All the same, thanks guys, i'll see what happens. ;)

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soms

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Linksys WAG354G
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2006, 01:12:26 PM »

hi all, finally found the details for ISP DNS servers.
The ISP has changed hands so I had to dig out the original welcome e-mails.
Without sounding to complicated because we kept old service usernmae and pw the takeover ISPs DNS servers wouldnt work whereas the original ones would. I've set those on the various machines so I will see if there are anymore un-network related problems :)

I was wondering if local network addresses would resolve properly using these custom set external DNS servers, but all seems good and local machines can still communicate fine.
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mr_chris

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« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2006, 01:47:57 PM »

Cool :)

Local network addresses, if you're not in a Windows 2000/2003 domain, resolve using broadcasts, rather than a centralised database of names*.

Basically the computer shouts on the network (for example) "Where's SOMSPC?" and SOMSPC will respond with its IP address.

*note: this isn't strictly true, because the computers in a workgroup elect between themselves a "master browser" meaning that one computer on the network holds a list of all computers that are currently on. PCs will ask the master browser first, before broadcasting.
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Chris
 

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