Wireless router / phone conflict?

arealhighlander

If using the phone is knocking the Router offline (as opposed to interfering with any specific wireless connection) then this is not a radio channel problem, it is more likely a using a phone at the same time problem.

You said "Both the router and the phone are plugged into microfilters." You dont have a filter fitted between thr Router and the phone line do you??

The Router requires to be connected directly to the phone line. The filters are only to be fitted to any phones connected to the line. The filters are there to stop the ADSL interfering with the phone calls. Have you got a spare "normal" phone you can plug in and try. Does using this knock the Router offline, or is it just when you use the DECT phones?

PS I assume when you say Router you actually mean ADSL Modem/Router.

zzzLazyDaisy

Thanks, it is definitely the access to the internet that drops out. The red light comes on the router and I have to switch everything off and refresh the system. It isn't just the signal strength, its is the whole caboodle.

gavinp wrote:

There are two potential problems here so the next time it happens, you need to work out whether it is the wireless signal from the router has disappeared (radio interference) or the access to the Internet has dropped (ADSL microfilter).

This will help identify the cause.

Thanks

Gavin

zzzLazyDaisy

arealhighlander wrote:

You said "Both the router and the phone are plugged into microfilters." You dont have a filter fitted between thr Router and the phone line do you??

Yes. I was told that I must put a microfilter on both the router (it is an ADSL modem router) and on the phone. The router came with a micro filter, so I am using that. I'm away from home at the moment, but when I get back I'll plug the router straight into the phone jack and see if that makes a difference. I don't have a spare 'normal' phone, but am seriously considering changing over to one. A friend had this problem and that's how she solved it in the end.

smcaul

zzzLazyDaisy wrote:

Yes. I was told that I must put a microfilter on both the router (it is an ADSL modem router) and on the phone. The router came with a micro filter, so I am using that. I'm away from home at the moment, but when I get back I'll plug the router straight into the phone jack and see if that makes a difference. I don't have a spare 'normal' phone, but am seriously considering changing over to one. A friend had this problem and that's how she solved it in the end.

It won't fit, the cable from the router has to go into one of the filters as it has a different type of plug on the end compared to a BT type plug. I would try different filters first, they sometimes play up. It could of course be a problem with the router - I had a 3com router that did the same, kept dropping connection every few hours - was very annoying as I use a VOIP phone as a business line. After trying everything I could think of - various bits of hardware swapped - I ended up buying a new router and it has not dropped connection once!!!! (setting myself up for an attack of murphy's law there!!)

happyhunter

arealhighlander wrote:

If using the phone is knocking the Router offline (as opposed to interfering with any specific wireless connection) then this is not a radio channel problem, it is more likely a using a phone at the same time problem.

You said "Both the router and the phone are plugged into microfilters." You dont have a filter fitted between thr Router and the phone line do you??

The Router requires to be connected directly to the phone line. The filters are only to be fitted to any phones connected to the line. The filters are there to stop the ADSL interfering with the phone calls. Have you got a spare "normal" phone you can plug in and try. Does using this knock the Router offline, or is it just when you use the DECT phones?

PS I assume when you say Router you actually mean ADSL Modem/Router.

Surely the modem/router must be connected to the filter, and then the filter plugs into a normal phone socket.

JohalaReewi

arealhighlander wrote:

The Router requires to be connected directly to the phone line. The filters are only to be fitted to any phones connected to the line. The filters are there to stop the ADSL interfering with the phone calls. Have you got a spare "normal" phone you can plug in and try. Does using this knock the Router offline, or is it just when you use the DECT phones?

PS I assume when you say Router you actually mean ADSL Modem/Router.

Not true. The ADSL modem HAS to be plugged into a microfilter. The main reason is that the ADSL modem/router cable has an RJ11 plug (4 wire) which does not physically fit the BT socket (6 wire). The only exception is if you have a BT fitted faceplate which has two sockets on it. One for phones and one for broadband (i.e. the filter is part of the BT master socket).

JohalaReewi

happyhunter wrote:

I have a 3Com wi-fi modem/router and Panasonic DECT sitting next to each other inside the tv cabinet for the past year - no problem whatsoever.
As someone has already suggested, it could ybe problem with your filters.

If this is the case, your DECT phones use a frequency band which is not the 2.4GHz band used by wireless networks. This is entirely possible because different models of DECT phones make use of a wide variety of frequency bands and only a few models use the 2.4GHz band (unfortunately). Many European ones use 1.9GHz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordless_telephone

---

Going back to zzzLazyDaisy's orignal posting. The internet works fine until the phone is used. When the phone is used, the router goes offline and the status light goes red. Also, there can be clicking heard on the phone before the router resets.

If this was the phone base station using the 2.4GHz band, that would interrupt data transfer between the PC and the wirless router. It would not disconnect the ADSL modem from the internet so the lights on the ADSL modem should not be affected (it will stay synched with the exchange). Also, when the phone is hung up, the PC will start working again (without a reset).

When there is a microfilter problem, the clash between phone and computer network occurs on the phone line and so, the ADSL modem will lose sync with the exchange and the status lights will reflect this.

The OP says that the ADSL modem light goes red. The clicking on the phone is symptomatic of a faulty (or mising) microfilter. The OP doesn't say which light goes red on the ADSL modem/router. Belkins normally have a power LED which is green for OK and red for power up failed. The ADSL LED is off when there is no ADSL, flashing when trying to make a connection and green when ADSL is OK. So a RED light sounds as if the modem has failed to (re)start though why using the phone would cause a modem reboot is a mystery. The other mystery is why the original modem/router stopped working. It could be an outside possibility that the signal from the phone base station is overpowering the wireless receiver on the router and causing problems which induce a reset and even failure. (This is very unlikely though).

The OPs setup should be as follows:

BTsocket1 -> Microfilter -> Phone base station.

BTsocket2 -> Microfilter -> ADSL modem/router.

There should not be anything else plugged into any other BTsocket. If there is. it too will need a microfilter.

There are two types of microfilter. Ones that work, and ones that don't work very well. The latter ones tend to be cheap. I have found the ones from BT to be excellent so it might be an idea to try a couple of those.

http://www.shop.bt.com/invt/cbw102

---

What would be helpful is the following information:

1. Everything plugged in and powered up.
Phone not in use, broadband working:-
What lights are on the ADSL modem/router?
What make & model is the modem/router?

2. Take the phone off hook (to get dialling tone):-
What lights are on the ADSL modem/router?
(and what happens to the lights??)

3. Make a phone call:-
What lights are on the ADSL modem/router?
(and what happens to the lights??)

This should indicate where the problem is and what the problem is.

Just had a thought. If your cordless phone system is one where you can hold an intercom conversion between two handsets (or the handset and base unit) you could try unplugging the base unit from the telephone socket and holding an intercom session. If the internet connection crashes, then it has to be radio interference. Otherwise, it is a microfilter problem.