Router/internet help

[AvatarFACE]

Hey guys, my internet keeps disconnecting every now and then on my router, sometimes I will be connected for as little as a few seconds before it disconnects other time it can be 40+ hours, but it is very hard to predict. It seems to lose connection with phone calls or faxes but not always, like when the phone rings after a few seconds the internet goes down, but not always.
We never used to have this problem the first 7 years in our house(inc after the earthquake, I'm in chch) when we were using our old D-link router that came with our internet plan when we first signed up, we upgraded to a NETGEAR DGN3500 about 18 months ago and the problems started about 6 months ago I think. I have double checked the settings in the router and they are correct.

I'm not sure what to do, is it the phone lines? is it the router? is it a filter?(I have swapped these around with no change). Not really sure who to ask or what tests I can do. I tried seeing if my router keeps a log or something but it does not.

It is quite annoying but I don't want to go out and buy a new router and then still have the same problem.

any advice on how to work out whats up?

[DarkVirus]

I had a problem for 2 years when it rained, it wet my line enough to lose signal, and again when it dried up.

So showery days were the worst, middle of summer / winter was the best.

Unfortunatly all the line tech guys blamed my house wiring, even after i tried new filters and a new modem twice.

I wish you nothing but luck, you will need it....


How i fixed mine... i got fibre installed.

[Arseynimz]

Easy questions first:

Tried a different router?
How many devices have you got plugged in to the phone lines (Sky, Fax (seriously who uses faxes these days), more phones, etc)?
Have you found it happening at times of the day more than other (i.e. during the day only, or at night)?
Have you noticed if it's been raining when it happens, or becomes more consistent when it rains (i.e. line exposure and thus problems when it's a wet day) - or any other conditions for that matter?

kgo.

[AvatarFACE]

Not tried a different router yet, I don't have a spare.
Got sky, phone/fax machine and a basic phone plugged into the phone lines. (yes some people still refuse to send things by e-mail and insist on faxes)
I have noticed it more during the day and evening but then again I'm not up all hours of the night to check.
Does not seem to matter if it's wet or dry, seems about the same level of unpredictability

give you any insight?

[Arseynimz]

Okay, before we go about throwing any guesses that it's the router, let's try isolating it/getting rid of unnecessary shit first.

Unplug Sky from the phone line - unless you're watching Pay Per View shit (which you shouldn't be, because stream/torrent/so many options), you don't need it plugged in, and it's a ping sapper too, unplugging it will give you anywhere up to 20ms latency back.

After trying that for a few days (or however long you'd normally wait for it to happen), I'd move to see if you can remove a phone line that is unnecessary, and see if that is causing the problems.

Those few steps are the basic line isolations that most ISP's will make you do, that is, straight after they've blamed your modem/router as being shit.

[AvatarFACE]

actually just checked and sky is not connected to the internet. so that's one down. We cannot disconnect the phone/fax machine as all the business stuff goes through that, I have disconnected the basic phone although we quite often don't use that phone and it spends half the time disconnected anyway.

[Lias]

If you don't have a master splitter installed, that would be the first thing I would get done. If your using an xDSL technology, getting a master splitter with a new line run to a new jackpoint is something you absolutely should do.

[Codex]

If you don't have a master splitter installed, that would be the first thing I would get done. If your using an xDSL technology, getting a master splitter with a new line run to a new jackpoint is something you absolutely should do.

With Cat6 too.

If they refuse to use cat6, get your own, dat shielding

[toofast]

Splitter is a likely issue. But i had a similar problem, and customer help kept saying splitter and it turned out to be an issue on my external line, which was fixed by a visit from chorus. The way i was able to tell, was by watching the noise margin of my line when phone calls came in. It would usually go to a very big number and the net would drop out.

So best plan of action is play around with splitter/filters/another router, and if you are confident none of those fix the problem, get someone in to inspect the line.

[Lias]

Getting the splitter done may not fix the issue, it may be the router, it may be a shit chorus line into the house, or some other things, but it's a good idea for several reasons.

A: In one fell swoop you rule out any in-premises wiring as being the fault. Not just for this fault, but for pretty much any fault. This means you have a much bigger stick to beat your ISP with. If your wiring is new, shiny, up to standard and on a master splitter, any cabling issue is pretty much always Chorus's fault.

B: Your pretty much guaranteed to get faster, more stable internet. It may be slight if the existing connection was good, or it may be drastically noticeable. But it will improve.

PS: I'd recommend getting it done properly, but as your in chch, if you don't want to pay for a real installer to do it, me and xsannz both have the skills to wire in the splitter and run a new cable for a few dozen bourbons or something.. (as long as your not expecting nice downwall installation etc.. dont have 20 bajillion dollars worth of drillbits and extensions lying around) Splitter itself is like $25 on tardme

[AvatarFACE]

How do I check if there is a master splitter installed? our house uses that cat6 cable for all the phone lines and connections so that's a plus. We just have standard ADSL connection I think.

[Speakman]

Typically with a Master splitter you'd have a dedicated internet/DSL labeled jackpoint, then all of your phone jack points seperate.

[AvatarFACE]

Yea I don't think we have one of those. So if we installed a master splitter would the house have to be re-wired to have the separate internet/DSL and phone jackpoint in one of  the rooms?

[Craigor]

When I had ADSL, my "Master Splitter" was where I sliced the phone line coming into the house, and installed a normal filter there, then ran a new phone jack from it.

Worked a treat lol.

[pop]

I had a problem for 2 years when it rained, it wet my line enough to lose signal, and again when it dried up.

So showery days were the worst, middle of summer / winter was the best.

Unfortunatly all the line tech guys blamed my house wiring, even after i tried new filters and a new modem twice.

I wish you nothing but luck, you will need it....


How i fixed mine... i got fibre installed.

my net drops out sometimes when it starts raining, mabye I should get fibre

[RightHandOnly]

in the web management page there is under wan or ATM  options for disconnects and errors etc.
Clear these and come back and check when it disconnects.

Take a screen shot or errors and then log a support call...chorus will action and you can send them detailed error types and counts based on the web pages.

This does help.

Cheers

[AvatarFACE]

I had a look all through the web management page and I could not find any log or error report. It has not been as bad recently, it's connecting for about 7 hours at a time on average and up to three days one time. If you know exactly where I should be looking in the web management let me know. I tried to find out myself through help and the web but no luck.